Hmmm apparently O's starter Ubaldo Jimenez was ejected in the 4th inning while he had a no hitter going for beaning the Panda high and behind the back-the ump saw it as retaliation for a hard slide Panda made into 2nd to break up a double play that the Orioles objected to and made an issue of, and then in his next at bat Panda got plunked.

Interesting to see how the rest of this series plays out, as Buck Showalter is a very old school kind of manager, and these 2 teams could be at each other all season for the division.

Kelly looked ok but ground out 118 pitches to go only 5.2 innings, with deep counts all night, but the Sox bullpen looked good, and Boegarts is starting to look like he may fulfill some of the promise we saw at the end of the 2013 season. Hannigan also hit his first homer in a Sox uniform.

In other baseball news Kris Bryant was finally called up and the can't miss kid started his MLB career with 3 strikeouts in his first 3 at-bats and a ground out to third to end a rally with his team down by 1 run late in the game. If he didn't have Scott Boras as an agent, I would be rooting for this kid, but I despise Boras and his presence as an agent colors how I view any player represented by him.

-M

From the Baltimore Sun...

After the game, Orioles manager Buck Showalter stewed, making no secret of his opinion that Baker’s quick trigger had played too big a role in the outcome.

“It’s kind of professionally a little embarrassing to see that type of thing have such an impact,” Showalter said. “It just puts our bullpen in a challenge for the rest of this road trip, or for a while, because we had to pitch people in situations where they shouldn’t have been pitching. … It’s unfortunate it impacted the game that much.”
 
Classic Showalter. Cue violins.

Here's the umpiring crew's take:

Crew chief Jerry Meals told a pool reporter after the game that Baker believed Ubaldo's pitch was retaliatory.

“After they showed the replay on the board, Jordan saw the Orioles dugout, and it seemed they reacted to the slide,” Meals said. “And then Pablo’s next at-bat, first pitch to him [is a] fastball in. It’s close to the head, it was a dangerous pitch, so it’s an automatic. You can give a warning if you prefer to, but he felt it’s an ejection.”

And you know that there's not one Oriole player who so much as spits out a sunflower seed without being told to do so by Showalter.

Looking forward to today's game!
 

I half agree, b/c while the slide was clean, the Orioles clearly took umbrage, as they usually do when anyone else treats them like an opponent rather than as Showalter's Entitled Ones.

Thank the baseball gods for Showalter, though. It's fun to have a tight-assed, self-righteous control freak to root against.

PS: Despite my allegiance to the Olde Towne Team, I've always liked and respected the Orioles, even when, maybe especially when they were going hammer and tongs against the Sox. Once Showalter implodes (and he will, you can bet your Watergate transcripts), I'm sure I'll like them again.

Sox take Patriots Day game against Buck "I Am the Game" Showalter and the Orioles. Sox should have won on Saturday, but maintain first place in AL East with the split. Long, long way to go, of course, but things are still looking good: a weak division, solid hitting, decent relief pitching, help available in Triple A, and the knowledge that a trade for starting pitching will happen will keep the Sox in contention.

It's a weak division to be sure, but at the start of play today there were only 4 teams in the AL with a winning record, and 2 were in the AL East (Boston and Baltimore-of course 2 are in the AL Central too with Detroit and KC). Overall the AL is off to a sluggish start, and the Sox have a lot of division games here early, so they need to take advantage of that before everyone starts getting off the snide. 

-M

Sox won ugly beating the Rays 1-0 on an unearned run (their 19th scored this season, tops in the majors). Apparently their line-up is so formidable that opposing defenses forget how to play defense when facing them. But hey, we'll take every gift win other teams want to throw our way!. Miley looked better and the bullpen seems to be hitting its stride. Some nice D form Holt playing short tomnight, Nava at first, and the Panda manning the hot corner helped too. The Sox by contrast of receiving 19 unearned runs so far, have only allowed 3.

-M

Yeah I only saw the highlights when I got home form work and they were all great Sox defensive plays. I understand Mookie wreaked havoc with a hard slide breaking up the double play and leading to the Tampa error that allowed Hannigan to score, so it's good to see the team playing good fundamental ball while the offense and the rotation find their footing. 

-M