PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Phillies are hot, that much is certain, with Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler powering and pitching the team to the best record in baseball and a recent home winning streak that nearly matched the franchise record.
Hot, yes. But sexy, too?
Well, no team has been quite as alluring to the packed crowds at Citizens Bank Park as the Phillies. Just ask them.
Brandon Marsh, the outfielder with the Rip Van Winkle whiskers, was mic’d up for an ESPN Sunday night game when he was relayed a fan question from social media by the broadcast booth: If you had to start a rock band, who would you take from the team and what’s the band name?
Marsh rattled off catcher Garrett Stubbs, slugger Kyle Schwarber and outfielder Cristian Pache as his fellow band members, then as he hustled off the field after making a catch, blurted out the name that has since launched a blossoming business of the catchphrase T-shirts.
“Stay Loose and Sexy, baby,” Marsh said.
Marsh said he has his own band shirt — which he has yet to reveal — and the Phillies have reveled this week in the attention the fictional name has stirred.
Stubbs — the backup catcher/clubhouse DJ/ Bud box hat fashionista — wants in as guitarist and backup singer. Of note, he does not play guitar or sing much more than on team karaoke nights.
“Pretty electric from Marshy,” Stubbs said.
Taking center stage as an MLB headline act, the Phillies are about as plugged in to playing good baseball as a team can be these days. Just take a look at their greatest hits — such as Harper’s three-run homer in a Monday win over San Francisco. For an encore? Harper smashed a grand slam the next night against Toronto.
“As a team, any given night, everyone’s going to do their job,” Harper said. “We’re not really worried about our numbers as individuals. We’re just going out there trying to win the games we need to. No matter who comes through at the right time or who comes through each night.”
Want consistent hitting? Third baseman Alec Bohm this week just wrapped up an 18-game hitting streak. Perfect pitching? Ranger Suárez — with a 6-0 record and 1.77 ERA — takes the mound Friday for the start of a three-game series in Miami.
“There won’t be many people, probably, at the ballpark,” manager Rob Thomson said. “You’ve got to internally create your own energy. We have a good group of people that can do that. Stubbs, Marsh, they tend to bring that every day.”
Some of the super stats tell the story.
The Phillies are 26-12 and their .684 winning percentage was tops in baseball entering Thursday’s games.