Phillies Fans: Please Don't Suck

Let me start this off by saying this isn't a Cole Hamels apologist article. I, just like most fans, am frustrated by his first two starts. While the Nationals offense isn't nearly as bad as the casual baseball fan would think, it still isn't the Yankees. A 5.00+ERA isn't going to cut it and he knows that. If his ERA is still over 5.00 in May, you can be worried. Until then, let's just give him a chance.

Let me also say that this probably won't have any actual effect on Phillies fans. But I need to get this off my chest.

With that out of the way, here's what has been bothering me for months now. You, Phillies fans. You are starting to suck and that isn't good. It's time to step in and help you out, because Eagles fans have long since lost it and I don't want my Phillies fans losing it too.

Yesterday, walking around the ballpark, I heard things I hadn't really heard much of in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Whining. Complaining. Bitching.

"We should have kept Cliff Lee."

"Hamels just doesn't have it anymore, we gotta trade this guy."

"4-0, it's the Washington Nationals, we should be killing these guys."

It sounded, unfortunately, like an Eagles game. People, the Phillies aren't the Eagles. They've won before and they have a very good chance to win again. Back-to-back World Series isn't something teams do everyday and they are currently sitting at 6-1 with the best record in baseball. Things could be worse...trust me.

For years Eagles games have been boarderline terrible to sit through because of how awful and idiotic the fans of this town can be. We've turned watching the Eagles into one big complain-apalooza. I don't want the Phillies becoming that too, especially when it doesn't have to be that way. They are a great team, a team that has done very little to let us down in the last three years. Let's remember that.

For years the Phillies had been a disapointment and practically an afterthought in this town. But the division title in '07 changed that. It reinvigorated baseball in this town. Add in the two World Series apperances and, well, baseball in Philadelphia has never been this good.

We have the best team in the National League playing in this city. Cherish that fact, because it won't last. Nothing ever does. But to spend any time complaining in APRIL, when you're sitting at 6-1, about Cole Hamels or not having Cliff Lee anymore or Raul Ibanez's slow start or Brad Lidge's injury just makes you sound spoiled. Selfish. Like a Yankees fan. That isn't us.

But it will become us, if we don't recognize it now. No, I don't want to be like fans in St. Louis that cheer at everything and always smile. Our attitude is what makes us who we are. But that doesn't mean we boo our starting pitcher on opening day after he gives up a fluke hit to a pitcher. That makes us suck. It does. And that isn't who we are.

Yet.

[If this post pisses you off, you're probably a fan I wouldn't want to watch a game with. If this post makes sense to you, you're probably a fan I would want to watch a game with. If you had no feeling toward this...that's cool too.]