No offense Lathum but wasn't it Jets fans in NEW YORK that had that shit go on at Gate D? Yankee fans are no saints either. So give it a rest...I've seen the same stuff happen in Pittsburgh when the Browns or the Ravens come to town. A grown man at a PREASEASON game taunted a 8 year old kid to tears right in front of me at a Steeler game to where I almost got in a fight with the guy. There is no excuse for it but it happens other places than Philly. Wasn't it a NEW YORK fan that hit a coach on the field with a snow ball? So everytime one of you guys bring up the fact that philly fans threw snowballs at Santa, I am going to post about how the coach was hit in the head with a snow ball that could've killed him.

There are bad apples everywhere and Philly gets more publicity for their past so it gets vaulted to the front page.

Further, visiting fans LOVE to taunt Philly fans at their own place based on their reputation.

I saw multiple people at NLCS Game 1 wearing Manny jerseys. They were largely left alone, even in the cheap 4th-Section seats. The only guy who got shit was someone in a Dodgers jersey who stood up, turned around, and raised his arms as if he was pumping up the crowd after Manny's 1st-inning double.

Similar to a dude in a Ravens jersey who taunted Philly fans in the cheap seats during an Eagles pre-season game.

HEY NOW, NEW YORK FANS ARE SAINTS!!!!

Oh, wait...:


I'm not saying Philly fans are all saints. There are definitely douchebag Philly fans. However, I suspect that the proportion of asshole fans to passionate but reasonable fans is closer to the same percentage for most other major sports cities.

Creepy, for sure. However, I wouldn't be surprised if his postseason share was being paid in beer ;)

He was a fan favorite when he was in KC

SI

Bro, he's totally into it.

So....you're telling me there's a chance!

Regarding the Phillies comeback win last night: While the two 2-run homers certainly deserve much of the attention and press they are receiving - for my money's worth... Utley's unassisted double-play stands out in my mind as the real key to the win.

LOL! Sox fans are heading toward the exits already and the bullpen is stirring. Wakefield is getting hit worse than Lester last night.

Ugh. Why did he start Wake instead of byrd? :/

5-0 now.

You can here a pin drop at Fenway.

dola- I want the Rays to win but I am kind of hoping for a longer series.

I hope Tampa gets a new stadium because this is a really good, young team.

Oh well. Unless we pull off a Mini-2004, it was a good season.

At least we made it to the post season, and the Yanks didn't :)

double dola- How great must Carl Crawford feel having languished his whole career on a crappy Rays team.

Not that anyone who didn't want them all season already knows, but these Rays are damn good. And next year, they're going to add David Price to the rotation, plus the arms they have (Neimann, Wade Davis, etc etc)?

At least he's getting a reward now. Ask that question to Dale Murphy or Barry Sanders.

Absolutely. If the series ended last night, Utley (not Victorino, Hamels, Lidge, or Burrell) would and should be the NLCS MVP.

Between the game-tying home-run in Game-1, consistent hitting performances in Game 2+3, and his performance in the field and at bat yesterday, Utley has been our best player this series.

If the Phils make it to the World Series against the Rays, I just hope Philly can win a game.

Aah yes. My plan is still intact. Go Rays. ;)

Mercy rule?

Alright Rays!!!

Now don't let up... Boston has come back from 3-1 before (ie, last year).

Because if Wakefield shits the bed early, you can bring Byrd in to bridge the gap and keep it respectable until the 6th/7th when you can go to the bullpen. Francona just blew up that strategy by using Byrd last night and ensuring we needed Wakefield (who hadn't pitched in close to a month) to go 5+. I also don't understand why he didn't stick with Masterson for another inning. Even if they pitched well, Delcarmen, Okajima, Papelbon are usually only good for 3. Pulling Masterson there was all but ensuring Lopez or Timlin would have to be involved if we started coming back.

I'm not sure how to put this, because I'm definitely not confident or even think we're likely to win, but all 3 Red Sox WS appearances in my lifetime came after 3-1 deficits in the ALCS. If Dice-K can get another good game in tomorrow, heading back to Tampa with Beckett and Lester isn't the worst place to be (assuming Beckett doesn't have a serious injury - and his lower velocity last game indicates there could definitely be something there.)

Finally, the most impressive Tampa player - as much as I'd get arguments for Longoria (rough double error there - MLB needs to set a minimum handle width before next year, all these bats break right there) Crawford and even Pena, I have to go with BJ Upton. Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury are both Gold Glove-level CF'ers, but Upton covers more ground than either while appearing to jog nonchalantly. There were 3 well-hit balls over his head that he just glided to and put out any threat before it could start.

One game? Four games!!!

I just got 3 tickets to Game 4 of the World Series in Phillies. Come on Phillies win 1 more!

Nice!!! I was going to but couldn't justify the price at this point. I do have tickets to Friday's game if it is needed. As much as I want to have a chance to see them win the NLCS live I would rather they just wrap it up tonight instead of opening any window of opportunity for the Dodgers.


So what will be the story line of tonight's game? For the last game it was Lowe needing his balls rubbed and Stairs liking getting his ass pounded by the guys in the dugout.

They've only played in this one for 10 years. The age of the stadium is thanks to folks building this one without a team. I'm not sure how Tampa / St. Pete builds a new one now. Of course they managed to ram through Raymond James Stadium after I left the area, something I thought would never happen, so who knows?

Mine are Standing room only but for $50, it was worth it to me.

MORE than worth it. I don't know what the standing room situation is in Philly, but in Fenway the standing area has better views than the majority of the seats.

