Phillies shortstop Trea Turner on fans’ minds as flocks return to Citizens Bank Park for home opener

The fresh crack of a Wiffle Ball bat. A sea of red and white jerseys glommed together. In the skies, a prop plane proudly brandishing a billowing Wawa ad.

The telltale signs of another Phillies home opener were on full display Friday — a Good Friday outing that, perhaps in the spirit of Easter, saw the team rising later than anticipated when thunderstorms pushed their matchup with the Cincinnati Reds back a day.

Despite the delay — and a rocky start for the team — fans were in high spirits shortly after noon as lines began to snake from the front gates of Citizens Bank Park past the statue of Mike Schmidt frozen in mid-swing.

Troy Friend and his school-age son, Chase, were “ready to go” as they waited in anticipation. The Douglassville natives were steps away from the rush of home opener baseball, and little Chase could hardly contain his excitement.

That was in part because he was about to see the Fightins continue to correct their course after a particularly emotional World Series finish in Houston last year.

But the younger Friend was also buzzing because his dad promised to buy him a jersey bearing the number of Trea Turner, the team’s speedy new shortstop.

The elder Friend was equally thrilled for the arrival of the former Dodger.

“I think adding Turner really helps everything,” Friend said. “At the end of the day, they have a great lineup. Pitching is just gonna have to get there a little bit — we’ll see how it plays out today.”

As they prepared to step through the metal detector, Chase was more assured about the outcome.

“I’m betting you the Phillies are gonna win!” he exclaimed before his dad whisked him into the park.

And the Phillies did, 5-2, while Turner had two hits and scored two runs.

Further from the action, Steve Wilson, of Feasterville, was telling stories about how he witnessed last year’s playoffs and World Series from the stands.

“You couldn’t even hear; it was so loud it was unbelievable,” said Wilson, who paused mid-conversation to throw up his arms in front of a poster of the Phillie Phanatic.

How else could you tell he was a diehard? In the style of hip-hop hype man Flavor Flav, a larger-than-life gold chain hung around his neck. Dangling at the bottom, a massive red letter “P.”

His attendance meant Wilson was no stranger to the highs or lows of October baseball, but that was last year. Today, he wasn’t buying any of the negative talk surrounding this season’s less-than-thrilling start.

“Even if we were 0 and 6, it’s early,” Wilson said. “It’s a 162-game season, you’re gonna have ebbs and flows, you’re gonna have bad starts, good starts. At the end of the year, we should be there.”

Elsewhere, Mike Pepe, of Manayunk, and Todd Smith, of Delaware County, ferried a case of beer toward the maze of parking lots surrounding the park — hallowed grounds for enjoying such beverages.

Before he disappeared into a flow of fans now descending toward the front gates from all angles, Wilson motioned to his shiny branded bling.

“I was thinking of giving this to a kid,” Wilson said. Judging by the number of families overjoyed for baseball’s return to South Philadelphia, he likely wouldn’t have a problem finding one.