Phillies

Merrill Kelly Says His Comment About Citizens Bank Park Atmosphere was Taken Out of Context

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 18th, 2023 · 9:46 AM EDT

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There was a video clip circulating on Tuesday, ahead of NLCS Game 2, with Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly talking about crowd noise and stadium atmosphere. He mentioned the World Baseball Classic and unknowingly kicked the hornet’s nest:

Merrill Kelly pokes the bear pic.twitter.com/bjnYKWqdvQ

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) October 17, 2023

“…and then going into the WBC game, yeah, I obviously haven’t heard (Citizens Bank Park) on the field, but I’d be very surprised if it trumped that Venezuela game down in Miami”

Spoiler: it was very loud! And the Phillies crushed the D Backs 10-0 to take a 2-0 series lead. Afterward, he said his quote was taken out of context:

Merrill Kelly says his quote about Citizens Bank Park was taken out of context pic.twitter.com/Sr1wChEOrQ

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) October 18, 2023

“Obviously it didn’t go our way, but like I said previously in that interview before that little snippet was taken out of context and made into something that it probably shouldn’t have been, I said that from the very start, that the energy was going to be loud. I know these fans bring a ton of energy, they love their Phillies. It’s nothing they didn’t know going into the game. It’s not like I was taken by surprise by it. It was definitely loud. Like I said before in those interviews, whether it’s 45,000 people cheering for you or against you, it’s what gets us going. That’s part of what sucked about the COVID season, was not having fans in the stands, and dead silence. Whether it’s hostile territory or home crowd, obviously you prefer the home crowd, but either way, the excitement is why we’re here and why we play.”

Yeah look, this is rather innocuous. It’s not like he said, “Philadelphia is a shithole and I hope everyone in the city gets herpes.” There wasn’t anything acerbic in the comments, he just said he’d be surprised if NLCS Game 2 “trumped” the WBC atmosphere between the U.S. and Venezuela in Miami. Phillies fans heard that and simply said “challenge accepted!”

I went back and found some more of Tuesday’s pregame presser on the D Backs website, and in an extension of the original quote, he talks about his time playing in Korea for the SK Wyverns:

“Go back to the Korean series you were talking about, obviously their fans, they cheer a little bit differently than we do. Each offensive player that comes up to the plate, they have their own fight song. So when it was the championship series, there was about 30,000 people in Seoul and about 15,000 people would be singing in unison for whatever hitter was up. They don’t stop until the next hitter comes up. And then going into the WBC game, yeah, I obviously haven’t heard (Citizens Bank Park) on the field, but I’d be very surprised if it trumped that Venezuela game down in Miami. When Trea (Turner) hit that grand slam, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced, at least baseball-wise, experienced an atmosphere like that. So I hope this isn’t louder than that.”

Even with the quote extended and not truncated, it doesn’t make much of a difference. He wasn’t being a dickhead, nor was he being critical. Phillies fans just took exception to the thought that a fucking WBC game would have a better atmosphere than the NLCS at Citizens Bank Park.

And Kelly didn’t pitch horribly in this game. Yeah, he gave up three solo home runs, but only four hits total over 5.2 innings. He fared better than Zac Gallen.