Phillies MVP? You, the fan

LOOKING BACK ON the nine Phillies' postseason games this year - and the 14 on last year's path to the world championship -it's clear that "home-field advantage" in Philadelphia is more than a cliché.

For three glorious nights of the NLCS, Citizens Bank Park was full of screaming fans waving rally towels cheering each pitch and booing calls they didn't like; the Philly Phanatic in boxing silks knocking out a preening "come late, leave early" Hollywood Dodger fan to the tune of "Rocky"; the crowd serenading Manny Ramirez with a singsong, "You took steroids" . . . The Phillies fan became a sort of 10th player on the field.

The Dodgers were outnumbered.

Younger Dodgers, and a few of the veterans, seemed rattled by the din, perhaps buying into the myth - perpetuated by writers and broadcasters from other parts of the league - of how tough and terrible the fans are in Philly.

In fact, the menace of Philadelphia fans may even have prompted Dodger manager Joe Torre to rearrange his pitching rotation, starting the less experienced Clayton Kershaw in Los Angeles in Game One to avoid throwing him into the Citizens Bank Field cauldron, waiting until Game Four in Philadelphia to start onetime Phillie Randy Wolf.

Lot of good it did them.

And we can only imagine the lift it provides leftfielder Raul Ibanez to hear the stadium rock with chants of ""Rah-OOL, Rah-OOL." Same with Senor Octubre catcher Carlos "ROO-eez." ("They're not booing, folks," the out-of-town announcers are always compelled to say).

Late on Wednesday night, Phillies owner Dave Montgomery and manager Charlie Manuel stood at second base and publicly acknowledged the fans' energy and pride as a factor in the Phillies' success.

OF COURSE, the crowd is only a factor when the players on the field deliver.

And so they did, in some of the most impressive - and exciting - baseball to be seen anywhere. It makes the stated and unstated wish of TV broadcasters for a Yankees-Dodgers series simply out of touch with reality.

In fact, as many people have noticed, Wednesday's pennant clinch seemed almost anti-climactic, like something we have come to expect. Even the celebration afterward was far less rowdy than last year's - helped in part by the city's precautions - removing the high-tech garbage-compacting bins from South Broad Street, and greasing utility poles and bus shelters to retard climbers.

(A word of advice, though, to Pennsylvania state troopers: Watch the Philadelphia police, who are used to madness of this sort: They don't bounce their billy clubs in anticipation.)

We're not quite there yet, but Philadelphia may have kicked its centuries-old inferiority complex.

As the legendary, and much missed, Richie Ashburn used to say to the legendary (and much missed) HK: "Hard to believe, Harry." *