The seventh inning started with a long home run to right-center from Jason Varitek, his second of the day, giving the Sox a 2-1 lead. Then Jeff Bailey doubled and moved to third on Julio Lugo's fly to right. Jacoby Ellsbury, with his last chance to extend his 22-game hitting streak, was hit by a Sean Henn pitch.
The histrionics began when Dustin Pedroia hit a fly to right fielder Jason Kubel, who made a pinpoint throw to the plate. Catcher Mike Redmond caught the ball and reached to tag Bailey, who took an outside angle to the plate. Tichenor called Bailey safe.
"I just looked at our replay and it's inconclusive," said Layne. "But it's so close that it would be difficult to try to say one way or the other, from what I have seen. It's not a clear case one way or the other."
Did Redmond tag Bailey?
"There's no question a tag was made," Bailey said. "Did I get my hand in there first? I really can't tell. I saw the replay on TV and I couldn't tell. When I came out of the slide, I pointed down at the plate and said, 'Yeah, I got my hand in there!' I ran off, so I didn't see Redmond get ejected. I was shaking hands with everybody . . . and two guys were getting tossed out of the game."
The evidence isn't strong in Tichenor's favor. Redmond was tossed and the veteran catcher is still trying to figure out why.
"I thought I got him at home and that's it," Redmond said. "I just said, 'I got his arm.' I didn't swear at him or anything. It was a quick gate. In 11 years in the big leagues, I've done a lot worse out there and stayed in the game. I didn't expect to get thrown out. I said my piece and moved on. Obviously, he had a short fuse. I didn't touch him or anything."
Layne corroborated Redmond's story.
"No contact was made," Layne said. "I think it was an emotional time. I think the emotion of the game came into play. I think that's what happened on the second [ejection]. Ron [Gardenhire] is a great manager and he's going to protect his players and do whatever he has to do to do his job.
