The Wave!!??

Tuesday night, Citizen's Bank Park was rocking. Chase Utley had just hit a home run for the Iron Pigs and would be back tomorrow. Ryan Howard could be following soon. And the surprisingly above .500 and playing playoff baseball, cross state Pittsburgh Pirates were in town. It was bottom of the seventh, Michael Swimmer enters the game, nobody out, two men on, the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead. The two billionth in a row sell-out crowd should be watching with baited breath, screaming at the strikes, and holding their breath in between pitches. And when what looks like a game tying sacrifice fly off the bat of Neil Walker is thwarted by an on the money throw from John Mayberry and a clutch block of the plate and tag by MVP candidate Carlos Ruiz, what were the fans doing?

The Wave?!

Philadelphia fans have a national reputation of many things...unruly, boorish, boobirds who throw snowballs at Santa, etc, etc. Our rebuttal has always been "So what. We're passionate intelligent fans who care." So what explanation is there for such an obvious fan faux pax of doing the wave in the midst of a close game?

Is it the state of the home town team? They've been called basement dwellers, past their prime, old over night, etc, etc. All of which may prove to be true. But.....as of Tuesday, they still were within a stone's thow of the second wild card spot. Mind you, that last year's gang busting, 102 win, record setting Phillies were dispacthed of by a wild card team. That went on to win the World Series. Sometimes it's better to be hot than good.

Full disclosure, I have participated in a wave before. But like eveything there is a time and a place, people. Drunken college kids before the start of a football game. Fine. Phillies up-or down-by 5 or more runs. Fine. September and double digits out of a playoff berth. Fine. Bottom of the 7th in a meaningful one-run ball game is not the time nor the place. The fact that so many "diehard" baseball fans rose up and down in unision during an intense situation of a game the Phillies had to have......I'm not sure what to think. How about it world? Have Philadelphia fans simply given up already? Has the city lost its edge? Is their baseball IQ not up to snuff? Or is the mystical powers of the wave simply that strong. Let me know what you think before you arrive at my doorstep with pitchforks. And please no more waves. Philadelphia, we're better than that.