It really has become what I now term it. I was there - I should know. Fights, curse words, 9 year-old boys bathed in beer, and Rays fans hiding in bathrooms. I'm just shocked cheese-steaks weren't flying in the faces of those poor folks who wore those "TB" navy blue hats. It looked like a Crips v Bloods battle in Citizens Bank Park last night and the former was definitely outnumbered.

Look, I've been to a few ballparks in my time. I've been to World Series games at the now "old Yankee Stadium" and even in San Diego when I was younger and my hometown team (NYY) played them. I've stood outside of Wrigley for a few, took in a game at Fenway, but never saw a game in Philly.

I don't know if the folks over at 700level.com agree or Daulerio or "The Good Phight" do, but Citizens Bank Park is now officially the toughest place to play in in baseball. There are no ifs, and's, or buts about it. It's not a shock that the toughest sports fans in the country now have the toughest stadium to play in. It should always go hand in hand.

But, let's take a look at Philly as a whole and their fans.

A lot of the toughness of Eagles fans left when they left the grungy, rat-infested, stuck to your seat Veterans Stadium for the oh so pretty Lincoln Financial Field. Sixers fans are only tough when Kobe is in town because they don't have a chance to be tough for anything else because no one is ever there. As for the "Broad Street Bullies," playing the Flyers is never tough. They create an environment which isn't the sweetest place to play in. Those fans keep it as authentic as Mitchell & Ness on Walnut.

But, I'm a Yankee fan and I can tell you that the luster is gone at the stadium in the city you Philadelphians love to hate. I'm a season ticket holder in that stadium and it shames me when I sit next to folks that don't know jack about us and think Torre is still in the dug-out calling the shots.

Yankee Stadium was hard to play in because of the things that have happened there; the Boone's, Jeffrey Maier's, Jose Offerman steal of 2nd base in the 1999 ALCS. You know all that umpire related stuff that benefited them. But that stuff has been gone for years and teams like Cleveland, Florida, and Boston have gone into the stadium and made the Yankees look like the tense ones, instead of themselves. We haven't had any of those umpire breaks in years and I feel a lot of that has to do with the fan base. When they aren't as rabid, the umpires aren't as scared. Same goes for Boston, but they never had as much luck with calls as the Yankees did. In the end, a stadium shouldn't be intimidating because of it's history, but because of it's fans and the effect they can have on the players and the umpires.

Which brings me to the city of Philadelphia's hunger for a title of any sort, the Phillies finishing August and September with a record of 19-9 at home, and continuing the success at home during the playoff run with a 5-0 record and a sixth win equaling a championship tonight possibly. Those are certified recipes for a hostile playing environment.

The stadiums I mentioned before are historic places. I don't necessarily think players are scared to play there. They are amazed by their surroundings, but once a few innings pass and the butterflies are gone, everything goes back to normal. But Citizens Bank Park isn't that. It isn't rich in tradition, its brand new. It shouldn't really be an intimidating place, but its turned into an open air version of the Metrodome of the 90's. It's that loud. Like Kirby Puckett game winning home-run loud. Kirk Gibson home-run loud. I could barely speak to the person next to me. What else could be considered a reason why this is now a tough place to play in?

Oh yeah, as I mentioned before, umpires blowing calls is another reason. They messed up the Crawford at 1B call in Game 3 which could have gotten that ump killed if Philly lost that game. In addition, yesterday's huge blunder on that Longoria tag on Jimmy. What else? The way the umps got in the heads of the Rays. Even manager Joe Maddon had to come out to complain about a spot being on Blanton's hat that really wasn't there.

The Rays have been completely stripped of their confidence. The series reminds me of the Cardinals v Tigers series, when everyone felt Detroit would run though the Cards and it didn't happen. What occurred was an absolute thrashing by the under-dog NL team to the AL team.

So next season, when Phillies fans are all calm and happy they have a title during the season, everyone will be like: "Philly fans aren't as hard-core anymore. They are satisfied." That's what you think...but it's the farthest thing from the truth. Philadelphian's are always hungry. One title will not be enough. Not enough.