But i'm getting ahead of myself, and there was so much that happend, I may miss a few details, so i'd click on one of the links about to the Herald or Globe to get the full story.
Anyway the game started out with a bang, on a 1-2 pitch in the first Pedro nailed D-Rays lead-off hitter Gerald "ice" Williams on the wrist. As Williams walked to first base he kept looking at Pedro, then his wrist then back at Pedro. Pedro saw none of this as he thought nothing of it, and was waiting for a new ball to be thrown to him. Out of nowhere Williams chraged to mound and appeared to get a couple of good shots at Pedro. The benches cleared, and when the smoke had cleared, Williams was ejected along with Devil Rays manager Gerry Rothschild.
For some reason the D-Rays though it was on purpose. It could have stemmed back to when the Rays last visited Boston. Pedro had hit a batter the the Rays though was on purpose. But after it had happened Pedro appologised to the player he hit (his name escapes me at the moment), and actually the player in question and Pedro are good friends. Later in that same game, something else happened involving Gerald Williams, I think he may have been hit too, or maybe walked on a high and tight pitch, I can't quite remember. As Williams was walking to first, he fired his bat towards his teams dug-out and nailed Jason Varitek by "accident".
Not sure if what happened last night had anything to do with it, but it's possible. Something else must have happened in the first inning melee though as Brian Daubach became the center of attention the rest of the night for the D-Rays.
After the brawl Daubach appeared to be seriously injured, he was holding his shoulder as if it had been dislocated. But it must have just looked worse then it was, as Daubs stayed in the game. As the game went on Daubach faced several pitches that were straight at him, up and in, behind him, and he was plunked twice. I have no idea why they picked him, but in the end four D-Ray pitchers had been ejected and four coaches as well. Four of the ejections (2 pitchers and 2 coaches) in the same at bat Daubach had in the seventh. Nomar Garciaparra was also plunked once, and that also caused an ejection of two of the D-Rays.
Like I said a more complete story can be found at the links above.
As for the actual game, little did anyone know that Pedro would not allow one D-Ray to reach base until the ninth inning. That one D-Ray was former Red Sox back-stop John Flaherty. The same guy who caught Matt Young's eight inning no-hitter back in 1989 (I believe that was the year).
Three outs is all Pedro needed to get his first career no-hitter, why is it always a former Sox that does it to us? Well we won so I guess we should be happy. Pedro's line for the night was 9IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 13K and his fifteenth win of the season.
Lost in this whole thing was an amazing night by Carl Everett. In almost hitting for the cycle Carl went 4-5 2R 6RBI with a 2B, 3B, and two HRs, what a game!
Couple of side notes to mention, another D-Ray, Greg Vaughn, was also ejected from the game, but it was due to questioning the strike zone and not due to the melee. Also Red Sox 3B Lou Merloni was forced to leave the game early (2nd inning) after sustaining a mild concussion during the fight. Merloni was one of the first to reach Grerald Williams as he weant after Pedro, and ended up on the bottom of the pile. I have heard that Lou was alert and responsive in the team club-house, the move was more of a precaution that anything else.
Tonight we finish up this three game set, before an off-day tomorrow. Jeff Fassero gets the ball tonight, game time 7:15pm EST.