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	<channel>		<title>RUWT? News</title>
		<link>http://areyouwatchingthis.com</link>
		<description>RUWT? News for Houston Astros vs. San Diego Padres 7/2/2009</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
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		<lastBuildDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:42:08 GMT</lastBuildDate>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:42:08 GMT</pubDate>
		<generator>RUWT?</generator>

		
			<item>
				<title><![CDATA[Un-bee-lievable: Bee swarm delays Astros' 7-2 win]]></title>
				<description><![CDATA[By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO(AP) -- It was the kind of late-inning buzz that none of
the players had experienced before.

The Houston Astros - who once had the "Killer Bs" - beat the San
Diego Padres 7-2 on Thursday, but only after waiting out a
52-minute delay in the top of the ninth inning caused when a
swarm of bees took over left field at Petco Park.

It certainly gave a new meaning to getaway day.

"It's how this year's going. Bizarre things. You think you've
seen it all in baseball and you're going to see something new,"
said Houston's Geoff Blum, who hit a three-run homer and
finished with four RBIs.

The drama began with Houston leading 6-1 with two outs in the
top of the ninth. San Diego's Kyle Blanks started walking in
from left field, trying to get shortstop Everth Cabrera to call
time. It ended when a beekeeper obliterated a ball of bees that
followed a queen bee under a ballgirl's jacket that was slung
over the back of a chair down the left-field line.

"I kind of saw one or two floating around my head," Blanks said.
"Then I turned around and there was a wall. I started to walk in
and tried to get Everth to call time."

Blanks said he was allergic to bees. "It's not something I want
to tempt," he said.

He wondered what would happen if Miguel Tejada pulled a ball
down the line.

"It was a pretty thick wall of bees and I really didn't want a
piece of it," he said.

"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
player, an employee or obviously a fan, we could have a real
situation."

The game was halted at 3:09 p.m. Five minutes later, both teams
were cleared from the field.

The beekeeper arrived at 3:56 p.m., quickly did his job to
applause from the fans that remained, and the game resumed 5
minutes later.

The swarm first appeared along the warning track. Later, fans
were cleared out of several sections down the left-field line as
the bees swarmed around the chair.

Head groundskeeper Luke Yoder thinks they were regular honey
bees. Groundskeepers thought about putting a trash can over the
chair, but didn't want to take the chance in case they were
Africanized honey bees.

"It looked harmless, but let me tell you there was a big ball of
bees under that jacket," Yoder said. "Every one of those bees
you saw in the outfield, every single one of them went
underneath that jacket."

Yoder said he's seen similar swarms at the downtown ballpark,
some the size of a soccer ball, but just not during games.

The bees arrived more than 24 hours before Manny Ramirez makes
his comeback from a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's
drug policy, when the Los Angeles Dodgers open a three-game
series against San Diego on Friday night.

"Definitely a first time for me," Houston manager Cecil Cooper
said. "I didn't know what happened initially. I just saw the guy
walking in. I didn't know exactly what he was doing. Then I
started to see kind of the swarm after a while. You don't want
to get anybody hurt. That's the main thing."

The Astros outscored the Padres 20-7 in taking three of four.
It's the first time the Astros (38-39) have been one game under
.500 since they were 1-2 on April 8.

San Diego has lost eight of nine games against Houston dating to
last season.

Wandy Rodriguez (7-6) beat the Padres for the second time in as
many starts this year, holding them to one run and seven hits in
seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Blum, a former Padres player, gave the Astros a 6-0 lead when he
homered to right on a 2-1 pitch with one out in the fifth, his
second. Tejada opened the inning with a single and Lance Berkman
- one of the "Killer Bs" along with the now-retired Jeff Bagwell
and Craig Biggio - followed with a walk.

"It was a good series for us," Cooper said. "Everybody
contributed for us. For the first day in a long time, we got a
big, big hit to kind of break things open."

Blum also hit an RBI single in the first. Berkman scored three
runs, had two doubles, two walks and an RBI.

The Padres loaded the bases on a single and consecutive walks
with none out in the third and the heart of the order coming up,
and failed to score. Adrian Gonzalez forced Kevin Correia at the
plate and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit into a double play.

