Gail Burton- AP
RED SOX- With Thursday night's game against the Rays at Fenway rained out, the Red Sox would have to wait until Monday's make-up game if they were to try and salvage a split from the series [still a pretty quick turnaround time to reschedule a rainout nonetheless- NANESB!]. With the wet weather in Boston putting a damper on things, both the Rays and Red Sox moved on to drier pastures in the AL East, with Tampa Bay facing the Yankees in the Bronx and the Red Sox travelling down to Camden Yards in Charm City for a weekend series against the O's.
The series got off to a less than stellar start on Friday night when the Red Sox were shut out 6-0 by Baltimore. On Saturday night, the Red Sox got on the board relatively early when SS Stephen Drew came home from 3rf after Victorino hit into a fielder's choice in the top of the 3rd, giving Boston the early 1-0 lead. That would not be the last we'd see from the light-hitting Drew on Saturday night as Dempster would be getting some run support as the game went on.
O's starter Scott Feldman looked as though he was cruising through the 4th, getting Big Papi to fly out to center field and Mike Napoli to strike out swinging. However, back to back 2-out singles from Carp and Saltalamacchia put two runners on base for Drew, which led to this:
And in case the embedded video wasn't working, that's Drew hitting a 3-run homer into the right field seats at Camden Yard with two out to give Boston a 4-0 lead over the O's.
After Baltimore got on the board with a Brian Roberts RBI single in the bottom of the 5th to make it 4-1 Boston, Troy Patton would come out of the Baltimore bullpen in the top of the 6th. Patton allowed a leadoff single to Carp before getting Saltalamacchia to hit into a fielder's choice when Drew came up to bat again. Care to guess what happened next?
Drew Belted Patton's 1-0 offering to deep right-center field where it caromed off the top of the groundskeeper's shack. Carp came home to score as Drew was caught in a rundown between 3rd and home before scoring on an errant throw to the catcher. After the umpires conferred and reviewed the video replay, it was ruled a 2-run home run to make it a 6-2 Boston lead.
The Red Sox didn't let up when Jairo Acensio came in to replace Patton on the mound in the top half of the 7th. Victorino led off the inning with a solo homer to the walkway behind Camden Yard's right field seats to make it 7-2. But that wouldn't be the play from the inning that had most people talking. After a 3-0 count, Big Papi struck out for the second out of the inning and had some words with home plate umpire Tim Timmons on his way back to the dugout. What happened next really has to be seen to be believed.
For lack of a more diplomatic term, Ortiz freaked the fuck out and was ejected from the game apparently after deciding the visitors dugout in Camden Yards were in dire need of remodeling. Papi took his bat to one of the phones to the bullpen and started smashing away at them before stepping out of the dugout to yell some more at Timmons while Farrell and bench coach Torey Lovullo were doing there best to restrain him. Once back in the dugout, Pedroia was seen tersely exchanging words with Big Papi before the DH headed to the showers [full disclosure- I love Big Papi, and I could ALMOST understand this display if it were late in a one run game with the based loaded or something, but he could've injured teammates or personnel with that display- and it's not like he's a rookie who needs to be reminded to check himself before he wrecked himself- NANESB].
Baltimore would get a run back in the bottom of the 8th, but Junichi Tazawa would close it out in the bottom of the 9th to make it a 7-3 Boston final. Ryan Dempster gets the win, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out four in 5⅓ innings. Stephen Drew- who was flirting with the Mendoza line- goes 3 for 4 with 2 homers and 5 RBI while Shane Victorino went 1-5 with 2 RBI on the night.
The rubber game is all set for Sunday afternoon with Jon Lester [9-6; 4.50 ERA] going up against Jason Hammel [7-7; 5.20 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM ET and the game will be televised on TBS.
NCAA FOOTBALL- Two NCAA football FCS powerhouses are getting set to make the jump to the NCAA Football Bowl subdivision. Both Appalachian State and Georgia Southern University announced that they would be moving to the Sun Belt Conference starting in the 2015 season. Both the Georgia Southern Eagles and Appalachian State Mountaineers currently play in Southern Conference. The Mountaineers won three consecutive Division 1AA/FCS titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007 while the Eagles have six FCS/NCAA Division 1AA titles to their name [the UMASS Minutemen's most recent title came against Georgia Southern in 1998- NANESB!].
The move would bring the total number of football teams in the Sun Belt conference to 10 by 2015: the Mountaineers and Eagles in addition to Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky.
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