No one likes us and we don't care.
During Sunday Night Baseball's broadcast of Braves at Phillies, the broadcast crew made sure to discuss how Bryce Harper has a specific handshake with every single one of his teammates.
Harper, who hit two of the Phillies' eight home runs in their three-game sweep of the Braves to open the season, has been the leader of a lot of on-field excitement and celebrating so far. After Harper's second home run to put the Phillies up 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th, followed by more on-field handshakes, on Sunday night, the next hitter Rhys Hoskins was drilled by a pitch up and in by Shane Carle, who was immediately ejected.
Related: Phillies set highest attendance marks since 2012
The pitch came during an 0-1 count and, to be fair, it is unlikely the Carle was targeting Hoskins to "quiet" the Phils after Harper's bomb. But there is certainly some speculation that the Phillies' energy is—or certainly could—bother opposing teams.
"I'll say that I appreciate how enthusiastic our players are," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said after the game via ESPN.com. "I think, celebration is a part of the game. And deserved when guys are swinging the bats really well. And feeding off each other's energy. I support our ballclub and the way they've come out in these three games. On the field, off the field. And from the standpoint of celebrating one another."
What a perfect quote. The Phillies seem ready to become the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. High-energy, against the grain, young, fun, and good. I'm not jumping to multiple championships already (necessarily), I just mean in terms of having fun in the moment and not being afraid to show it. In baseball, a sport that tries to suppress that, it's certainly refreshing and will be incredibly entertaining for Phillies fans and Major League Baseball.
With three straight wins to start the season, the Phillies are the last unbeaten MLB team remaining. Citizens Bank Park felt like a party all weekend long with over 130,476 fans attended the season opening series against the Braves, the most to attend the first three games of a season at Citizens Bank Park since 2012 (135,684).
Speaking of high-energy...next up for the Phils, they head to Washington D.C. for Bryce Harper's return to Nationals Park. And we'll be there.
