Second Phillies Fan Rushes Field, Gets Busted

PHILADELPHIA - The nation is talking about Philly again after a copycat Phillies fan ran onto the field Tuesday night and forgot he had drugs in his possession, police allege.

This time it wasn't a teenager but 34-year-old Thomas Betz, of Warminster, Bucks County, who climbed out of the Citizens Bank Park stands at a crucial point in a tight game.

The Phillies' Cole Hamels was about to deliver his first pitch of the ninth inning to the St. Louis Cardinals in a 1-0 game when Betz hopped the fence in left field and ran along the warning track, waving his arms.

Security did not use a Taser to apprehend Betz, despite boos and chants of "Tase him, Tase him" from the sellout crowd. Security simply surrounded Betz, and he gave himself up without incident.

Betz now faces charges of defiant trespass, disorderly conduct, disrupting a meeting, criminal mischief and possession of marijuana, according to police. He was still being held at South Detectives on Wednesday morning.

In Monday night's game, a police officer chased a 17-year-old boy for about 30 seconds before the stun gun probe hit the teenager, resulting in online videos and a story that made national news.

Tuesday night's incident seemed to disrupt Hamels' gem, as he then gave up back-to-back doubles to let the Cardinals tie it up.

"And time was called just as Cole was going to the plate," announcer Tom McCarthy said on the live television broadcast. "Another fan has come onto the field."

"Aww, man. What an idiot," said his partner in the booth, Chris Wheeler. "Just, that's just an idiot to do that in a game this important, at this point, with Hamels all pumped up. What a dope."

Closer Brad Lidge wound up coming on and holding the game to 1-1 and fellow reliever Jose Contreras did the same until catch Carlos Ruiz hit a walk-off homerun to win it in the 10th.

Lidge said in the lockerroom after the game, "Yeah, that's too bad. I mean, you know, obviously Cole's in a great rhythm. I'm not saying that took him out of his rhythm, but they didn't score any runs for the first eight innings. But, you know, things like that happen, and we still ended up winning. But obviously, like I said, I wish the win could have been for him."

But the lefty starter, to his credit, after the game wouldn't blame the clown on the field.

"You know, I don't allow that to affect me. It's kind of like the weather, you know. I have a job to do, and I have to make my pitches. And I'm not going to let anything else get in the way of that," Hamels told reporters. "I was able to go out there and make the first two pitches accordingly. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make that third one, and it's the one pitch I wish I could have back."

Fox 29's Steve Keeley reported that the real fan highlight from the night should be the father catching Ruiz's game-winning shot to the left field stands and handing it to his son, putting a big smile on his face and creating a memory of a lifetime.