BALTIMORE - Dreadlocks are in fashion in the exclusive 500-home-run club, now that Manny Ramirez has added his name to the list of baseball's most prolific sluggers.
Ramirez became the 24th player to reach the milestone, connecting in the seventh inning off Chad Bradford to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3, last night.
Boston's leftfielder hit the first pitch into the bleacher seats in right-center. He stood and watched the flight of the ball, then took off around the bases in a slow trot, a broad smile on his face.
Ramirez slapped a high-five with first-base coach Luis Alicea, tapped hands with third-base coach DeMarlo Hale, then hugged on-deck hitter Mike Lowell as he crossed the plate. Many of his teammates greeted him as he reached the dugout, where Ramirez received more hugs and bounced up and down in an embrace with David Ortiz and Julio Lugo.
The solo shot gave Boston a 5-3 lead. It traveled an estimated 410 feet.
In the bottom of the seventh, as he ran to his position, Ramirez waved to thousands of Boston fans among the 48,281 at Camden Yards.
The 500 club has only two dozen members, but Ramirez also joined an even smaller fraternity. He is only the seventh player with 500 homers, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 walks, 475 doubles, and a .300 batting average. The others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams.
Boston 002 001 210–6 9 0
Baltimore 020 010 0003 9 2
Boston AB R H BI Avg. Baltimore AB R H BI Avg.
Ellsbury rf-lf 3 1 1 0 .281 BRoberts 2b 4 1 1 1 .267
Pedroia 2b 5 1 2 1 .281 Markakis rf 5 0 2 0 .258
Ortiz dh 3 1 1 2 .252 Mora 3b 4 0 0 0 .245
a-Casey ph-dh 1 0 0 0 .351 Millar 1b 2 1 0 0 .237
MRamirez lf 5 1 1 1 .286 Huff dh 3 0 1 0 .244
JDrew rf 0 0 0 0 .282 RHernandez c 4 1 2 0 .222
Lowell 3b 4 1 0 0 .273 Payton lf 4 0 1 1 .236
Youkilis 1b 3 1 1 0 .302 AJones cf 4 0 1 1 .245
Varitek c 4 0 3 1 .272 Cintron ss 3 0 0 0 .350
Crisp cf 4 0 0 0 .248 b-Scott ph 1 0 1 0 .253
Lugo ss 3 0 0 0 .274
Totals 34 3 9 3
Cora ss 0 0 0 0 .333
Totals 35 6 9 5
a-flied out for Ortiz in the 9th. b-singled for Cintron in the 9th.
E:
Cintron (2), Olson (1).
LOB:
Boston 8, Baltimore 8.
2B:
Varitek (12), Markakis 2 (10), Huff (13).
3B:
Ellsbury (3).
HR:
MRamirez (10), off Bradford; BRoberts (4), off Lester; Ortiz (13), off Olson; Pedroia (4), off Olson.
RBIS:
Pedroia (28), Ortiz 2 (43), MRamirez (35), Varitek (20), BRoberts (18), Payton (15), AJones (17).
SB:
Ellsbury 3 (26).
SF:
Ortiz.
GIDP:
Crisp, Cintron.
RLSP:
Boston 4 (Ortiz, MRamirez, Crisp, Lugo); Baltimore 4 (Millar, RHernandez 2, AJones).
RA:
Mora.
DP:
Boston 2 (Lowell and Youkilis), (Cora and Pedroia); Baltimore 1 (Cintron and Millar).
Boston walks (3):
Ellsbury 2, Lugo.
Baltimore walks (4):
BRoberts, Millar 2, Huff.
Boston strikeouts (7):
Ellsbury 2, Ortiz, Lowell, Youkilis, Crisp, Lugo.
Baltimore strikeouts (8):
BRoberts, Mora, Millar, Huff, RHernandez, Payton, AJones 2.
Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Lester 5 7 3 3 3 4 103 3.67
Aardsma (W) 2 0 0 0 0 2 27 2.73
Okajima (H) 1 1 0 0 0 1 10 0.72
Papelbon (S) 1 1 0 0 1 1 15 2.08
Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Olson 5 3 2 2 2 5 89 4.03
Cormier (BS) (L) 11/3 3 2 2 0 0 27 2.84
JWalker 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 3 4.41
Bradford 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 3 3.12
Sarfate 2 2 1 1 1 2 43 3.38
W:
Aardsma, 2-1.
L:
Cormier, 0-2.
S:
Papelbon, 16.
H:
Okajima, 11.
BS:
Cormier, 1.
IR-S:
JWalker 1-1.
HBP:
by Sarfate (Youkilis), by Cormier (Lowell).
PB:
Varitek.
Balk:
Cormier.
Umpires:
Home, Bob Davidson; first, Rob Drake; second, Alfonso Marquez; third, Andy Fletcher.
T:
3:20.
A:
48,281 (48,290).