Perhaps because you are one of the very few bases that cheered when an opposing player was being stretchered off. That's just a whole new level of low.

See the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Civic Arena when Darius Kasparitis knocked out Lindros. Crowd cheered...play was stopped. He was carried off the ice by John Leclair...Lindros fell 3 times from the ice to the tunnell to the locker room. Cheers got louder each time.

People were high fiving in the stands yelling stuff like "I hope he dies"

What part of "very few" was difficult to understand?

If you like, I could gladly give you more you self righteous ass.

Obviously reading comprehension isn't your strong suit. Then again, you are from Pennsylvania, so maybe it isn't your fault.

Thanks! I knew something was lacking in my life, and now thanks to you I will work on my reading comprehension.

By the way...do a quick google search on this subject and taking out the the Philly references, you'll find a bit more than very few. But if from where you come from or whatever school you went to...very few is greater than or equal to 100. Then please disregard my comments. It's all perception. I seem to recall you are a Rutgers fan but I won't make any negative comments about that school because it is painful enough being a fan of them without anyone else piling on.

They will win a few more division titles over the next decade and they will move.

New stadium ain't gonna happen. But it's a great story.

If the Red Sox fans want something else to cheer them up, just remember we could have traded Lester, Crisp, Masterson and Lowrie for Santana (and paid $15m/y more than all 4 combined).

Looking back at the offseason/Santana trade threads, with people arguing that trade would be a ripoff is kind of funny. I would tweak Logan, Chief and others for their assessments of Boston's offer, but even I underestimated the comeback and improvement from Lester ("I'll add that I'm not as enamored of Lester as baseball people seem to be. He's a lefty who was throwing mid-90's before the cancer, and got back there by the WS with a great curveball, but he's shown a tendency to nibble, leading to walks and high pitch counts/short outings.") and I'd rather not talk about Buchholz right now (while still fervently believing he'll be an ace in a year or two.) Besides, it's more fun to make fun of HA for being his dickish self while extolling the virtues of Dontrelle Willis. :)

As a Patriots fan who takes a beating in this forum for the behavior of other members of the fan base, this is an interesting discussion to follow. I've got your back Dr. Sak!

Nice, I couldn't find SRO for under $500. Definitely would have jumped at $50. Enjoy!!!

Now for the other discussion taking place. Why is there never mention of the standing ovation given to Lemeiux on his first game back after the cancer treatments. It was the loudest and longest standing ovation for any single player I have ever witnessed. Odd, Philly fans are such barbarians, the Spectrum must have been filled with other fans that day I guess...

People love to feel superior to other people and on FOFC, one of the most popular ways to do that is by telling us all how morally superior one is to a large (millions) group of of fans by pointing out examples of bad behavior.

I've gotten to the point where I root for Philly, NY, Detroit, and dislike Tampa, Arizona, Colorado, etc.

Congrats on the tix, Dr. Sak.

My plan for the Series (assuming the Phils make it), is to go to Citizen's Bank Park and tailgate until the 2nd or 3rd inning. Then, I'll try to make nice with a scalper who is trying to dump his stock, hopefully at a reasonable value.

If I fail, I'll probably just try to get into McFadden's. Actually, I might even just get to McFadden's early and not even try to get in.

As a diehard Red Sox fan I say we got the Rays right where we want them:) Hey, at least we aren't down 3-0.

It was a raffle on Phillies.com. I won the rights to the password for the tickets. So I went in at 9am when they told me it opened and bought the max I could. Just dumb luck really.

I wouldn't be so quick in this case. They weren't that far away from financing a new stadium earlier this year, and excitement/the fan base down there seemingly expanded between each time the Red Sox visited this year. Unlike the Marlins across the state, they have a young core and everyone will be back next year. Let's see how the attendance improves the next one-two years before writing them off.

Depending on your definition of few (I'm guessing 3-4?), I'd say it's more likely they get a new stadium than they win that many division titles the next 10 years. Boston is primed to be right there, you know the Yankees will reload with the obscene amount of revenue they'll be pulling in (I've seen estimates they'll double or even triple the revenue the Red Sox bring in), Toronto was actually one of the best teams in baseball the past year by run differential and even Baltimore has the resources and some good young building blocks (Jones, Markakis and Matt Wieters) to be contending again by the 2nd half of the decade. The 4th best team in baseball by run differential finished in 4th place, 9 games behind the wild-card winner from their division, in the AL East this year. I'd put the over/under at 2 division titles in the next decade.

Nice, I was in that raffle as well but not the same luck.

The only slight difference is that there is a part of every Philly person/fan I know that takes pride in being known as the "toughest" fan base in America. Maybe they don't all want to go as far as booing injured players like Irvin (Santa Claus deserved it), but quickly turning and booing their own players? There's no fan base better. Shucks, they were even doing it in Game 2 when they were winning because someone failed to get a bunt down. In contrast, the Patriots (and Red Sox) problems are usually because of bandwagon fans who jumped on when they started winning. Philly teams don't have that problem yet :p

I am probably wrong, but didnt the Rays move into an already existing stadium?

dola- The standing room only seats at Citiczens bank are excellent.

Tropicana Field - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's a LONG history there, where the city built the stadium to lure a baseball team, then Wayne Huizenga got the Marlins and tried to block the area from getting one. It's a true attempt at the "build it and they will come" approach.

Thanks for the info!

NP

they extend all the way around the outfiels ( except a little in RF) and you can find a good spot right behind the scoreboard in left center.

There is also a gret bar McFaddens connected to the stadium and you ar right by all the concessions.