(posted by OMDQ)

Brian Knight, the third base umpire for tonight's Sox-Padres game, is not turning in his best work this evening.

Several innings ago, he ruled that Manny Ramirez had made the catch on a sinking liner to left field. After a conference with the other men in blue (during which time the viewers at home got to see that it was clearly a trap), the call was overturned, bringing Terry Francona out of the dugout for the requisite argument.

And just now, in the sixth, Knight signalled foul ball on a Josh Bard shot down the left field line. Once again, San Diego's Bud Black argued; once again, the umpires discussed the matter amongst themselves; once again, the ruling on the field was changed (this time resulting in a two-run homerun for Bard and 5-0 deficit for the Sox); once again, it was the right call (replays clearly showed that it hit the foul pole); once again, Francona came out to argue.

This time, Francona was so eloquent and articulate in his plea for justice that he left Knight with no recourse but to eject him. By my unofficial count, that makes three managerial ejections today (Bruce Bochy, Bobby Cox, and Francona) and three player ejections (Paul Lo Duca, Brian McCann, and Yorvit Torrealba).

Tito's performance wasn't that great (2.6), but it wasn't helped by the unidentified flying object that came out of the stands just when he was getting good and fired up. The distraction clearly threw him off his game, although we weren't likely to see a hat toss or other demonstration of anger in any event.