Win or lose, fans just had to be there

NEW YORK - They boarded planes and trains. They forked over hundreds of dollars, took sick days from work, and endured boos from Yankees fans.

Some Phillies fans felt they had to be in the stands last night for Game 6 of the World Series, even if it meant sacrificing. The faithful who trekked to New York witnessed the Phillies' 2009 World Series hopes being dashed, 7-3, but they felt it was only right to be there.

Take Brian McCollum of Drexel Hill. His wife is nine months pregnant, due any day, but he still drove up to Yankee Stadium with his friend Mike Sheridan.

Go, his Phillies-loving wife insisted.

"I said, 'I'm not going,' but she was all for it," McCollum said. "She came with us to Game 5."

Spiro Malaspina decided before Game 5 that if the Phillies won, he had to take his 12-year-old son, Alex, to the Bronx. He found tickets for $668 apiece online.

Steep, but worth it, he said.

"I'm going to be working a few extra weekends to make up for this," said Malaspina, 54, who lives in Nesco, N.J. "We're big fans."

Chris Fried, a lawyer from Northeast Philadelphia, bought his ticket to Game 6 before he even knew there would be a Game 6.

"I don't want to look back in 20 years and say, 'I wish I had been there,' " said Fried, 31.

Judi Dunn of Haddon Heights planned her trip to New York for months. Her friend Dawn Kozlawski of Chatham, N.J., roots for the Yankees, and the two decided midseason that if their teams made the World Series they would go in person to see them square off.

Dunn, in a Phillies coat and scarf, looked around her at a sea of navy-clad fans. There were fewer Phillies enthusiasts in the Yankee Stadium stands than there had been for Games 1 and 2; she felt more than a little outnumbered.

"There's 10 of us and 49,000 of them," Dunn joked. "But all of the others are cheering for the wrong team."

The Toutkoushian family of Doylestown came because they're huge Phillies fans and it was cheaper to buy tickets for Yankee Stadium than it was for Citizens Bank Park.

"Can you believe it?" said John Toutkoushian Jr., 51, who found five tickets on eBay. "It was still expensive, but this is the Phillies. It might be another 30 years before we get here again."

In front of him, his son, John III, 27, traded good-natured barbs with a Yankees supporter.

"We'll be nice to you," the Yankees fan said. "We treated the last 26 teams we beat pretty well, too."

John Jr.'s wife, Linda, said it was important to show Phillies colors, even in the face of intermittent "Phillies suck" shouts.

His daughter Jackie, 22, brought a homemade sign.

"We believe in the Phightin Phils," one side read. "Howard Power" was written on the other side.

"We even brought our rally towels," Linda, 51, said, shaking one for good measure.

The towels were not enough.

Still, some fans felt the need to be extra spirited to make up for the sparse numbers of Phillies' faithful.

Despite the chilly evening, Phillies die-hard Gjon Prendi wore shorts - and his red batting helmet. He couldn't feel the cold, he said.

Prendi grew up blocks from Yankee Stadium and now lives in Minneapolis. But when his favorite team took New York back home for Game 6, he booked a flight and found game tickets for himself and his brother, a Yankees fan.

"Phillies in 7! Phillies in 7!" Prendi crowed before the game. "We got this! See you all tomorrow for Game 7!"

In the end, after the Yankees' lead mounted, Prendi grew quiet.

Around him, a legion of Yankees celebrated, their team world champions. Brett Mucklow of Aston was left shaking his head.

"I'm disappointed, because the Phillies were the better team, but the Yankees played better," Mucklow, 34, said. "Still, the Series was a hell of a ride."