As beer cans and other debris flew onto the field at Truist Park on Saturday night, Phillies radio color commentator Larry Andersen wanted to remind everyone what city the fans were hurling trash in.
“I just hope that the national media will pay attention to this and understand that this game is not being played in Philadelphia,” the former major-league pitcher said during the broadcast of Game 1 of the National League Division Series. “This game is being played in Atlanta.”
After a replay review upheld home-plate umpire Brian O’Nora’s call of catcher’s interference on Braves backstop Sean Murphy with the bases loaded to give the Phillies their third run in an eventual 3-0 opening victory, the home crowd voiced its displeasure by showering the field with litter. The game was shortly delayed to clean up the mess left by Atlanta fans.
Of course, Philadelphia is a city with a reputation for having unruly sports fans. But Andersen pushed back on that notion as the security staff cleaned up after the Braves faithful.
“I’ve heard enough about Philly fans,” he said. “I’m sick of that.”
While it’s certain that Philadelphia fans haven’t always been angels — we’ll still save you from the Santa Claus tropes — there have been a few fairly recent examples of trash being thrown on the field in Atlanta after controversial calls against the home club.
The most famous example happened during the 2012 NL Wild Card Game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Turner Field, when the infield fly rule was called on a Braves pop fly in not-so-shallow left field.
A similar situation happened in 2021 against the Phillies when Alec Bohm scored a run when it was shown that he had not actually touched home plate.
With Game 2 of the 2023 NLDS set to take place on Monday night in Atlanta, it remains to be seen what kind of impact the crowd will bring.
Must-read (or watch) Phillies content
- Before Game 2, read up on how the Phillies took Game 1 in an upset in Atlanta on Phillies Nation.
- Destiny Lugardo has the info on how Rob Thomson masterfully handled Ranger Suárez and the bullpen to piece together 27 outs of scoreless baseball.
- As written by Tim Kelly, Bryce Harper delivered like the star he is.
- Check out the Phillies’ reactions to Trea Turner’s incredible double play.
- Are the Braves seeing ghosts after another Game 1 loss to the Phillies? Jeff Schultz of The Athletic seems to think so.
- Why not watch that sweet double play just one more time?
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