PHILADELPHIA -- From this corner of the Commonwealth, Pirates fans look like pikers.

To be a Philadelphia Phillies fan like he has since 1948, Maury Ross tried to explain the other night upon exiting Citizens Bank Park, means being constantly sorry.

"Get used to losing," offered Ross, 79.

Ten-thousand and four times used to it. It is a dubious distinction, a professional sports record, possessed by no other franchise in world history, not even the French Army. The Phillies, and by extraction their fans since 1883, entered last night having sustained defeat 10,004 times, and counting. It isn't as if they'll never lose again, either.

Pittsburgh's franchise, only one of four major-league clubs older than the Phillies, hasn't intimately known defeat like their cross-Pennsylvania kin. Shoot, the Pirates own a successful 9,598-9,350 overall record before last night's conflagration. The Phillies, with roughly 800 fewer victories, need seven consecutive 162-0 seasons, plus a pretty fair start to the eighth, just to pull even at .500.

And the Phillies could match the Pirates misstep for misstep.

For every Bob Moose wild pitch and Francisco Cabrera single, this legion of fandom can never forget the 1964 Fizz Kids losing their final 10 and a pennant from their grasp, or Joe Carter's World Series-winning home run, or just one world championship contrasted to the Pirates' troika in the past half-century.

For every Max Carey, Arky Vaughn, Kiki Cuyler, Ralph Kiner and Barry Bonds that got away, Phillies fanatics -- and their famed mascot was indeed named after them -- can offer Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ed Delahanty, Nap Lajoie, Chuck Klein (whom the Philadelphia franchise sold away twice), Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning (whom they traded to the Pirates), Ferguson Jenkins, Steve Carlton and Scott Rolen.

The Pirates' impending 15th consecutive losing season? The Phillies hold the record at 16.

They went an entire 30-year stretch, 1918-48, with just one season over .500.

They got used to losing, all right.

No wonder a female fan brought the numbered signs counting down the losses to historic No. 10,000. No wonder that watershed defeat, a 10-2 loss July 15 to St. Louis, attracted to Citizens Bank Park a sellout crowd of 44,872. No wonder they cheered the moment.

Larry Shenk, a team vice president and 44-year member of the organization, wrote in his Phillies.com blog: "I don't know of any other team that celebrates losses, other than the Washington Generals."

The Phillies' faithful embrace losses, expect them even. They have become professional skeptics, with the broken right hand of All-Star second baseman Chase Utley this week giving many of them yet another reason to expect a late-season meltdown of manager Gene Mauch-ian proportions of 1964. Sure, Pirates fans are saying, at least they're over .500, at least they can entertain playoff dreams, at least they have Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell and Utley and ownership willing to spend money for such a fleeting chance -- resulting in 80-plus victories in each season this century.

They've paid their dues in Philadelphia, such as the 10 owners over a four-decade span, the 23-game losing streak in 1961, the five consecutive 100-loss seasons. It got so bad, the team's second baseman once remarked: "If the Phillies ever win two games in a row, it would be grounds for a Congressional investigation." That player: Danny Murtaugh, who won a couple of World Series as the Pirates' manager.

"Well, it's not like being a Cubs fan," said Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer, 44, who grew up coming to the occasional game at the Vet from his Sellersville, Pa., home. "When I played in Chicago, they wanted the Cubs to win. But if they didn't win, they'd drown their sorrows in beer and say, 'Wait 'til next year.' "

Philadelphia fans cannot wait. They throw snowballs at Santa, follow more devotedly their Eagles and verbally dissect their summertime distraction in that South Philly sports complex. Pass the beer.

"They're pretty boisterous," said Moyer, who experienced their joy first-hand as a kid partaking of the 1980 world championship parade. "They'll let you know one way or the other what they think.

"This organization, it's been around a long time. When I came last year [from Seattle], I was with a team with a 25-year history." These Phillies are 125 years young, all starting in 1883 with that ominous 17-81-1 debut. "Oh, this year with the 10,000," Moyer added with a shrug, "it's part of a team with a long history."

"Give Pittsburgh time," muttered Maury Ross, a man so baseball dutiful that he took his bride, Peg, to a ballgame in New York on their honeymoon 52 years ago. "And they'll pass us."