Phillies tickets are selling fast

Brandon Pizzo, 22, couldn't get to the World Series because he's been stationed in Iraq.

So yesterday, when the Phillies officially put single-game tickets on sale, his father, Don, left his Drexel Hill home at 4:30 a.m., determined to beat the crowd to Citizens Bank Park.

He wanted seats for the April 8 game, when the team will get its championship rings - and while his son will be home on leave.

Good thing Pizzo, an insurance salesman, left early.

Tickets went on sale online at 7:30 a.m., about an hour and a half before sales started at the Bank.

And quickly, the Ring Ceremony game was almost sold out. The only seats left were reserved for the fans waiting at the park.

Shortly before 9 a.m., the Phanatic snipped a strip of faux tickets held by ballgirls, ceremonially letting the on-site buying begin.

Minutes later, all the seats for that game were gone. Only standing room was left.

But Pizzo, officially first in line - he'd arrived at 5:15 - was grinning for TV cameras, holding up his family's tickets.

"It's awesome. It's worth the wait," he said.

Gabby Stankewiz, 15th in line, declined standing-room tickets for April 8. Instead, she and friend Jen Giardini, both 18-year-old college students from Willow Grove, chose seats for the previous night's game, which will feature a championship T-shirt giveaway.

The whirlwind continues in the Phillies ticket department.

Last year, the club had 50 regular-season sellouts, boosting attendance to a club best-ever 3.4 million, according to John Weber, vice president for ticket sales and operations.

All seven playoff games in October were sold out, too.

With the World Series trophy in hand - and it was on hand yesterday at the park - the Phillies might break that record easily.

By yesterday, the Phillies had sold enough season tickets to fill, on average, 24,000 seats a game - about 4,000 more per game than last year.

That's about 1.9 million seats right there.

Before yesterday, 400,000 had been sold in other ways - including special six-game plans, group sales, and advance single-game sales to season-ticket holders, purchasers from last year, and members of a Phillies e-mail club.

Yesterday, 50,000 more tickets were gobbled up.

By midafternoon, single-game tickets for seats had vanished for three games: April 8, June 21 (Fathers Appreciation Day/Men's Bucket Hat Day), and Oct. 4 (Fan Appreciation Day), Weber said.

Also headed for selling out were Opening Day and the three mid-June Red Sox games, even though they weren't included in yesterday's sale.

The Sox contests and three games grabbed up yesterday can still be obtained with a package ranging from a "Six Pack" to the full-season plan with all 81 home games.

The April 5 home opener is now part of only full-season ticket plans.

Fans can also try to win tickets for the Sox games and the opener by signing up for a drawing at the Phillies Web site, Weber said. (For more, go to www.phillies.com, and click "Tickets," then "Ticket Purchase Opportunity.")

Also, a few hours before almost all home games, the Phillies sell about 500 standing-room tickets at the windows on Darien Street, Weber said.

Presales were a big reason the Ring Ceremony game was gone by rush hour yesterday morning. Not only did the cybersales start early for everyone, but season-ticket holders have been able to buy tickets to individual games since Feb. 9, and other presales started Tuesday for fans who bought tickets online last season or signed up for an e-mail club, Weber said.

Fans don't need to panic - yet, he said.

"We still have over one million tickets to sell," he said. "It's just that certain games are more popular than others."

And what about that Charlie Manuel bobblehead giveaway on April 28?

"It is selling well. However, plenty of seats are available," Weber said.