Bomb squad blows up hot dogs

Just hot dogs.

The Philadelphia police bomb squad detonated three suspicious packages outside Citizens Bank Park last evening that actually were hot dogs accidentally left behind after a Hatfield commercial shoot that involved the Phillie Phanatic and his hot-dog launcher.

Police received a call at 4:13 p.m. about the three packages found on a light post near the first-base gate on Pattison Avenue near Darien Street. Once the bomb squad arrived, Pattison Avenue was closed to traffic and pedestrians, and game-day employees evacuated the building. Phillies employees whose offices were near the activity moved to the other side of the ballpark but were not evacuated.

The bomb squad detonated the packages. The Phillies said the hot dogs were heavily wrapped in white packaging and duct tape so they could be fired from the Phanatic's hot-dog launcher.

"We just did what we thought was appropriate," said Mike Stiles, senior vice president of administration and operations. "We looked at it. And in this day and age, if you have a question, you call the police. The police came and they said, 'Yeah, this merits the bomb squad to take a look and take action.' They detonated it.

"It's important to let people know that although it was suspicious, it did not contain any explosive device and we didn't get any bomb-scare notes or threats."

Players and staff for the Phillies and Atlanta Braves remained in the ballpark and continued their activities as scheduled while the bomb squad detonated the hot dogs.

The Phillies expressed their appreciation to the police department, "particularly during this difficult time for all law enforcement."

Ryan Howard

committed his 18th error of the season in the fifth inning last night, and it was a big one.

Howard fielded a ground ball and tried to throw to second base for a force-out with runners on first and second and one out. But his throw hit the back of Casey Kotchman and rolled into shallow center field. It allowed a run to score and extended the inning, with Chipper Jones hitting a two-out, three-run home run to give the Braves a 9-3 lead.

Howard leads the majors in errors by a first baseman. He finished second among first basemen with 12 errors last season and second with 14 errors in 2006.

Howard's 18 errors at first base are the most for a Phillie since Dick Allen had 18 in 1975. The modern-day franchise record is Fred Luderus' 22 errors in 1916.

Manager

Charlie Manuel

said his team's pitching is better than last season's, but last season's lineup had more balance than the 2008 version. So he wouldn't say whether he thinks this year's team would be more dangerous if it made the playoffs.

"I want to make sure we get there," Manuel said. "I don't want to get ahead of ourselves."

Howard entered the night with 23 RBIs in 16 games against Atlanta this season. Elias Sports Bureau reports that is the highest RBI total by a player against the Braves in one season since 1977, when

Ron Cey,

Dan Driessen

and

George Foster

each had 25 RBIs.

Howard had 21 RBIs in 18 games against Atlanta last season, making him the first player to have consecutive 20-RBI seasons against the Braves since Ernie Banks had 20 in 1958 and 24 in 1959.

The Phillies will open a three-game series tomorrow against Washington. Righthander

Joe Blanton

(3-0, 4.45 ERA) will face Nationals lefthander

John Lannan

(9-14,3.86 ERA) tomorrow night. Lefthander

Jamie Moyer

(15-7, 3.78 ERA) will go against lefthander

Odalis Perez

(7-11, 4.27 ERA) on Saturday, and lefthander

Cole Hamels

(14-10, 3.09 ERA) will face righthander b (1-3,5.89 ERA) on Sunday.