Red Sox Report
Thursday, July 14, 2011
After 4 days off, it’s finally time for the Boston Red Sox to get back at it tonight.
The Sox will open up a weekend series in St. Petersburg, Florida tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays. The big story heading into the series is that Boston DH David Ortiz has received his punishment from Major League Baseball for his July 8th brawl with Kevin Gregg of the Baltimore Orioles.
Both Ortiz and Gregg received 4-game suspensions from the league and were fined an undisclosed amount. Baltimore pitcher Mike Gonzalez was also suspended for 3 games and fined an undisclosed amount for throwing at Ortiz in the 6th inning of Sunday’s game at Fenway Park.
Baltimore manager Buck Showalter was suspended for 1 game by the league. Boston’s John Lackey was fined for throwing at the Orioles’ Derek Lee during Saturday’s game. And both Jarrod Saltalamacchia of Boston and Jim Johnson of Baltimore were fined for their roles in Friday’s bench-clearing incident.
David Ortiz will appeal his 4-game suspension meaning he will play Friday night against the Rays. It is possible that 1 game could get knocked off of the suspension due to the appeal.
Some have suggested that Ortiz will drop the appeal following Sunday night’s game in Tampa so that he will miss the entire 3-game series starting Monday in Baltimore. This would keep him out of harm’s way if the Orioles decided to target him once again.
Other Notes:
-Remember when Manny Delcarmen was a key contributor to the Boston Red Sox? Today he is unemployed after being cut by the Texas rangers triple-A affiliate the Round Rock Express. Delcarmen had a 2.05 ERA in 44 appearances for the Red Sox in their championship season of 2007. He had an ERA of 5.59 between Round Rock and Tacoma (AAA-Seattle) this past season.
-The Red Sox signed second round draft pick (81st overall) Williams Jerez to a contract. Jerez is an outfielder who played at Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn, NY last year. A native of the Dominical Republic, he hit .692 with 5 HR’s and 32 RBI last season. The 6’4”, 190 lb left-handed hitter will be assigned to the Red Sox rookie team in the Gulf Coast League.
-Former Red Sox star Roger Clemens is a happy man after the judge in his perjury trial declared a mistrial Thursday. US District Court Judge Reggie Walton ended the trial after prosecutors showed the jury videotaped evidence that he had ruled out of the trial. Walton scolded federal prosecutors for the blunder and apologized to the jurors for “wasting their time.” There is no word yet on whether or not prosecutors will try to retry the case.
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