Diamondbacks Players Unaffected by Loud Citizens Bank Park Crowd

A very cool environment to be sure, but Diamondbacks players say they're not negatively affected

There is no doubt that the Philadelphia Phillies enjoy a great home field advantage. They play great at home, with a 52-32 record between the regular and postseason, and a big part of that may be the energy they draw from the home crowd. To a man, every Phillies player talks about. 

A familiar theme for reporters to ask the Diamondbacks players and manager has been about that crowd and the effects it might have on them. At the end of the day however, Zac Gallen probably summed it up best when he said "In terms of the atmosphere, I think it's more of a positive for them than a negative [for us]. I mean we play in Dodger Stadium, the Padres, the Giants, those places get loud too. I think it's more they [the Phillies] kind of feed off the energy, necessarily than it's a detraction from us."

Last night shortstop Geraldo Perdomo echoed that sentiment, in a slightly different way. "We faced the same type of crowd against the Dodgers. What is the difference? It's the same crowd, different team, but it's the same fans. The same loud. We just didn't get on base today, that's all".

Torey Lovullo took it a step further, even comparing the Chase Field crowd from game three against the Dodgers to what he experienced last night. "It was about what we expected. To be honest with you, the final game against the Dodgers at Chase Field when it was rocking with 50,000 strong, I was proud of our fans, and it was about the same. It was about the same intensity, same volume." 

There are differences though. Fans here know the game really well, and are engaged from the first pitch and never let up. Lovullo made sure to acknowledge that. 

"These fans here are just very smart and very engaged. It's the timing of their engagement. It's like as soon as the ball has gotten through or as soon as a strike is caught, they're just on it, and it's just very quick engagement."

Kevin Ginkel even enjoyed his experience out in the bullpen last night. If fans there think that anything they are saying is having a negative impact on the pitchers ability to go out and perform, the may be over estimating themselves. 

"So cool. You know, it feels like October baseball. You watch these games on TV over the years, and in the Northeast especially, like Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, like all those teams that get into this position, they bring it. They bring it every single pitch. It's a cool environment for sure. You know, they get on you if you're not performing, but then they're your best friend when you are performing. Warming up in the bullpen, you hear the jeers, you hear the crowd and stuff, so it's just special. I'm just trying to take it all in."