In a crazy game the Sox were able to split the series. The difference makers were Josh Beckett, and Jason Varitek. 4 people were kicked out of this game, Tek was hitting bombs like it was 2003, and Beckett finally is looking like the ace we have been waiting to see since the end of the 2007 season.
The game was relatively quiet, as Beckett and Swarzak had little trouble getting outs. The game was tied 1-1 after Tek hit a HR in the 5th. Then in the 7th things started to get crazy. Tek hit a leadoff HR to start the inning, then Pedroia hit sacrifice fly to right, Bailey came sliding home. The ump called him safe, but Twins' catcher Redmond did not agree. He threw a fit (and may have been right). Umpire Todd Tichenor from Triple-A Pacific Coast League threw Redmond out of the game, and when the Twins coach came out to defend his player he threw him out too.
Things only got worse in the bottom of the inning Beckett threw a pitch that Varitek tried to frame for strike three on Brendan Harris (it was outside). Beckett got pissed, and Varitek tried to intervene, but then the ump threw Tek out. So Francona comes out, and of course he is ejected to. So in a matter of 1 inning 4 people were ejected. This might be this umps first and last game in the MLB.
Anyways, other then the ump loosing his cool the game went smoothly. Beckett pitched 7 innings allowing only 1 run on 3 hits with 8 Ks. Papelbon came in for the 9th and locked down his 13th save of the season, as the Sox went on to win 3-1. The only bad thing to come out of this game was that Ellsbury's hitting streak ended at 22 games.
With the win the Sox are now 1/2 game up on the Yankees who had the day off yesterday.
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