The City of Brotherly Love doesn’t live up to its nickname, at least according to Braves manager Brian Snitker.
The Atlanta skipper said he did not bring his family to Philadelphia for the Braves-Phillies Opening Day matchup on Friday because of the “hostile” nature of the crowd at Citizens Bank Park.
Snitker blasted the Philadelphia supporters before the end of spring training.
“It’s rough there,” Snitker said in an interview with Atlanta radio station WZGC that was broadcast March 21, as covered by the Associated Press. “And they don’t seem to mind either, quite honestly. It was rough on them all last year to the point where it was concerning.”
On Friday, before the Braves’ 9-3 walloping of the Phillies, Snitker was pressed on what made the crowd in Philly so “rough,” though the manager was rather evasive in his responses.
”My wife’s babysitting and the grandkids are in school,” Snitker said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “They wouldn’t be anywhere, honestly, other than home.
“I’m not going to get into all that. Let’s talk about today.”
Snitker received loud boos from the crowd of 44,452 on Thursday.
“They don’t boo nobodies,” Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider said, according to the Associated Press. “That’s what I’ve been told. I like playing here. It’s a fun place to play. There’s passionate fans, and a good team on the other side of the field. Usually it leads to a good game.”
It’s unclear if there was any particular incident or any inciting event that led Snitker to feel the way he did, but the Braves and Phillies — National League East rivals — have clashed in the National League Division Series the the last two years.
And during 2023’s affair, the two sides did have some extracurricular beef that was largely centered on Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia.
After the Braves infielder was heard chiding Phillies star Bryce Harper — saying “Atta boy, Harper” — in the locker room in Atlanta following a Braves win in Game 2, Phillies fans let Arcia hear it when the series shifted back to Philadelphia.
Harper made his own statement in Game 3, staring down Arcia twice after long home runs.
In Game 4, Phillies fans continued to boo Arcia, who, in turn, gestured at the crowd from the dugout before the Braves’ season-ending loss.
It’s unclear if any of that beef played into Snitker’s decision, though.
As for Friday’s game, the teams were deadlocked at 2-2 until the eighth when the Braves broke things open with a seven-run frame to take their first game of the year.
