Diamondbacks practiced with fake crowd noise to get ready for Philly fans
Their home-field advantage has become so real that visiting teams prepare for Red October as if they were playing in a college football atmosphere.
The Diamondbacks pumped artificial crowd noise into their ballpark before flying Saturday to Philadelphia, trying to replicate the environment they expect to enter at Citizens Bank Park on Monday for the first game of the National League Championship Series against the Phillies.
But the fake fans — it “was probably a five or a six,” D’backs manager Torey Lovullo said — didn’t quite sound like South Philly.
”I sent a text upstairs and said I need it as loud as you can get it,” Lovullo said. “It became very uncomfortable. We want to just make sure that we were able to have our nonverbal communications and hear that sound.”
» READ MORE: Zac Gallen returns home focusing on beating the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLCS
The team’s home-field advantage has become so real that opposing teams prepare for Red October as if they were a college football program preparing to play on the road in front of 90,000 crazies. The Diamondbacks won on the road this month in Milwaukee and Los Angeles, but they didn’t practice with fake crowd noise before those postseason wins.
”I’ve played here and I’ve been in this stadium when it’s rocking as a staff member,” said Lovullo, who finished his major league playing career in 1999 with the Phillies. “So if the Phillies are a 10, the Dodgers and the Brewers are a very close eight, nine-ish. So we’re prepared for the noise.
”We are an extremely prepared team, and our guys can slow the moment down and go out there and execute. So am I concerned about it? It’s a minimal concern, but I don’t think we’re going to go out there and be glossy-eyed to the point where we can’t execute. And that’s my biggest concern, and I feel very comfortable knowing this team is prepared for that.”
The Diamondbacks have two players — Norristown’s Christian Walker and Somerdale’s Zac Gallen — with local roots who understand what a Philly crowd can sound like.
”I’ve been to an Eagles game when they play Dallas and that gets pretty loud too,” said Gallen, who starts Game 1 against Zack Wheeler. “So I imagine it’s very similar. But, yeah, I think we tried to do the best we could to prepare for it. Like I said…If you’re scared, stay home.
“So worrying about the crowd noise, worrying about all that stuff, you just have to go about your process, go about what you do well, execute the fundamentals, and you’ll be fine.”
» READ MORE: Norristown’s Christian Walker beat Bryce Harper in a high school home run derby. Now they meet in the NLCS.
The Phillies are 4-0 this month at home and 9-2 over the last two postseasons. Their postseason winning percentage at Citizens Bank Park (.703) is the highest mark among all teams that have hosted at least 17 playoff games since the park opened in 2004.
”I think it all depends on how you go into it,” Walker said. “If you go into it like ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to be like. Let me embrace it.’ I think there’s something to a certain level of background noise. There’s a lot of downtime in the game. There doesn’t feel like it in these games but there’s moments where you’re just out there in the field and there’s crowd noise.
“You still have to have your preparation thoughts. ‘If the ball is hit to me, what am I going to do?’ I think being able to maintain a calm heart rate and calm thought process in those moments is the difference maker.”