From Tracy Ringolsby of Fox Sports online: '"When they built that damn ballpark, we didn't have a prayer. They started printing money and hitting shorter home runs,’’ Atlanta president John Schuerholz on the emergence of the Phillies as an NL East power coinciding with the team’s move into Citizens Bank Park.'
Very funny that Ringolsby, who covers covers the Colorado Rockies, would cite ballpark as an advantage. Does it explain why the Phillies have a road winning average over .500 and the Braves do not? Or why Atlanta draws far fewer fans than Philadelphia? Or that last year the Phillies hit more homers on the road than at home? Or that this year they are hitting fewer home runs anywhere? Or that in recent years Citizens Bank Park has played as a neutral park, comparable to AT&T Park in San Francisco? Or that the Braves, whose former park was a homer haven, tailored their new park, built in the heyday of Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz, to pitching. Does it explain why the Phillies are top to bottom a better team than the other teams in the NL East? Not to mention that they have gone to the World Series twice in a row.
Cry, cry, cry over your tired stereotypes. Which is pretty much what Bobby Cox, too, does every time he comes to Philadelphia.
