I'll take State The Obvious for $200 Alex....

Fan Cam
 

10) Boston invested in pitching, not the dumbest position in baseball
9) Varitek is a solid gold glove candidate {Mauer, Pudge, Molina and Varitek}
8) Boston never had to deal with "manny" issues on offense, until now
7) Varitek's stats are better than most of the fantasy league catchers
6) Boston did not go out and sign the best catcher not under contract
5) Varitek may catch the most valuable pitches in baseball
4) Boston happy with Varitek's offense,
Jason Varitek - Boston Red Sox - News - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
3) Varitek prefers 1B, but 1B Youkilis will not squat behind the plate
2) Boston's Tim Wakefield will make anyone look average
1) Varitek does everthing except mop the floor and turn off the lights

missed the sarcasm

Here is the opening answer
 

"Nigel for $200, the answer is: 'The poster of the most clueless statement about an MLB umpire's zone in this thread.'"

When I get to the major leagues, I'll make sure I call that a ball.

I don't brag about the size of my strike zone. I'm sure it's smaller than some and larger than others. But I do my damnest to get every pitch in the zone -- I try not to miss a strike without making them up as I go along.

Good for you Rich! I love spending 3 hours at the ballpark

From a slightly biased point of view,
 

okay, since Tich is a family friend as has been as long as I can remember, I am a little biased. My old man and him used to work Juco ball together, and Tich lives down the street. IMO, all 4 ejections looked EXTREMELY valid. probably restating a bunch of other opinions, but
EJ 1- catcher, or any other player for that matter, jumps up in my face screaming, yelling, gesturing etc.,:eek:must have had onions for dinner.:eek: hes gone.
EJ 2- coach comes out to defend, obviously lost his temper, he was given a longer leash, hes gone too.
EJ 3- Varitek pulled the pitch in. no doubt about it. might have at least issued beckett a warning, but the instant varitek turns around, buhbye now.
EJ 4- Francona gets in my face, gone.
All four looked extremely legit, and I would back him on them in a heartbeat, as would most of you, and especially if you were working the game with him. Hands down, regardless of missed calls, the ejections were warranted. way to go tich

How can you criticize the strike zone of someone you've never met and have never seen work?

And for someone that knows everything about baseball, you need to spend a lot more hours there too.

Another obvious statement by me, thank you.

Video Replay
 

On the Beckett highlight real, Tichenor is calling those 3rd strikes inside a pretty good zone. Appears Beckett is the one under pressure to perform. Listen to the announcers complain about a previous Beckett pitch that Tichenor may have missed earlier in the game.

On the Mauer vs Beckett video, Varitek frames a low 0-1 ball {at 1:20} and the next 0-2 outside pitch is called a strike {at 1.26} that may have been ball 3. Joe Mauer didn't react the way Beckett did. Difficult to tell how many times a bad call may have happened {waiting for Strike Zone data}, but there is not enough evidence to point the finger at Tichenor's zone.

Redmon tossed for running toward the umpire.
Gardenhire doesn't need an explanation. Defending his player is a BS excuse.
Beckett should have been tossed/warned for his actions.
Varitek had to go. Besides, he already had two homers.
Francona doesn't need an explanation. Defending his player is a BS excuse.

Authority Figure
 

In summary, 1) both catchers and managers were tossed.
2) the safe/out and ball/strike call belongs to the umpire.
3) video evidence does not support the actions of the players
4) players should not be allowed to demonstrate after every close call
5) instant replays, quirky rules and player/managers are sucking up time
6) announcers sadly defend the player/manager actions on the field
7) playing ball and not arguing the call is good for baseball
8) the pressure on umpires is on display and will soon have more effect on the game
9) reflection of unhealthy respect for authority common in American society

Bravo!

First off, who ever had respect for P Gammons??? Old liver lips has been spewing that stuff for years.

Can't tell if the play at home was right/wrong. Redmond is a good guy. Mike looked like he was flabbergasted as to why he was ejected. Gardenhire was an automatic.

As it has been already said, Varitek just protected his pitcher and kept him from being ejected. Francona came out to badger the ump since the Twins had problems with him earlier. Francona spit on him after being ejected. Hopefully he will get several days off for that.

Where did you hear of this? I haven't been able to find documentation of this anywhere. Why isn't it a story anywhere?

At 29 secs into the video Francona spits between his teeth and Tichenor points at his lower chest/torso. Just because it isn't a news story, doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

I didn't see it, that's all. Francona is a notorious spitter. He's always spitting. I'll look again closer this time.