Irvin Walks, Crowd Goes Wild

Philadelphia fans have taken more crap over the years than any other fanbase. Some chucklehead threw a snowball at a drunk in a Santa suit 50 years ago at an Eagles game, and broadcasters mention it like its a regular occurrence.

The there's JD Drew, who spurned the Phillies and had a battery thrown at him 20 years ago. I'm not condoning the throwing of anything at players, but you'd think it was a DieHard still connected to a Chevy that was thrown from the 700 level.

So that's why you have to love what happened to rookie pitcher Cole Irvin last night. He made his first start in Philadelphia, and worked a 10-pitch walk. And he got a standing ovation for it.

Here's how it went down-with two out in the bottom of the third, Irvin came up against Rockies starter Jon Gray.
Pitch 1: Swing and miss at a high 95 mph fastball.
Pitch 2: Takes a high 77 mph curve for ball 1.
Pitch 3: Takes a barely low and inside fastball for ball 2.
Pitch 4: Takes a 94 mph fastball right down the middle for strike 2.
Pitch 5: Fouls off a 95 mph fastball.
Pitch 6: Fouls off an 87 mph breaking ball.
Pitch 7: Fouls off another breaking ball.
Pitch 8: Takes 96 mph fastball low for ball 3.
Pitch 9: Fouls off 95 mph fastball.
Pitch 10: Takes low and inside 97 mph fastball for ball 4.

Irvin takes first base with a walk in his first big league at bat and the crowd goes wild.

Fans had a similar reaction when Brett Myers worked a walk in the playoffs against CC Sabathia back in 2008. Bigger stage, bigger reaction. But what happened last night with Irvin was very cool. And to all those writers and announcers trotting out tired old tropes about Philadelphia fans being the worst, just go to the video. And use your imagination for a change.