The Yankees Fan Invasion of CBP Was Very Unpleasant for Phillies Fans

It felt good to boo.

And I'm not talking about Rhys Hoskins. I'm talking about the throngs of New York Yankees fans who took over Citizens Bank Park for the second night in a row on Tuesday.

It felt good to boo the Yankee fans. And there were plenty of opportunities on Tuesday night.

I've been going to games regularly at CBP since it opened in 2004 and last night was the most opposing team's fans I've ever seen in our ball park.

It's an unfortunate state of things for Phillies fans. Our team is still turning course towards consistently winning ways and lacks the personality and star power of a Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. Not to mention many Philly sports fans are still in debt from all of the money they spent on the Super Bowl and the subsequent championship gear (The Eagles won Super Bowl 52). The Yankees are the best team in baseball and are just as likely to have fans in Broomall as the Bronx. They sent out one of the best pitchers in the game last night.

The fact that there were tons of Yankees fans at our ball park wasn't surprising to me. But it sure was unpleasant.

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Aaron Hicks homered in the first at bat of the game and the Yankees chants started. They didn't stop the rest of the night.

On the bright side, they were met with plenty of boos from the Philly faithful - myself included.

"I'm pretty sure we singlehandedly shut that Yankees chant down with our boos," I said to my wife at one point. She agreed. We did our small part.

While it was undoubtedly very unpleasant to have so many opposing fans cheer as their team dominated ours to the tune of a 6-0 win, there was something pleasurable in fighting back.

The ball park had life in it last night. There was an undeniable energy in the building, albeit one favoring the dark side.

While the Phillies on the field may not have acquitted themselves well, I was proud of the way the Philly fans responded to the invasion. I didn't see a single confrontation other than sportsmanlike booing and banter.

And you know who brought his A-game? The Phillie Phanatic.

At one point, after a particularly loud Yankees chant, the Phanatic bent over and repeatedly banged his ear on a seat in the field level. He didn't want to hear that garbage either.

Sadly, I wrote a note in my phone about that moment being the highlight of the night.

But then the Phanatic used his jersey to block the view of some Yankees fans and that was even better. When you're losing, you take the small wins where you can.

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