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

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There has been little buzz about the Friars this year until now.

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!