Wreckless
07-03-2009, 12:03 AM
Waterston Fan, watch out! :lol: Jk
SAN DIEGO ----� There was a buzz at Petco Park on Thursday afternoon, and it had nothing to do with Manny Ramirez's return on Friday.
Thursday afternoon's series finale between the Padres and Houston Astros was interrupted when a swarm of bees took over left field in the top of the eighth inning. The swarm eventually settled under several jackets hanging over a folding chair down the left-field line, causing umpires to delay the game.
Players exited the field, several sections of stands were cleared and a bee keeper was called in during a 52-minute delay that began with the Astros leading 6-1 and Padres reliever Joe Thatcher facing Miguel Tejada.
Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks was the first player on the field to notice the swarm as he began moving toward left-center and then the infield as he tried signaling shortstop Everth Cabrera to call timeout. �
"I saw one or two floating around my head and turned around and there was a wall (of bees)," Blanks said. "It was a pretty thick wall of bees and I didn't want a piece of it."
Reliever Heath Bell said everyone in the Padres' bullpen noticed the bees flying in from the direction of the Park in the Park and toward the outfield.
Bell said he didn't notice that Thatcher recorded the first two outs of the inning as he paid close attention to the bees. Umpires called time at 3:09 p.m. and pulled players off the field five minutes later. Head groundskeeper Luke Yoder said he has seen bees at Petco Park on two previous occasions, but neither occurred on game day.
Padres president Tom Garfinkel said team officials called a bee keeper, who arrived at Petco Park at 3:56 p.m. and received a round of applause from what remained of the crowd of 23,824.
Thatcher returned to the field and began warming up at 3:58 p.m. and the game resumed at 4:01 p.m.
"It was a safety issue and the umpires made the right call to stop the game," said Garfinkel, who described the swarm under the jacket as the size of a soccer ball. "With a couple of thousand bees there, if they decided to swarm a person, whether it was a player or a fan, we'd have a real situation. It was the correct call."
http://images.townnews.com/nctimes.com/content/articles/2009/07/02/sports/padres/z8b62b5a52c8495b7882575e80006ab65.jpg
SAN DIEGO ----� There was a buzz at Petco Park on Thursday afternoon, and it had nothing to do with Manny Ramirez's return on Friday.
Thursday afternoon's series finale between the Padres and Houston Astros was interrupted when a swarm of bees took over left field in the top of the eighth inning. The swarm eventually settled under several jackets hanging over a folding chair down the left-field line, causing umpires to delay the game.
Players exited the field, several sections of stands were cleared and a bee keeper was called in during a 52-minute delay that began with the Astros leading 6-1 and Padres reliever Joe Thatcher facing Miguel Tejada.
Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks was the first player on the field to notice the swarm as he began moving toward left-center and then the infield as he tried signaling shortstop Everth Cabrera to call timeout. �
"I saw one or two floating around my head and turned around and there was a wall (of bees)," Blanks said. "It was a pretty thick wall of bees and I didn't want a piece of it."
Reliever Heath Bell said everyone in the Padres' bullpen noticed the bees flying in from the direction of the Park in the Park and toward the outfield.
Bell said he didn't notice that Thatcher recorded the first two outs of the inning as he paid close attention to the bees. Umpires called time at 3:09 p.m. and pulled players off the field five minutes later. Head groundskeeper Luke Yoder said he has seen bees at Petco Park on two previous occasions, but neither occurred on game day.
Padres president Tom Garfinkel said team officials called a bee keeper, who arrived at Petco Park at 3:56 p.m. and received a round of applause from what remained of the crowd of 23,824.
Thatcher returned to the field and began warming up at 3:58 p.m. and the game resumed at 4:01 p.m.
"It was a safety issue and the umpires made the right call to stop the game," said Garfinkel, who described the swarm under the jacket as the size of a soccer ball. "With a couple of thousand bees there, if they decided to swarm a person, whether it was a player or a fan, we'd have a real situation. It was the correct call."
http://images.townnews.com/nctimes.com/content/articles/2009/07/02/sports/padres/z8b62b5a52c8495b7882575e80006ab65.jpg