Fear my beard? Phillies’ Jayson Werth scoffs

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It’s the phrase du jour in San Francisco: Fear the beard!

The Giants fans initially used those words to salute their hirsute closer, Brian Wilson. As more and more of his teammates grow playoff beards, the phrase has taken on a life of its own.

So a Philadelphia TV reporter went up to Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth, asking for his deep thoughts on the ‘fear the beard’ mantra. This was because Werth sports a beard, and for no other reason, as the reporter eventually admitted after her series of questions about Werth’s beard went nowhere.

‘Are you scared?’ Werth asked the reporter.

‘Not really,’ she said.

‘OK,’ Werth said.

Werth did admit to some trepidation about playing right field at AT&T Park. The outfield features a corner in right-center, at 421 feet from home plate, and another corner in straightaway right, at 365 feet. The foul pole in right field is just 309 feet from the plate.

There is virtually no foul ground in which to let up after chasing a fly ball, an oft-tricky wind blows off San Francisco Bay and a drive to the wall could bounce off brick, fence or padding, each with a different carom.

‘It seems like there’s always something going on out there that’s just a little bit abnormal,’ Werth said.

--Bill Shaikin in San Francisco