Padres' Buzz-Kill
Honeybees swarm Petco Park's left field, putting a hold on the game
By H. MARTIN
Updated 9:00 AM PST, Fri, Jul 3, 2009
Talk about adding a late-inning buzz to a ball game: During the Padres game Thursday, about 2,000 honeybees swarmed left field as well as a ball girl’s jacket.
Umps decided to halt the game to clear up the situation in the ninth inning. The infestation caused a 52-minute delay.
Officials called in a beekeeper to spray down the bees. The swarm first appeared along the warning track. Later, fans were cleared out of several sections down the left-field line.
"The umpires made the right call to stop the game," Padres president Tom Garfinkel said. "There's a couple thousand bees there. If they decide to swarm on a person, whether that's a person, an employee or a fan, we could have a real situation."
Beekeepers sprayed the insects down with a numbing formula, scooped the bees up and took them away.
Unfortunately for the Padres, the Houston Astros won the game 7-2. Geoff Blum hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBIs. The Astros won three of four against the Padres. Coincidentally, a few years back, the Astros were known as the Killer B's!
Copyright Associated Press / NBC San Diego
First Published: Jul 3, 2009 8:39 AM PST
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
