Although the Yankees may be leading the World Series 2-1, Phillies fans have completely dominated Yankees fans in terms of the noise and energy exuded so far.
Yankee Stadium sounded more like a wake during the first two games of the series when compared to the pure madness seen last night at Citizens Bank Park.
And I’m not talking about an Irish wake either.
The first thing I noticed when flipping on the television to watch Game One at Yankee Stadium was all of the empty seats.
To be 100 percent perfectly honest, this was the first time in my entire life I had seen empty seats during the middle of a World Series game.
The first thing I noticed last night was 43,000 fans shaking white towels while screaming their heads off, and this was during the rain delay. The noise and energy went up another notch once the tarp was finally lifted from the field.
A few empty seats could be seen during the late innings of last night’s game. However, we have to consider that it was after midnight, it was raining, and the Phillies were down by four runs.
More empty seats could be seen at Yankee Stadium during the fifth inning of Game One, when the Yankees were trailing by just a run.
As the rain began to fall at Yankee Stadium during the first game of the series, many fans ran for cover.
As the rain fell during Game Three, Phillies fans zipped up their coats and yelled a little louder.
When the Yankees had runners in scoring position during Games One and Two, the decibel level at Yankee Stadium was slightly higher than that of a soft whisper.
When Jimmy Rollins led off Game Three with a base hit—which Alex Rodriguez should have come up with—it sounded as if he had just hit a grand slam to end the series.
“It's seventh inning of Game Two, and Yankee fans have finally shown up,” Tim McCarver said to describe the Yankees fans’ lack of enthusiasm.
Now, the amount of noise, or lack thereof, at Yankee Stadium can be partly blamed on the exuberant ticket prices being charged.
Many hardcore Yankees fans were forced to watch the games at home while celebrities and Wall Street executives—for whom we as tax payers may or may not have bought World Series tickets—were the only ones able to afford tickets to the game.
As we all know, celebrities and millionaires are not the type to sit out in the rain and cheer on a team that they probably know very little about.
That being said, I’m sure tickets to Game Three at Citizens Bank Park also had a hefty price tag attached to them.
It has often been said that the Yankees' decline initially began after losing the 2001 World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
I personally disagree with this, considering that the Yankees made it to the World Series in 2004 and had made the playoffs every year up until last. But that’s an argument for another day.
If the Yankees were in the midst of some kind of decline over the past eight years, have their fans declined along with them?
If Games One and Two are anything to go by, the answer to that question would have to be yes.
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