A : GULLS, GULLS, GULLS.   Hey, if you thought that was bad, imagine how excited Chad Gaudin would get reading this after 7 or 8 drinks?  The San Jose Mercury News’ Paul Rodgers reports the San Francisco Giants are contending with a plague of seagulls routinely invading their home park during the late innings, “furiously gobbling garlic fries, hot dog buns and any other food they can find.”

This baseball season, the Western Gulls have become an increasingly serious problem. Some nights hundreds land on the field, defecating on fans as they fly in and out. Late during a 16-inning game on July 8, so many swarmed the field they regularly flew in front of TV cameras, at times blocking the picture for viewers.

How do the gulls know when the games are almost over and snack time is near?

Gull biologist Russ Bradley of the nonprofit group PRBO, in Petaluma, said they may be lured by the stadium lights. Or perhaps by fans leaving the park toward the end of the game. Or maybe even by the organ playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” every seventh inning.

“They are incredibly intelligent animals,” Bradley said. “Unless you want to build a dome, there’s no easy answer.”