Phillies fans rejoice in postseason win

Childhood friends Dave Homsher, Tom Homsher and Jim Sarruda - "The Three Utleys" - moved through the crowd yesterday looking like an honor guard in the creamy white Chase Utley jerseys they wore to the Phillies' postseason opener.

"It's kind of a superstition," said Dave, 25, a Lockheed engineer. "We haven't lost whenever we've worn them all together."

Styling out in Ashburn Alley: Larkin Cruice, Max Conarroe and Mike Schaer - "The Burrell Bat Boys," perfectly face-painted 15-year-olds from Cheltenham, where they have chartered a fan club for Philly leftfielder Pat Burrell.

Leading the cheers at High & Inside, a stadium pub, was Rocko Rounbehler, a lanky strutter with the Shooting Stars Mummers club, who wore a sequined suit for the occasion. Rounbehler, who said he is a senior manager at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, figures his portfolio lost about $100,000 in the market plunge.

But with his Fightin' Phils vying for the National League title - and, with luck, the World Series crown - Rounbehler wasn't thinking about money yesterday, he said.

"My name is Rocko," he shouted. "I spell it capital F-U-N."

Neither rain, nor gusty winds, nor the nation's monetary meltdown seemed to dispirit the die-hard fans from across the region who came to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phils beat the Milwaukee Brewers - their first postseason win since 1993.

In a carnival atmosphere enlivened for some by the thrill of playing hooky from work, the midafternoon Game 1 of the National League division series was an event they had been waiting weeks to see as the Phillies duked it out against the New York Mets for the top spot in the East Division.

"The last month, every night we've been glued to the TV," said Scott Niedermaier, 39, a software salesman from Bordentown.

Niedermaier is an Eagles fan, too. But there's something about baseball, he said, that really gets his juices flowing, and he thinks it has to do with the intimacy engendered with the team over a long regular season.

"I wouldn't trade five Super Bowls for one World Series championship," he said. "There's something about a long season. You live and die with them over a long time. You really get to know 'em.

"For me, and the 40,000 other people here, we could care less about what's going on across the street," he said. "It's all about what's happening here right now."

Niedermaier, who attended the game with his wife, Vera, said he had gotten his tickets from a connection he called Moustache John. Between the fifth and sixth innings, he shot BlackBerry texts to a colleague back in the office.

"I told him we were up, 3-0," Niedermaier said. "And, of course, I broke his stones because I'm here and he's not."

Jim Lutz Jr. of Bethlehem, Pa., said he had jumped on Craig's List right after the Phils edged out the Mets to make sure he'd have tickets for the game. He came with his father, Jim Sr.; his brother Chris; and son, Collin, 4, who wore a tiny cap embossed with an emblem of the Phillie Phanatic.

Lutz Sr., of Wind Gap, Pa., is a lifelong Phillies fan who recalled the 1953 game that his grandfather took him to at Connie Mack Stadium just to watch Jackie Robinson play with the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers.

Now, 55 years later, he said it felt good to indoctrinate Collin into the charms of Phillies fandom.

Outside the stadium, a scalper offered a pair of 400-level seats behind home plate for $150.

Gina Callahan and Tom McMenamin of Collegeville attended the game together. Her right cheek was painted with the Phillies logo. On her left, "#28," an homage to outfielder Jayson Werth.

"He's a good player," she said, "and he's cute."

"We have a friend who does nothing but dig at us when the Mets win," said Callahan. "So for us to be here, and him not, makes it all the better."

In the first row behind the third-base dugout sat a small contingent of Brewers fans, including Lynne and Eric Siegel, who had flown in from Los Angeles yesterday morning to catch the game.

Lynne braved the crowd in a pink Brewers T-shirt and said everyone she had met had been welcoming and cordial.

"It's the City of Brotherly Love," she said. "They won't kill me. Right?"

Kristin Badiali, a health-insurance saleswoman, and Jason Stott, a limousine fleet manager, traveled from Deptford to see the game. Badiali's father was in Cooper University Hospital in Camden, recovering from cardiac bypass surgery and watching on TV.

Stott wore a fright wig. His face was painted red, white and blue. He's been a Phillies fan since he was 10, and his clownish demeanor belied his passion for his team.

"It's do or die. It's playoff time," he said. "You've got 150-odd games in the regular season. You can't win them all. But now it's do or die."

After pitcher Cole Hamels, who held the Brewers scoreless, was replaced in the ninth inning with long-legged closer Brad "Lights Out" Lidge, who promptly gave up a run, veteran usher Lyn Coleman nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!" she shouted, worrying that Lidge might let the game slip away.

But as the fans cranked up the rally towels and began chanting, "Let's go, Phillies! Let's go," she joined in.

"Stretch out your big legs, boy," she shouted.

And Lidge obliged with a game-ending strikeout.