Fans savor Phils experience
Even Brewers rooters survive
As rain, wind and thunder swept over the rooftop bleachers at Citizens Bank Park yesterday afternoon, Charlotte Bucher, 80, sitting as high as she could without falling out of the stadium, did not budge.
A lifelong Phillies fan, she wasn't going to let a little turbulence keep her from watching Cole Hamels pitch a fall classic with a little help from Chase Utley, Brad Lidge and friends.
"We have three generations of family here," Bucher said happily, surrounded by daughter Janet Gonzalez, granddaughters Elisa, Sarah and Stefany (waving two rally towels because one just wasn't enough), and pal Jacque Ryder. All these Phillie diehards lucked into last-minute tickets, which Gonzalez said was a good omen.
"We were tailgating in the parking lot, thinking we'd go over to Chickie's and Pete's to watch the game, just to be near it," she said. "This guy said, 'They still got bleacher seats at the window.' That's when I knew all the stars are aligned. We're fated to win."
Gonzalez said this in the fourth inning, long before the nail-biting ninth, and she was right.
"Johnny Callison, Jim Bunning, Cookie Rojas - I had such crushes," Gonzalez said, following her Phillies dreams back through time. "I was, like, 10 years old."
The capacity crowd was in such a fine mood that Reggie Waller and his cousin, Tiffanie Horn, both out-of-towners here for the game, were able to walk through jam-packed Ashburn Alley in Milwaukee Brewers caps - Waller sporting a Tony Gwynn Brewers' jersey - relatively unscathed.
"The young guys have given me a few chants of 'a------,' " Waller said, laughing, "but mostly it's Phillies fans saying, 'Good luck with that jersey, but please stay away from me when the beers start flying.' I hear things get a little rougher at Eagles games."
Standing guard over the Brewers' bullpen, Highway Patrol Officer Robert Glover said he was deeply moved by the pre-game tribute to Sgt. Patrick McDonald, who was shot to death by a fugitive he was pursuing last week.
Glover appreciated the crowd's roaring welcome to wounded Highway Patrol Officer Richard Bowes, who killed McDonald's killer, and who threw a ceremonial first pitch before the game.
Glover said his job was to prevent excessive verbal abuse of Brewers relief pitchers. "You can talk to them, even harass them a little," he said. "But if things get too vulgar, you get kicked out."
By the time Brad "Lights Out" Lidge took the mound to close Hamels' eight-inning gift to Phillies fans, John DeHart Jr., wearing a chicken suit, was embracing Rocko Rounbehler, who was dressed in the pink, yellow and orange Mummers suit he wore in the last New Year's Day parade.
DeHart said he wore the chicken suit to show the Brewers how he felt about them every time they walked Ryan Howard, which was three out of the four times he came up to bat.
Rounbehler said he was yesterday's Lone Mummer to "keep people pumped up for our Phillies."
And, hey, it worked. *
