Phillies fans showed class cheering for Utley

THE DATE was June 19, 2010. Jim Thome came to the plate in the top of the ninth as a 39-year-old pinch-hitter for his latest team, the Twins, trailing 9-4. The 45,254 in attendance at Citizens Bank Park that afternoon rose to their feet in unison, a long and well-deserved standing ovation for one of the most popular players to ever wear the Phillies uniform, traded away five seasons before as part of the youth movement that would eventually produce five consecutive division titles.

Thome stepped out of the box a few times to acknowledge the crowd that day, then did exactly what every fan there hoped he would. He blasted a two-run home run to straightaway center, a vintage shot that cut into the Phillies' fat lead, but not dangerously so.

Or so we thought. A few innings later, the Twins emerged with an unlikely 13-10, 11-inning victory, boosting their hold on first place in the AL Central, and digging the struggling Phillies into third, 4 1/2 games back.

My son reminded me of this game the other day, while we discussed the contrived outrage over the ovation afforded Chase Utley upon his return to Philadelphia. We watched that 2010 game together, a game that was much more important to Phillies fans than any of the ones against the Dodgers last week. The Phillies had won two consecutive pennants in 2008 and 2009, but were just four games over .500 after that loss, and the Twins beat Roy Halladay the following day, 4-1, to extend our misery. Yet neither of us recalled any outrage over the ovation, genuine or contrived, in the days that followed.

And there shouldn't have been, genuine or contrived, after Utley's two-homer return a week ago. We didn't go soft, we showed the class we always claim to have when some knucklehead among us tosses batteries at a foe, or a beer bottle at one of our own.

And a nation only too happy to embrace the negative narrative about this town had to make a major adjustment.

At least for a day.

OK, so we all can agree that Ryan Lochte deserves his spot in the Tall Tale Hall of Fame and he should receive Angelo Cataldi's Weasel of the Week award at least through the end of the month.

But all this heart bleeding over blemishing Brazil's good reputation?

Please.

On Monday, a lengthy piece in USA Today underlined discrepancies in Rio police chief Fernando Veloso's account of the gas- station incident that suggested he too could have a plaque on the Tall Tale wall.

Police have admitted security guards at the gas station brandished guns, and collected money from the four drunk U.S. Olympic swimmers for what they described as the destruction of a sign and damage to a restroom that included a damaged door, broken mirror and a soap dispenser.

A USA Today videographer found no evidence of any damage to any part of the restroom, or that any of it looked new. And no video yet released shows any of the swimmers entering or even walking near the bathroom. Yet, according to testimony by the swimmers and an eyewitness, the guards collected money well in excess of what the sign was worth.

Is that robbery? "It's how you want to make it look like," Lochte said during his apology-filled interview Saturday night, after NBC's Matt Lauer asked him whether he was a victim, or a vandal. "Whether you call it a robbery or whether you call it extortion or us paying just for the damages. We don't know. All we know is there was a gun pointed in our direction and we were demanded to give money."

Yeah, that sounds like robbery to me. So does this: In avoiding a charge of filing a false police report - even though a report was never filed - Jimmy Feigen agreed to pay $11,000 to an undisclosed charity.

Eleven thousand dollars. Undisclosed charity. All for a tall tale that may not have been as tall as it once seemed.

Sure sounds like extortion to me.

And not exactly the resolution I would seek if I was really concerned with protecting my country's good name.

Instead, by collecting money as a plea for a crime that one Brazilian judge and one practicing attorney there told USA Today didn't technically happen, they come across no better than the drunk fool whose whopper cost him far more than the $400 he allegedly paid one of the security guys that night.

Monday, Speedo USA, Ralph Lauren and skin-care firm Syneron-Candela announced they were breaking off endorsement deals with Lochte, and Speedo said it would donate $50,000 of what was budgeted to Save the Children, specifically targeting those in Brazil.

And if Feigen's donation goes to something as worthy? Well, there's the clean, clear water from this otherwise murky, algae-filled affair. For once, a least as far as some impoverished kids are concerned, two wrongs did make something a little more right.

@samdonnellon

philly.com/SamDonnellon