Phils fans turn to high-tech gadgetry

Tom Durso couldn't get a ticket for the Phillies playoff game today, but he's got the next best thing:

An Apple iPhone.

"I can get the Phillies Web site easily, and Facebook status updates, and Twitter updates," he said.

The awkward timing of the division-series contest - a midafternoon day game, in the middle of a work week - has passionate fans preparing to track the Phils' fortunes via high-tech wizardry.

It turns out that for some strange, unfathomable reason, some companies don't want their employees to spend the afternoon gathered around a television. And that some appointments and reservations can't be broken, even with the unassailable excuse of Phillies playoff baseball.

So many fans are planning to keep up not just on Twitter and Facebook, but on the Phillies MLB Internet page, the Yahoo! Phillies page, on countless blogs, and through a multitude of team, sports, and news Web sites. Sites such as ESPN.com and CBSSportsline.com let fans follow the game pitch-by-pitch.

Big-time Phillies fan Jack London figures he closely followed 150 out of 162 games this season, either at the ballpark, on TV, or through his BlackBerry.

Now, disaster has struck: He has to be in France during the division series. And possibly through the league championship series.

His flight leaves at 6:15 p.m. today. Which means he can watch the game on an airport TV before takeoff, but if a tie score forces extra innings, he'll have to implement Plan B.

"I've got this all worked out," said London, director of Informatics Shared Resources at the Kimmel Cancer Center. "I'm going to ask the flight attendant to ask somebody in the cockpit, and they can check [with air-traffic control]. . . . It's U.S. Air. I'm not going to be the only one interested."

And will he forgo following the Phillies after landing? Mais non!

He's bringing his laptop computer, and his wife has an iPhone with international calling privileges. The friends they're meeting in France have Internet access - as do countless cafes.

"I want to be prepared for anything," London said.

The big problem, he said, is the time difference, particularly once the series switches to Colorado on Saturday. As if the 2:37 p.m. Philadelphia start time weren't bad, the game in Denver won't start until 9:37 p.m. Eastern time. That's 3:37 a.m. in France.

But London has that covered, too: First thing in the morning, he'll fire up the computer to check for e-mail from a buddy, equally feverish for the Phillies. If necessary, he'll make a quick overseas call home to get the news.

Of course, all of these technological connections are fallback options.

Durso, a Glenside freelance writer who blogs at www.tomdurso.com and www.poorrichardsscorecard.com, had hoped to get a ticket for today's game. He's still hoping his schedule might let him meet friends at a bar or tavern. He was offered a ticket for tomorrow's game, with its same inconvenient afternoon start, but couldn't take it.

Instead, he'll rely on the small computer in his pocket.

For longtime fans, it's a dramatic change from the days when high-tech meant listening to the game with a fat, plastic plug stuck in one ear, a wire running to a transistor radio - that radio tucked into a desk drawer if the contest took place during working hours.

And truth be told, it's also a little bloodless.

Watching pitch-by-pitch icons appear on a computer screen is a far cry from listening to the melodic voices of Harry and Whitey, of By Saam, of Bill Campbell, of other announcers in other cities whose insights and inflections intimately tied fans to the game.

Alex Goldfayn, who runs the Technology Tailor L.L.C., an Illinois-based consultancy, said the reality is that iPhones and other gadgets give fans what they would otherwise be denied: real-time access to the game.

"Blood or no blood, the playoff game will be played while you're at work," he said. "It's sexier on the radio or on TV, but if you're at work, it's hard to be selective."

Ariel Ozick, head of Wired Rhino Inc., a search and social-media company, said there's no doubt the technology lacks the joy of live radio or TV, "but if you're working from a computer, it's better than nothing."

The best-of-five series will determine if the Phillies play for the National League championship. The Phils want to become the first team to win back-to-back World Series since the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.

Durso, a major, lifelong fan, will be rooting for the Phils and following the team, wherever his schedule may place him this week.

"Their starting pitching is the best. Their hitting is the best," he said, mulling the team's chances. "Phillies in four."