Calif. Earthquake Shakes up Padres, Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Shaun Marcum was chilling in the visitor's clubhouse, his night's work finished, when he heard on the TV broadcast that Petco Park had been hit by an earthquake.

"First earthquake. That was pretty fun," Marcum said after the Jays beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Monday. "I didn't feel it until they said something on TV. The TVs were moving a little bit and I started floating back and forth a little bit. That's always fun."

Play stopped momentarily in the eighth inning as Petco Park swayed during the magnitude-5.7 quake that was centered about five miles southeast of Ocotillo in Imperial County - about 85 miles east of San Diego. It struck around at 9:26 p.m. PDT.

San Diego County Office of Emergency Services made a round of calls to all cities in the county and found no reports of significant damage. Louis Fuentes, chairman of the Imperial County board of supervisors, said he had no immediate reports of damage.

David Eckstein had just grounded out in the bottom of the inning when the stadium began shaking. The next batter, Chase Headley, stayed out of the batter's box for a few seconds, then stepped in.

The public address announcer asked that everyone remain calm. The crowd cheered.

Most fans felt the quake. The right-field foul pole swayed back and forth, as did TVs in the press box. Some players, such as Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill, said they didn't feel it. Manager Cito Gaston said he felt the dugout move side-to-side.

"They happen so fast that there's nothing you can do," Gaston said.

The quake was an aftershock of the deadly Easter Sunday magnitude-7.2 quake that shook Baja California and Southern California, said Egill Hauksson, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He said the epicenter of Monday's quake occurred in the same zone of the quake in April.

"Aftershocks can go on for months and years," he said.

Thousands of aftershocks have occurred since the Easter earthquake. At least 45 aftershocks were recorded immediately following Monday's 5.7 quake, with the largest measuring at magnitude-4.5.

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports that although a 5.7-magnitude earthquake seems impressive, it does not cause as much damage as one might imagine.

According to Caltech geologist Kate Hudson, "A 5.7 earthquake is big enough to get your attention and probably knock things off shelves and cause some cracking in plaster, but usually not structural damage in California."

At Petco Park, John Buck homered twice and Hill had three doubles and three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who jumped all over Jon Garland when he started to struggle while pitching on three days' rest.

Buck hit a two-run shot off Garland in Toronto's four-run second, and a leadoff drive against Sean Gallagher in the eighth, giving him 11 this season. It was his eighth career multihomer game and third this season.

The Blue Jays had lost six of seven, a span in which they were outscored 41-13.

Hill hit a two-run double with two outs in the second to give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead against Garland (6-5), who was pitching on short rest after starting the second game of a doubleheader at the New York Mets on Thursday night.

Garland threw 26 pitches in the first inning and 34 in the second. He allowed Lyle Overbay's single ahead of Buck's homer to left. He walked Marcum with two outs and allowed DeWayne Wise's double ahead of Hill's double to right.

Garland struck out seven and walked four, throwing 114 pitches in five innings. He was angry because he thought he had Marcum struck out on a 2-2 pitch in the second but umpire Larry Vanover called it a ball.

"It's upsetting. He called that pitch for me, then he didn't call it," Garland said. "Just be consistent. Larry Vanover was not consistent tonight.

"I still had a chance to get out of that inning, but I mentally lost it. I was frustrated, upset because I thought I did what I needed to do."

Marcum (6-3) allowed solo homers by Jerry Hairston Jr. and Adrian Gonzalez among his six hits in seven innings. He yielded three runs, two earned, while improving to 6-1 in eight starts after Blue Jays losses.