‘I feel amazing about these guys’: As Phils advance, the fans’ energy propels them forward

The Phillies, Bryce Harper has said, were built for October.

It follows that Lindsey Tifft was built to wear a handsewn furry green Phillie Phanatic costume into Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night as the team surged into the National League Division Series of the playoffs, clinching the wild-card series in a decisive 7-1 Game 2 win against the Miami Marlins.

When Tifft was 8, she was plucked from her seat at Veterans Stadium to dance with the Phanatic on top of the dugout. That helped shape her into a Phillies lifer so passionate about the team that she broke a sewing machine stitching together the costume she wears whenever she gets the chance — including once during a Broad Street Run.

“It’s hot, but you make it work, because it’s our team,” said Tifft, a middle school teacher who is bullish about the Phils’ chances to keep winning deep into the playoffs. “I feel amazing about these guys.”

From the Hall of Fame Club to the tippy-top of the 400 level, fans were in their glory Wednesday night, loud and optimistic even before Aaron Nola threw the first pitch.

Just ask Austin Spicer, a Phillies “professional hype man” who dispensed fist bumps to fans with the giant, plush, red Spider-Man hand he wore on his left hand. During the regular season, Spicer, who’s known as a “Phanstormer,” dumps confetti and sings “Happy Birthday” to fans.

In the playoffs? He tries to take energy that’s already at a 10 to an 11, said Spicer, 21, a Bensalem native studying business at Temple University.

“Everyone is just so excited to be here,” said Spicer, who said Wednesday’s energy felt like the perfect backdrop for a big win. “You can just feel everything building. Everyone is very, very upbeat.”

Everyone also seemed to be doing everything they could to propel their team to victory, up to and including wearing alligator hats, just in case.

The Chicago Cubs didn’t win a World Series for 108 years, the legend goes, because the team barred a tavern owner’s pet goat from Wrigley Field. A few weeks ago, Wally the emotional support alligator was reportedly banned from entering Citizens Bank Park.

So Cliff Eckrich didn’t want to take any chances.

Eckrich, a Phils fan from Wilmington, decided to wear a plush green alligator hat to Wednesday’s game, just to ward off any potential curses.

“Wally is everyone’s emotional support alligator,” said Eckrich, who attended the game with a group of friends also decked out in alligator hats. “We’re representing him in spirit.”

Even before the Phillies opened the game wide up, Eckrich said he felt good about the outcome — it felt like a night to clinch, he said.

“I want six innings out of Nola, and a lot of hits from our lineup,” Eckrich said. (Nola went even deeper than that into the game, pitching seven innings of shutout ball, and J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott contributed home runs that gave the Phils plenty of insurance.)

In 2008, Casey Lucas sneaked into Citizens Bank Park for Game 5 of the World Series. On Wednesday, he drove his sons, Chase and Harrison, to Philadelphia from their home in Pittston, Pa., two hours away in Luzerne County.

Harrison Lucas, 7, wore his “Fish Are Food, Not Friends” shirt (a beat-the-Marlins twist on a catchphrase from the movie Finding Nemo), and was taken aback at any notion that the Marlins ever had a shot at taking even a single game from the Phillies.

Who’s going to win the World Series this year, Harrison?

“I’m pretty sure the Phillies,” the second grader said.