Broad Street Billy: Winning it one beer at a time

AT CITIZENS Bank Park last night, Mike Phillips, booming-voiced ballpark beer man, worked at a feverish pace, satisfying the thirst of his 100-level patrons with the quick hands and catlike reflexes of an All-Star infielder.

"Yo! Miller Lites on ice!" Phillips yelled, then confided, "I used to say, 'Hey, ice-cold beer!' but the 'Yo!' gives it the Philly flavor that fans love, and for some reason, 'on ice' sounds much colder than 'ice cold.' "

When the Phillies struggle, Phillips, 33, yells, "Yo! Break-up-the-no-hitter beer!" or "Yo! Rally beer!"

It's all the same beer but, like Phils manager Charlie Manuel, Phillips knows that half the battle is attitude - and focusing on the game one beer at a time.

DESIGNING WOMEN: Standing out among beer men in his red shades with blinking red lights, Phillips often gets hit on by women with ulterior motives.

"Women will flirt with you, trying to get a free beer," Phillips said, shocking Broad Street Billy, who thought that all those great-looking Phillies femmes in their skintight jeans were far too classy for that sort of thing.

"They come right out and call me cute and sexy, and ask, 'Can I get a free one?' " Phillips said. "I tell them I can't do that."

Phillips was a Port Richmond kid, went to North Catholic and still lives in the house he grew up in.

BEER MAN CAMP: "Ten years ago, I went to vendor tryouts at the Vet," Phillips said. "They set it up like a boot camp with a military drill instructor. We had to run through rows of seats and do knee-bends holding beer trays.

"The veterans, like peanut-vendor Cheryl and Coor Lights man Chico, said none of us looked tough enough to make it. But 10 years later, here I am!"

A FAN INSIDE: "I have not missed an opening day since 1989," said the fan inside the beer man. "I get to see the home games, all the playoff games and, of course, our World Series Championship. I bleed Phillies red."

VOICELESS BEER MAN: "I took an Amtrak train all the way to Tampa to be at Game 2 of the World Series," Phillips said. "What a wild trip, because I lost my voice while screaming at Rays fans, 'You're coming back to my house, and we're going to sweep all three games!'

"I stayed up all night partying with other Phillies fans on the train home," Phillips said, "and had no voice to work Game 3 here. I had to hold up a bottle of beer and let it speak for itself."

At home, Phillips hosts a live Phillies chat show on his Web site: www.livevideo.com/eefnetwork.

"PREGNANT MANNY": Pete Mandeville, 34, of Wilmington, was an instant fan favorite, arriving at the ballpark as "Pregnant Manny," with a huge pillow-aided belly and plastic syringes hanging from his neck and arms. He explained that Dodgers leftfielder Manny Ramirez had been busted for taking fertility drugs to hide his steroid use.

In the bottom of the first inning, just before Jayson Werth homered, three stadium security guards said that Mandeville had to surrender the syringes but could remain "Pregnant Manny." After they left, Mandeville smiled and said: "I got extras."

SHOWER CAPS: Dozens of fans in section 241 in left field wore shower caps to mock Ramirez's leaving Game 4 in the eighth inning and taking a shower while his Dodgers blew the game.

POP: Ramon Villaceran, of Fairmount, sat beyond right field holding a handmade cardboard sign that read simply: "POP." Both P's were red Phillies P's.

He said that his 70-year-old dad, Nestor, of Northeast Philly, is battling cancer at Hahnemann University Hospital, and he hoped that his father would see him on TV and be cheered.

Father and son have been Phillies fans since they came here from the Philippines in 1981.