Phils fan scores with an errorless catch

Karen Driben is a big Phillies fan, but she missed the game on TV Thursday night even though her husband, Ian, was there.

When he came home, he insisted she watch the highlights, even though the Phillies lost. So she looked on as, in the fourth inning, outfielder Jayson Werth hit a ball into the stands and a fan nonchalantly made a one-handed grab - without spilling any of the soda and fries off the tray he was carrying to his seat.

The man smoothly held the ball up for the crowd to see.

"Was that you?" she asked her husband.

"I took the ball out of my pocket and tossed it over to her. She thought that was really cool," said Ian Driben, a veterinarian at the Moorestown animal hospital his father, Charles, has run since the 1960s.

Father and son were at the game together and had just gotten something to eat when the ball came toward Ian Driben.

Driben, 38, is a diehard Phillies fan. A graduate of Rutgers University-Camden and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, he went to every game of the 2008 World Series, including both parts of the famously suspended Game 5.

Wearing the championship cap he bought at that clincher, he was determined to pay attention to the game as he returned to his seat Thursday, so he tracked the ball all the way - concentrating first to catch it, then not to trip and wind up being a laughingstock on TV.

"I saw the ball coming, and it's one of those moments and you know where if I don't catch this, it's going to be twice as bad as it's going to be good if I do catch it. If that makes grammatical sense," he said.

The crowd cheered, then gave him a standing ovation after the inning, when a replay was shown on the big screen.

Every morning, despite groans from staff at the Burl-Moor-Driben Animal Hospital on Kings Highway, besides reviewing medical cases, he recaps what's going on with the Phillies.

At Friday morning's meeting, he got to turn on the TV so the staff could see his catch.