**********************************

Wait, there’s more. Did I mention the ridiculous number of idiots wearing Mets jerseys? Or Yankees merch? Or some other random MLB team’s gear? Can someone explained this ill-conceived phenomenon to me? I like attending a non-Phillies baseball game as much as the next guy, but I don’t feel the need to represent my team at a Dodgers/Padres tilt. Leave your stupid Mookie Wilson throwback at home, dude.

**********************************

There’s more. While Phillies fans were loud and proud and drunk in many cases, it was a surprisingly tame event. I didn’t see a single haymaker thrown, and most of the trash-talking was lighthearted and short-lived. I mean, seriously – we were at a Nats game. How do you shit talk with their fans? It’s not even fair.

I thought one of the classier touches was when the Philly faithful added “Sucks!” to every member of the Nats staff, down to the dude who washes the jockstraps. If I was him, it would be the highlight of my year. Here’s this anonymous guy who works in the clubhouse and he’s getting booed by Phillies fans. I don’t know, it would do it for me.

Shibe Times superfan Brian and I tried to gauge how big the Philly crowd was in terms of percentage of the overall attendance, and I think we settled on roughly 55/45 in favor of the Phillies fans. I read that Bud Selig estimated that it was only 1/3. No way it was that low. Listen back to the broadcast when Howard or Polanco jacked their homers. It sounded like Broad and Pattison.

**********************************

As for the game, I think it’s safe to say that Roy Halladay probably had some jitters at the onset of the game, and it showed in the first inning. If getting out of a mini-jam in the second inning didn’t calm Doc down, then Ryan Howard’s 2 run homer in the 4th did the job. Halladay looked great after the second inning and was the recipient of props from the likes of Jayson Werth (“Roy was magnificent. He was exactly what we expected.”) among others.

The only suspense regarding our new ace was how deep Charlie was going to let him pitch into the game. Turns out, the answer was 7 innings and 88 pitches. It seemed like about the right time to me, considering the Phils had a huge lead and there was little reason to have Halladay stick around beyond 100 pitches in a game long since decided.

**********************************

When we upgraded the hot corner from Pedro “First Pitch Swinging” Feliz to once and future Phillie Placido Polanco, the conventional wisdom was that Polanco would be a better hitter – making more contact, striking out less and providing adequate replacement for Pedro Feliz’s typically stalwart defense at third.

6 RBI outbursts were not part of the equation, right? Well, Polanco had quite the day, capped off with a grand slam off of Jason Bergmann in the 7th inning.

No one is expecting Polanco to drive in 100 runs or bash 30 home runs. But what we saw yesterday was part and parcel of why he is here. He batted 6 times, had 3 hits, a sac fly, a pop out and a ground out. He not going to strike out. He’s going to provide solid defense at 3rd base and all things considered, he is a big upgrade over Pedro Feliz.

**********************************

Tomorrow? Huge start for Hollywood. For any garden variety headcase, a good start is imperative.