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Crowd Making Impact On Games

When Shane Victorino hit his grand slam last night, Citizens Bank Park erupted with its loudest cheer yet. Victorino summed it up in one word:

“Excitement. It was just the excitement in the air.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Michael Hunt compared the crowd to the 1988 World Series:

You should’ve heard the record crowd of 46,208 at Citizens Bank Park. They were screaming as if it were Kirk Gibson against Dennis Eckersley.

I was in the crowd last night, and it was the most deafening crowd experience of my life. Without a doubt, there’s nothing fans love more than an effort, and Myers put his working boots on. Once he worked the crowd to 2-and-2, we took off. Each roar built on from the last. By the time Myers worked a full count, we were creating a wave of white while blasting our voices higher than ever. Myers’ legendary at bat should fall into Phillie lure, and some of that is due to the crowd.

I do believe we helped to unravel Sabathia, and once Victorino homered, our cause had been rewarded. It’s funny how baseball works. Funny how a succession of moments can play out. If you have a screaming, nutty band of thousands behind you to provide the soundtrack, it’s usually a grand succession. It sure was last night.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.