Astros swarm Padres; bees delay game

Baseball Betting Lines

07/02/2009 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wandy Rodriguez threw seven strong innings to help the Houston Astros take a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres in an unusual finale of a four-game set.

Rodriguez (7-6) gave up just one run on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts for the Astros, who have won six of their last eight. Geoff Blum hit a three-run home run and drove in four while Lance Berkman scored three times and drove in one in the win.

Scott Hairston and Everth Cabrera each drove a run while Kevin Correia (5-6) was tagged for all six runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts over five innings of action for the Padres, who have dropped six of the last nine games.

What made this game stand out was a delay in the top of the ninth due to a swarm of bees.

With Miguel Tejada at the plate with two outs in the frame, Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks began walking toward the infield as the bees became thick in the air.

The rest of the players soon left the field as the game went into a delay until a beekeeper arrived at the park.

The swarm eventually centered around a ballgirl's jacket on a chair near the stands and fans were evacuated from several sections near the swarm.

When the beekeeper arrived, he sprayed down the jacket and, after a 52-minute delay, the game resumed.

Houston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Michael Bourn led off with a single and Berkman later drew a walk. A single from Carlos Lee loaded the bases and Blum followed with an RBI single. Hunter Pence then grounded into a fielder's choice that saw Berkman score.

In the third, the Astros made it a 3-0 game as a single from Lee scored Berkman, who had doubled prior to Lee's at-bat.

San Diego had a golden opportunity to score in the third as the team had the bases loaded with no outs. However, Adrian Gonzalez hit into a fielder's choice that saw Correia forced out at home and Kevin Kouzmanoff then hit into a double play.

Houston padded its lead in the fifth as Tejada led off with a single, Berkman later walked and Blum smacked a 2-1 pitch into the left field stands for a 6-0 advantage.

The Padres finally got on the board in the fifth as Cabrera hit a two-out single and Hairston followed with a double to center to score Cabrera.

San Diego had men on first and third with no outs in the eighth, but Kouzmanoff struck out and Blanks hit into a double play to end the inning.

The game then went into a delay due to the bees, but when it resumed Berkman hit an RBI double to left that scored Bourn for a 7-1 lead.

Cabrera hit into a fielder's choice to plate Edgar Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth.

Game Notes

The Padres welcome the Dodgers to San Diego for a three-game set starting on Friday...Houston begins a three-game series in San Francisco on Friday...The Astros took six of seven against the Padres in the season series...San Diego went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine men on base.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.