PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies played 30 home games last season in front of empty seats so the limited crowds they had for the first two months of this season often felt like a sellout. But Friday night — finally — they would be able to feel the buzz of a ballpark no longer limited by crowd capacity.
Joe Girardi said before a 2-1 loss to the Nationals that he was excited to see what it would be like. The Phillies played last month in Atlanta just after they lifted their capacity limits. Perhaps South Philly would feel like that. Instead, it was impossible to know that the Phillies had opened Citizens Bank Park to full capacity.
The Phils drew just 15,030 fans Friday, which is the smallest crowd at a Phillies game — when the ballpark is 100% open — since October 1, 2015. That day, the Phillies had an excuse as they moved a night game to noon in advance of a coming storm. There were storms on Friday evening, but they moved through well before first pitch as they were forecast to.
The ballpark was fully opened, but the city seems indifferent about a team that is four games under .500 and has lost 12 of their last 17. The Phillies hit seven homers on Tuesday night and scored 17 times, but that outburst didn’t help them on Friday. After two days off, the Phillies had just six hits and were stymied by Max Scherzer, who struck out nine batters and pitched into the eighth.
Rhys Hoskins started the ninth with a double to right field, but may have reached third if he noticed the outfielder had fumbled the ball. Girardi replaced Hoskins with Travis Jankowski, who was promptly caught in a rundown when he came too far off second base when a pitch was blocked by the catcher. Jankowski, who grew up a Phillies fan in Lancaster County, was booed by the 15,130 fans as he returned to the dugout.
Tuesday was the first time in seven games that the Phillies scored more than three runs. Outside of that night in Cincinnati, the offense has been dismal. They have struck out at least 10 times in three of their last six games, had just two extra-base hits on Friday night, and gave away the tying run in a baserunning blunder.
There is no indication when Bryce Harper and Didi Gregorius will return from the injured list and the lineup is scuffling without them. It’s not a product people are lining up to see. The Phillies drew more fans last month for three games against the Red Sox, when the ballpark was still under the city’s crowd restrictions.
The Phillies can expect a bigger crowd next weekend when the Yankees come to town. The ballpark was originally scheduled to open at full capacity for that series before the city announced last week that they were lifting the COVID-19 crowd restrictions in time for the Nationals series. The news didn’t seem to help the Phillies sell many extra tickets.
“I think it’s really special,” Girardi said before the game about the ballpark re-opening in full. “I think we’ve been looking forward to this for a long, long time. You can go back to when we reported in camp last June, that we’ve been looking forward to these kinds of things. So I’m really excited to see what it’s like today. You know, we had a chance to play in Atlanta when they opened up. And it was like, ‘Man, this is great. I mean, this is what baseball is supposed to be like.’ So I’m really looking forward to this.”
Zack Wheeler pitched into the eighth inning. He has pitched at least seven innings in four straight starts. He struck out eight and allowed just two runs, but two runs were too big of a hole felt like a huge hole for a floundering offense.
Wheeler’s first run scored on a shallow fly ball in the fourth that Andrew McCutchen was unable to grab in left field. McCutchen was playing deep with two outs and his slide came up short after he charged for the ball. Two innings later, the Nats got Wheeler again with two outs on a homer by Juan Soto. He flipped his bat after making contact and seemed to stare at Wheeler after stepping on home plate. It was Soto’s 11th homer in 21 games at Citizens Bank Park.
Wheeler had thrown 92 pitches through seven innings, but Girardi allowed him to start the eighth. He allowed a leadoff single before Josh Harrison popped up. His pitch count was at 101 and Soto was on deck for the first time since his homer. It seemed like a chance at redemption. Instead, Girardi came from the dugout. Wheeler’s night was finished and he walked off the field to a standing ovation. It was a nice gesture and the crowd was as loud as 15,030 fans could be.
