For the fans, a day of awesomeness

He left the University of Maryland early yesterday, hopping a ride with a buddy. He walked down part of Broad Street in wonder, then persuaded someone to hand over a ticket for Lincoln Financial Field. But that wasn't good enough, so Whalen sweet-talked someone into swapping a drink for a ticket to Citizens Bank Park and the last hurrah for his world champion Phillies.

"This is the happiest I've ever been," said Whalen, 22, who grew up in Newtown. "I'm here, here, where they won it. With the greatest fans in the world."

Walking the concourse, surveying the thousands and thousands of fans packed into the stadium, Whalen got choked up. He started shouting to no one in particular: "This is awesome! Awesome!"

Ed Booth, who recently moved from Fishtown to Mountaintop, Pa. - a town so far from Philadelphia that not everyone is a Phillies fan - woke his 11-year-old, Nick, before the sun rose to drive to Citizens Bank Park.

"This is sacred ground," said Booth, 37. "To be here on the day we celebrate, the day when we lift that trophy up. . . . Well, I can't think of anything better."

It was vital that Michael Greenberg get as close to the field as possible. He's spent the last few weeks living and breathing Phillies. He traveled to St. Petersburg, Fla., where he displayed a sign reading "Only God Saves More Than Brad Lidge," then came back for the rain delays and the suspended game.

Yesterday, he sat along the firstbase line, facing the diamond-shape stage at second base where several Phillies spoke to an adoring crowd. "I had to be here, had to see it through," said Greenberg, 50, of Yardley.

Greenberg saw a problem: returning to real life after a month of playoff euphoria.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do next week," said Greenberg, a lawyer. "I guess I have to go back to work."