Nationals fight invasion of Phillies fans with ticket-sale restrictions

Apparently, the Washington Nationals do not want your business.

According to a posting on the Washington Post's "D.C. Sports Bog" blog Friday morning, the Nationals plan on doing all they can to prevent Nationals Park from being invaded by Phillies fans this season.

"Frankly I was tired of seeing it," Nats chief operating officer Andy Feffer told the Post. "Forget you, Philly. This is our park, this is our town, these are our fans, and it's our time right now."

The Nats' plan to prevent Phillies fans from taking over their ballpark during the first series in Washington this season was implemented Friday morning.

Single-game tickets for the May 4-6 three-game set at Nationals Park went on sale Friday. They are the only single-game tickets being sold by the Nationals right now, and for the next month they will only be sold to people with credit cards tied to an address in Maryland, Washington, or Virginia.

Feffer seems really irked by Phillies fans, because "Forget you, Philly" wasn't enough.

"We've heard it enough, we've seen it enough, and I don't like it any more than anyone else," he said. "We're trying to build a team here, and nothing irks me personally or the people here more than to see another team's fans - particularly Philly fans - in our ballpark, holding up signs. That's not the way it should be. And I think we've got an opportunity here to do something different."

The "something different" even has a name. It's called "Take Back the Park."

Of course, the Phillies and the fans know the best way to take back a ballpark is by winning. That's why you don't see nearly as many Mets fans as you used to at Citizens Bank Park. And you have to search really hard to find even a single Nats fan.

Said John Weber, the man in charge of Phillies ticket operations, "That hasn't really been a problem for us ever since we moved into Citizens Bank Park."