Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Posted: 7:35 p.m.
By Dan McQuade
CSNPhilly.com Contributor
Stop me if youve heard this before: Philadelphia fans have a bit of a reputation.
OK, OK, you know that. Players from the opposing team get booed. Players from the home team get booed if theyre not performing. Umps and referees get booed. And, in probably the best tradition in sports, fans who drop foul balls get unmercifully booed.
But Wednesday afternoons game brought us something new: A robot was booed.
For the past two months, Penn engineering students worked on a robot that would throw out the first pitch at Wednesdays game at Citizens Bank Park in honor of the Philadelphia Science Festival. Called PhillieBot, the 230-pound robot with a Segway base and a robot arm rolled up to the mound to toss a pitch to the Phillie Phanatic. Per request of the Phillies, the robot could only throw the ball 30 to 40 miles per hour.
The robot bounced its pitch to the Phanatic. The boos werent overwhelming, but some of them came. It might not have been the first time a robot has been booed in Philadelphia(perhaps Paulies robot from Rocky IV got such a reception?)but if robotics continue to advance, it probably wont be the last.
MLB
A guy the fans didnt boo was Art Mahaffey, who threw out another, better ceremonial first pitch after PhillieBot. Mahaffey tossed out the pitch in honor of his complete game, 17-strikeout, four-hit shutout of the Cubs 50 years ago. A robotor at least a robot built on a Segwaycouldnt compete with the 72-year-old.
And, hey, dont sell the fans short: In the ninth inning, Placido Polanco made a leaping attempt for a ball in foul territory and crashed into the tarp on the side of the field. He didnt make the catch, but was rewarded with a standing ovation for his efforts.
Power outage?
The Phillies have hit only 13 homers this year, putting them in the bottom half of MLB teams in homers. Ryan Howard, naturally, leads the team with three, and four guys (Ben Francisco, Carlos Ruiz, Placido Polanco and Shane Victorino) are tied for second with two. Charlie Manuel said hes not worried about the teams lack of power so early on.
Thats the quickest way I know to score runs, Manuel said of the teams two homers in its 4-3 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday. Especially if youre only getting three or four or five hits. We will hit some home runs if we put together some good at-bats. Its just a matter of us being consistent in our hitting.
The Phillies ranked second in baseball in homers from 2007-09 and ninth last season. Their power numbers certainly wont reach the eye-popping levels of last decade, with players aging, Jayson Werth leaving for the Nationals and Chase Utley out with an injury. Itll be something to watch as the season goes on.
Boomerang baseball
In the top of the third on Wednesday, Rickie Weeks made one one of the strangest outs youd ever see. He fouled off a pitch from Lee, and actually turned around to take a few more cuts before heading back into the batters box. But the ball slowly curved back onto the field, going fair just in front of the first base bag. Howard picked it up and stepped on the bag for the unassisted putout.
Thats the first one Ive ever encountered, Howard said. You see those things happen a lot with third base. I just saw it kind of hit off the outside lip and start rolling back and just waiting to see if it would go fair.
Heading west
The Phillies begin a seven-game West Coast roadtrip Thursday in San Diego. They play the Padres for four games before heading to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks. Several members of the Phillies said Wednesdays comeback win was an important sendoff to the western swing.
Games like today really help you from going into a tailspin, getting into what you call bad, Manuel said. At this time of the year it was very good for us.
Howard agreed. Its big, he said. You want to try to carry that momentum to the West Coast.
E-mail Dan McQuade at mcquade@gmail.com
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