News
Padres have buzz in Oddity contest
Bell, Gregerson compete for This Year in Baseball Awards
By Corey Brock / MLB.com
11/25/09 4:34 PM EST
SAN DIEGO -- Oh, those bees.Perhaps one of the oddest moments from the 2009 season was the 52-minute delay in the Padres game on July 2 against the Houston Astros at PETCO Park because of a swarm of bees that congregated in left field.
Yes, bees.
The PETCO Park bee delay is up for the This Year in Baseball Award for Oddity of the Year.
The ballot boxes will close at 4:59 p.m. PT on Dec. 11. In 2008, a record 12 million votes were cast for the TYIB Awards, and that figure could be surpassed this time around as fans weigh in on the year's top hitter, pitcher, moments and more. The results of the voting will be revealed during the week of Dec. 14-18.
As for the oddities, they don't come much stranger than this.
Just ask San Diego rookie outfielder Kyle Blanks, who was the first player to notice the swarm of bees.
In the top of the ninth inning, Blanks, playing left field, noticed a bee milling around his head.
"I saw one or two floating around my head, and then I turned around, and there was just a wall," Blanks said of the bees. "There was just a ton of them. I started walking in and tried to get out of there. It's not something I want to tempt."
Who could blame him?
It was probably a smart move, as what the Padres estimated were 2,000 bees had flown in from center field, passed high over the left-field seats and then settled down near Blanks in left field.
A beekeeper eventually was summoned to remove the bees and play resumed, though the outcome of the game -- a 7-2 victory by the Astros -- quickly became an afterthought.
Players and managers on both sides took the delay in stride, understanding that they were part of something they might never see again.
"Definitely a first time for me," then-Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "I didn't know what happened initially. I just saw [Blanks] 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 Padres have two other TYIB nominees: Heath Bell, the first-year closer who led the National League in saves (42), is a candidate for Closer of the Year.
Bell, who took over for Trevor Hoffman as closer, made his first All-Star team as well in 2009.
Another reliever, a rookie no less, has been nominated as Setup Man of the Year. Luke Gregerson was 2-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 72 appearances. He was especially good at home, posting an 0.65 ERA in 34 1/3 innings.
Not bad for a player-to-be-named in the Khalil Greene trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, who didn't arrive in Spring Training until the final weeks of March, after the deal was consummated.
Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
