Phillies fans booing culture back in the limelight yet again
By John Town
As is tradition, Phillies fans booing their team has once again become a talking point, and as usual, there are never any winners.
Even when the Phillies pull off an emotionally thrilling win in a game they almost lost multiple times, something negative still wound up emerging from it. Surprisingly, it came from the player who should be feeling the best after, Sean Rodriguez, who hit the walk-off home run in Monday night’s win over the Pirates.
Coming into the game, Rodriguez was hitting just .207 with a 75 wRC+ in 84 plate appearances. His playing time has been sparse with only 17 starts since joining the team, likely worsening his struggles even more. His spot on the roster has been under fire his entire time as a Philile.
After the game, Rodriguez took the opportunity in the limelight to vent about his frustrations with the way fans treated him and teammate Rhys Hoskins earlier in the game: [quote via Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia]
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"“Who’s looking bad and feeling entitled when you hear stuff like that?” he said. “I’m not the one booing. I’m not the one screaming. I’m not the one saying pretty disgusting things at times. That seems pretty entitled. You’re just making yourself look pretty bad as an individual, as a person, as a fan. That’s tough."
So once again, we are now left dealing with the debate over booing, which never ends well.
It comes to the forefront in one way or another every year as different players get booed and possibly respond for various reasons, legitimate or not.
In Rodriguez and Hoskins’s cases, there’s reason to rain down some boos. I already detailed Rodriguez’s struggles as a Phillie, and Hoskins is not doing much better in recent weeks.
Hoskins is hitting just .164 since the All-Star Break and has an infield fly ball rate of 26.7% with runners in scoring position. Hoskins went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and popped out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth Monday night.
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If Rodriguez thought saying something would make things better for him and his teammates, he was wrong. Upon his introduction in the starting lineup Tuesday night, he was once again booed.
Manager Gabe Kapler responded to Rodriguez’s comments before Tuesday’s game, saying that players need the “thickest possible skin” to play in Philadelphia. Kapler referenced other players like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Charles Barkley, who all were booed while playing in Philadelphia.
No matter what team players are on, they will have to contend with booing.
Where the line gets fuzzy is once people start directly attacking players. Earlier this month, a fan was removed from a Phillies-Giants game earlier this month at the behest of the players after criticizing Kapler and Rodriguez. A similar incident occurred last year in Boston after a fan yelled at Odubel Herrera following one of his patented blunders. In both instances, the fans were told that the manager wanted them out, but Kapler just served as the messenger from the players to stadium security.
Of course, the typical arguments defending these actions are “we’re just passionate” or “I paid good money so I can say what I want.” Booing has become an integral part of Philadelphia sports fandom, for better or for worse, and is always the first thing talked about whenever a player comes to the city.
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Either way, booing has become the center of conversation yet again, at least until something else comes up to be mad about.