TRUSTS CHOOCH IN A PINCH
Apparently the Washington Nationals do not want your business.
According to a Washington Post blog posted Friday morning, the Nationals plan on doing all they can to prevent Nationals Park from being invaded by Phillies fans this season.
"Frankly I was tired of seeing it," Nats COO Andy Feffer told the Post. "Forget you Philly. This is our park, this is our town, these are our fans, and it's our time right now."
The Nats' plan to prevent Phillies fans from invading the ballpark during the first series between the teams in Washington was actually implemented Friday morning. Single-game tickets for the May 4-6 three-game series at Nationals Park went on sale Friday. They are the only single-game tickets being sold by the Nationals right now and for the next month they will only be sold to people with credit cards from Maryland and Washington D.C.
Feffer really seems irked by Phillies fans, because "Forget, you Philly" wasn't enough.
"We've heard it enough, we've seen it enough and I don't like it any more than anyone else," he said. "We're trying to build a team here and nothing irks me personally or the people here more than to see another team's fans -- particularly Philly fans -- in our ballpark, holding up signs. That's not the way it should be. And I think we've got an opportunity here to do something different."
The "something different" even has a name. It's called "Take Back the Park."
Of course, the Phillies and the fans know the best way to take back a ballpark is by winning. That's why you don't see or hear nearly as many Mets fans as you used to at Citizens Bank Park. And you have to search really hard to find even a single Nats' fan at Citizens Bank Park.
Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb team up for their third straight season covering the Phillies for the Inquirer and philly.com.
This is Brookover’s second stint writing about the Phillies, having joined the coverage team after seven years as an Eagles beat writer. Brookover was hired by The Inquirer in 2000 as the Phillies beat writer after spending 13 years writing about the team for two suburban newspapers. While on the Eagles beat, Brookover, who had covered just two winning Phillies teams in 15 seasons, saw the Phillies move into a cash-cow new ballpark and begin playing a brand of the game he found unrecognizable. Follow him on Twitter here.
Gelb is in his third season covering the Phillies. He was hired by The Inquirer in August 2009 after graduating from Syracuse University. He has also covered baseball at The Star-Ledger and Cape Cod Times. Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended Central Bucks High School West. Follow him on Twitter here.
To submit a question for Matt Gelb's Phillies mailbag, click here.
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