Being loud is one thing. And it was loud Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field, 44,093 of the truest believers crowded into every corner and squeezed into every hole. It felt like half the town called it a day after lunch and sprinted to the block party in the parking lot, a kind of welcome-home happy hour after sixteen days on the road.

They were well supplied with fuel. They were well oiled. The Phillies heard them, you bet.

More importantly, the Mets, who seemed to fuel the energy, played 2 hours and 55 minutes of the brightest, sharpest baseball you could order, beating the Phillies 7-2 to take a 2-1 lead. best-of-five National League Division Series, putting them within one step of a chance to play for the pennant.

“What a privilege, what an honor, to have that support from the fan base,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “Today was a perfect example of what is possible when everyone is in it together. Amazing. Fantastic. Let’s do it again (Wednesday).”

If they do, they can avoid a return trip to Philadelphia and simply get ready to hit the road again, to California for a weekend, to Los Angeles or San Diego. If Jose Quintana can replicate Sean Manaea, if Pete Alonso can stay hot, if the lineup can keep changing…

“This,” Jesse Winker said, “is what you dream about as a kid.”

Winker was among the Mets who helped jump-start the crowd, which almost reached full delirium when Florida Gator Pete Alonso took LSU Tiger Aaron Nola deep the other way in the second, winning the SEC battle and taking the ice broke and the sound almost shattered. barrier. For all his problems, Alonso is one the Citi faithful are used to trusting.

Winker is a different matter. Do you want a deep-rooted player? Winker is a deep player. For years, he and the Citi Field audience engaged in a back-and-forth that veered somewhere between playful and provocative, with Winker thrilling in the role of provocateur. But even then, you could tell this from Mets fans:

“He may be an a-hat, but I’d really like him to be OUR a-hat.”

“I feel like I talk about this a lot,” Winker said, half-smiling, but not joking at all.

But that’s part of the fan experience, right? Rangers fans still speak with reverence about Sean Avery, a forward who played in 264 games for them and scored all 78 goals, but was beloved because he annoyed 98 percent of the NHL. Winker is Avery without the skates. Now that he’s a Met, Mets fans can’t get enough of him.

“I always wondered what it would be like,” Winker said after hitting a solo bomb halfway through the Coca-Cola porch in the fourth inning that doubled the Mets’ lead to 2-0. “New York is a huge market. The team has been so welcoming and the fans here are so passionate. It’s like a dream come true.”

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And for those fans it was truly a dream afternoon. There was some wonderful defense: Mark Vientos robbed Alec Bohm of one goal, only for Bohm to be thrown out at second when Tyrone Taylor fired his shot off the wall and fired a strike at Francisco Lindor. There were plenty of hits: Starling Marte, Jose Iglesias, Lindor.

All of that feeds the starving masses in the stands, most of whom get thirsty for the hour-long block party in the parking lot after the game.

“Taking the lead early helps,” Lindor said. “You step up to the plate and just play with more confidence and you can feel all that coming from the stands.”

Killer pitching also helps. And Manaea was great at the next level. When he walked to the mound just after 5 a.m. Tuesday, he had a career playoff ERA of 10.66. The last time he had appeared in the postseason, two years ago as a Padre, he had been battered by those same Phillies for four hits and five runs in an inning and a third.

This time? Seven-plus innings, 91 pitches, three hits, one run. And in the sixth, after walking Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to lead off with the game still tied at 2-0, he promptly struck out Bryce Harper. Mendoza left him on a hunch to face Nick Castellanos, Sunday’s hero, and Castellanos lined to Iglesias, who turned to Lindor to double Schwarber.

And Manaea delivered a vicious and joyful punch, his fist treating the air the way Foreman treated Frazier’s chin. That was that. And that caused one last clap of thunder to pour out of the stands.

“My first howler of the year,” Manaea said, grinning.

And just one of many for the Mets, and for the fans, on a perfect fall day. If they have one left in them, they can take this story west and let it run for a few days.

“We need another day like this,” Alonso said.

The fans certainly seem to be in favor of that. Now it’s up to the Mets to deliver the final blow.