Of wide brims and sticky baseballs and mediocre teams
PHILADELPHIA >> Even with a lot of choice seats, the Phillies are a tough sell. Since they received the go-ahead to full capacity, they’ve averaged 14,786 in five games at Citizens Bank Park.
The three-games series with the Nationals averaged 14,786. The largest crowd in the four-game sample was 16,118 for a late Saturday afternoon affair with the Nats. The Phillies drew 13,125 on a rainy Tuesday night for the Atlanta Braves. The Wednesday attendance: 13,552.
The Braves, who much like the Phillies are playing less than ordinary baseball, performed in front of 40,000plus fans in two of their three road games with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The other game drew 39,000-plus.
The Braves got 25,595 for their most recent home game.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi isn’t surprised or offended by the low attendance at Citizens Bank Park. He empathizes with the fans.
“I understand that people have been through a lot,” Girardi said before the PhilliesBraves game Wednesday. “Considering that we came from none, 15,000 seems like a ton of people in the stands. You see red everywhere, you see support everywhere we go on the road. You had support in Florida. Everywhere we went we
had support.
“No, I’m not disappointed. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have the fans back.”
The fans who have attended the games have been vocal. Especially so in the case of the group that stomped out of the park Tuesday when pitcher Sam Coonrod threw a potential double-play into right field, opening the flood gates for a five-run eighth inning and a victory for the Braves.
Phillies players have kept it together by keeping it light. The latest bonding deal is pitcher Archie Bradley’s “Homer Hat,” a festive Panama hat with which players who go yard parade around in the dugout.
It’s Bradley’s hat, and pretty much his idea with help from catcher J.T. Realmuto.
“We’re always looking for something to get the team going,” Bradley said. “And personally, being a reliever, I always like to bring to the team more than just pitching. I kind of feel left out sometimes only getting to throw one inning. So, I’m always trying to bring more to the field, more to the team than just pitching. I started wearing the hat around. Someone suggested we start wearing it in the dugout. I was like, ‘Well, let’s wear it for homers.’
“I think you’ve got to see it the other day with Brad (Miller) and J.T. It wasn’t forced. It was very organic, and the position players and the team took a liking to it. We have a homer hat now.”
With a lot of empty seats, you do what you’ve got to do. Girardi likes the enthusiasm. A little levity is good for a club that entered the Wednesday game locked in third in the NL East with a going nowhere record of 28-31.
“It’s still a game, when you talk about what we’re doing here,” Girardi said. “Obviously, it’s an important game because were trying to win every day.”
It’s hard to believe this Phillies team has been in first for — ready for this? — 20 days this season. Of course, that was when they were a season-best four games over .500. That’s when Scott Kingery, one of the symbols of their fall, still was part of the 40-man roster.
Pitcher Aaron Nola was more of an ace then. Didi Gregorius, Realmuto and Bryce Harper were healthier. That’s when the Phillies didn’t worry about batting averages. With a lineup hitting a collective .238, the concern is foreign substances. Theirs, not ours.
Girardi is focused on this hot-button topic because that’s what a manager does. He keeps an eye on baseballs, randomly examining his team’s collection and those of the opposition to stay current because MLB authorities have vowed to crack down and possibly suspend sticky-substance offenders.
Girardi is a proponent of an equal playing field and therefore, equal enforcement. He said he would have “inklings” if one of his pitchers was applying the sticky stuff.
“But I’m never sure because I don’t follow guys around,” Girardi said. “All of our (pitches) are wiping their hands in the dirt. I feel pretty good about our team.”
Bradley, on the other hand, is convinced pitchers are doctoring baseballs. And he’s not blaming pitchers as much as the system.
“There’s been such a gray area on it,” Bradley said. “There’s been such a kind of turn-thehead-the-other-way mentality. It’s gotten to the point where it is out of hand and you have to do something. I don’t know if I would consider it as bad as the steroid thing but it’s gotten to the point where it’s taking guys with below average stuff to elite stuff. And there’s kind of that same feeling of if you’re not using it, you’re being left behind, so you feel the pressure to either use it or stay clean and not have the same number or the same spin rate.
“It puts a lot of guys, especially younger kids who are just now pitching in the big leagues in a very awkward place. We have to come up with some standard that’s going to take care of the situation.”
Hopefully that standard brings back fans who need a reason to believe in baseball again.