ANGRYVILLE -- You spend any time in this dingy city and around these folks, and pit bulls running wild come to mind.
Fine when leashed, but set them free, put a beer in their grubby paws and it's only a matter of time before they're going to go on the attack -- both the home team and its opponent feeling the bite.
It's an angry place, all right, everything old here in Philadelphia, crumbling and in ruin. Even the city's main attraction has a crack in it.
So the prevailing opinion around here is you have to be an obstinate pug to make it in Philly, the football team tough, the hockey team a bunch of bullies and the Phillies rugged competitors like Larry Bowa.
This is supposed to make Philly an intimidating place to play, Bowa telling the media Wednesday that if the Dodgers thought Chicago was bad, "they're going to be in for a rude awakening" playing here.
"It was like a West Coast crowd in Chicago," said Bowa, the Philly in him unable to keep himself from slapping Dodgers fans, and apparently discounting the manner in which Nancy Bea Hefley can whip a Dodgers crowd into a frenzy.
But if a Philly crowd is so intimidating, as Bowa suggests, why do the Phillies lose here so often? A year ago, the Phillies became the first pro sports franchise in North American history to lose 10,000 games.
Philly has always been more bark than championship bite, so why should the Dodgers give a hoot about folks who paint their faces and then have to drive home looking like sad clowns?
The Dodgers have the better team, a destiny date in Boston, and while that might make the folks in Philly miserable, they don't know how to act any differently here.
Funny thing, too, this series will probably come back here for Games 6 and 7, and nothing more disappointing than getting that close to a World Series only to trudge out of the stadium wondering what went wrong.
The Phillies get the first two games here, their best pitcher in Cole Hamels starting against Derek Lowe, who is pitching for a new contract next year, as much motivation as any pro athlete can have these days. Advantage Lowe.
Brett Myers, who has more losses than wins, then takes on Chad Billingsley, and the Dodgers look pretty good to win one of the first two games here. A sweep is not out of the question -- especially if Matt Kemp opts to rejoin the Dodgers.
