Drunk Phillies fan makes outrageous claim during TV meltdown after team’s playoff loss to the Mets
Baseball, the late Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti once wrote, was “designed to break your heart.”
The man who famously imposed Pete Rose’s permanent ban from the game knew firsthand what he was talking about. Actor Paul Giamatti’s father was a lifelong Red Sox fan during Boston’s 86-year championship drought and was acutely aware of the sport’s annual progression from hope to despair.
“You count on it, trust that it will buffer the passage of time, keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then, just when the days are all dim, when you need it most, it stops.” , says Giamatti, the 19th president of Yale University, wrote in “Take Time for Paradise: Americans and Their Games.”
The passage is especially relevant for Philadelphia Phillies fans following Wednesday’s heartbreaking loss to the rival New York Mets in Game 4 of the National League Divisional Series.
As one Phillies supporter remarkably put it, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor’s grand slam in the sixth inning on Wednesday was somehow worse than the death of her dog.
A drunken Phillies fan made an outrageous claim after their playoff loss to the Mets
Two men dressed in overalls (and not much else) described their grief to WFMZ Allentown
“So there’s a few low points in my life: my dog passed away and he won a grand slam,” Phils fan Courtney O’Neill said. Allentown’s WFMZ-TV off a crossbar after the 4-1 defeat. ‘The grand slam took the cake.
“I feel like I’m going to go to AA or therapy or some kind of institution because this is bullshit,” O’Neill said from a bar across the street from the Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park, where she watched the action Wednesday. . “It’s full of nonsense.”
The Phillies, NL East champions with a 95-67 record, were once again expected to compete for a World Series title in 2024 – something they have won only twice in the club’s 142-year history. Philadelphia not only has a two-time MVP in Bryce Harper, but also a strong rotation that includes All-Stars Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez.
But Suárez nearly collapsed during the second half of the season, and even with 4.1 strong innings in Wednesday’s start, the Phillies’ suddenly quiet bats couldn’t overcome Lindor’s sixth-inning bomb.
“We’re tired of it,” a shirtless fan in overalls told WFMZ. “We had such high expectations and now we’re just done.”
His friend, who was also wearing only overalls, said he has reached the fifth stage of grief: “Acceptance.”
“Acceptance that this team probably won’t win in the next five years,” the man said.