Broad Street Billy: Diehard Phils fans ready to stomp Dodgers again

IF OUR Fightin's welcome the Dodgers to Philly like they did last fall - stomping them on the way to the World Series - they'll be gladdening the pinstriped hearts of true Phillie diehards like these:

Juan's 1,200 kids: When Juan Lopez - a lifelong fan from Burlington Township - owned JT's Lounge in Hunting Park from 1983 to 2001, he took 1,200 neighborhood children to Phillies games.

"The Phillies Knot- Hole program gave 25-cent tickets to nonprofit youth groups," said Lopez, who sponsored Hunting Park kids' baseball and softball teams.

Lopez, who was hooked on the Phils at age 13 while hearing the call of a 1984 Steve Carlton grand slam on his transistor radio, said his family's phanaticism includes "my wife, Cathleen, and my children, Jacquelynn, 22; Jonathan, 19, and Nicholas, 11 - who have gone to games ever since they were old enough to sit still for two innings."

Section 421 die-hards: Debbie Moore and her husband, Greg, of Mount Laurel, N.J., have been fans since the days when "we would decide on a moment's notice to head to the ballpark and take in a Phillies game," Debbie wrote.

"We didn't care who they were playing. We just wanted to sit in our favorite section, 421, behind home plate but high enough to catch a breeze on a hot summer night, and watch our Phils.

"We watched Ryan Howard in his first season let a ball roll between his legs," Debbie wrote. "The guy in front of us, in true Philly-fan style, yelled, 'At least try!' "

This year, Debbie and Greg bought a partial season plan.

"We pictured sunsets behind us and the crack of the bat filling the air," Debbie wrote. "What we got was rain, cold and more rain until July - and then rain and cold again in August and September!

"But nothing kept us away. We wrapped ourselves in sweats and ponchos, made friends with the Section 421 'regulars' and took in each game with bated breath and hope."

They have tickets for Game 3 of the 2009 World Series. "I have complete confidence," Debbie wrote.

If the Phillies do it, they're doing it for die-hard fans like these.