Correia (5-6) allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings.
He struck out three and walked three.

With ace Jake Peavy and Chris Young both on the disabled list,
Correia had been San Diego's most consistent starter. He was 4-1
in his previous five starts, with a 2.41 ERA and 29
strikeouts.

NOTES: Astros starters have posted a 2.13 ERA in the last 12
games, going 6-1 with five no-decisions.]]></description>
				<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
				<link>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/mlb/news/105198-Un-bee-lievable-Bee-swarm-delays-Astros-7-2-win</link>
				<guid>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/mlb/news/105198-Un-bee-lievable-Bee-swarm-delays-Astros-7-2-win</guid>
				<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:16:07 GMT</pubDate>
			</item>
		
			<item>
				<title><![CDATA[Astros-Padres Preview]]></title>
				<description><![CDATA[By MATT BEARDMORE
STATS Writer

Houston (37-39) at San Diego (34-43), 3:35 p.m. EDT

Wandy Rodriguez dominated opponents in his first nine starts of
the season. It's been a much different story lately.

The Houston Astros left-hander goes for just his second victory
since May 20 when he faces the San Diego Padres on Thursday
afternoon at Petco Park.

After opening the year 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA, Rodriguez has gone
1-4 with a 5.73 ERA in his last seven starts. Opponents have hit
.318 against him during that stretch.

He didn't get the decision in a 5-4 victory over Detroit on
Friday, yielding four runs and seven hits in six innings.

Rodriguez (6-6, 3.35 ERA) gave up two homers in the game. He
surrendered one in his first 11 starts but has allowed 11 over
his last five.

"I was very bad with location in the first and second innings,"
he said after throwing 51 pitches in the first two innings
Friday. "My mistake today was trying to throw too hard."

The Astros (37-39), though, have won three of Rodriguez's last
four starts.

He allowed five hits in eight innings of a 2-0 victory over the
visiting Padres on May 8. Rodriguez, however, is 0-1 with an
11.81 ERA in two career starts at Petco Park.

Houston defeated San Diego for the seventh time in eighth
meetings Wednesday, 7-1. Carlos Lee, Geoff Blum and Kazuo Matsui
had RBI singles in the fourth before the Astros scored three
more times in the inning on a bases-loaded throwing error by
Chase Headley.

Originally a third baseman who was converted into an outfielder
before last season, Headley was making his third start of the
year at third, where he has played periodically when Kevin
Kouzmanoff hasn't been in the lineup.

"It's the overall feel of a throw," Headley told the Padres'
official Web site when describing his error. "In the outfield,
the throw is the same each time. In the infield, there are so
many different throws. It's an instinctual thing."

Padres catcher Eliezer Alfonzo went 2 for 4 and hit his first
homer of 2009, but San Diego managed five hits and scored one or
no runs for the 15th time this season. The Padres are last in
the majors in batting (.235) and runs (292).

All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was in the lineup
Wednesday after straining his right knee and leaving Tuesday's
contest. Playing in his 284th consecutive game - 21 shy of Steve
Garvey's franchise mark - Gonzalez went 0 for 3 and drew his
major league-leading 64th walk.

He is 3 for 9 with a home run and a double versus Rodriguez.

The Padres, 5-11 in their last 16 games at Petco Park, will try
for a split of this four-game series behind Kevin Correia (5-5,
4.23). The right-hander is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA in his last five
outings.

Correia won his second start in a row Saturday, striking out a
career-high nine and allowing three runs over seven innings of a
7-3 victory at Texas.

Correia is 0-0 with a 3.55 ERA in two career starts against
Houston. He yielded two runs and four hits over six innings of a
5-4 loss to the Astros on May 9.

Astros first baseman Lance Berkman is 5 for 11 with a homer in
this series. He is batting .367 (22 for 60) with six home runs
and 14 RBIs in 17 games at Petco.

Houston has outscored San Diego 32-15 while winning five of six
matchups in 2009.]]></description>
				<category><![CDATA[mlb]]></category>
				<link>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/mlb/news/105103-Astros-Padres-Preview</link>
				<guid>http://areyouwatchingthis.com/mlb/news/105103-Astros-Padres-Preview</guid>
				<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:03:49 GMT</pubDate>
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