Major League Baseball games played Thursday, July 12, 2007: Baseball resumed after the 2007 All Star break with a partial slate of 6 games that produced two ejections.

In Boston, where the Red Sox hosted the Toronto Blue Jays, first base umpire John Hirschbeck ejected Blue Jays manager John Gibbons in the top of the 8th inning. According to this wrap from MLB.com, "Gibbons made an early exit after a lengthy argument on the field with first-base umpire John Hirschbeck, who ruled Boston's Julio Lugo safe on a close play at first base in the seventh inning. Gibbons wanted the Hirschbeck to appeal to home-plate umpire Las Diaz, but Hirschbeck stuck with his decision and then ejected Toronto's manager from the game." All the scoring in the game occurred before the 7th inning, so the call did not affect the outcome of the game, which the Red Sox won by a score of 7-4. You can access the box score at this link, while another wrap from MLB.com is available here. And a related photo can be viewed here. Additional coverage is available from The Toronto Globe and Mail; The Toronto Star; The Boston Globe; The Boston Herald; and The Associated Press.

And in Seattle, where the Mariners hosted the Detroit Tigers, home plate umpire Mike Winters ejected Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez for disagreeing with that umpire's failure to call batter interference on Rodriguez's throw to second in an attempt to put out a baserunner who advanced on a steal. An error was charged to Rodriguez on the throw, which allowed the runner to reach third base. According to news reports, Rodriguez may have come into contact with Winters during the argument, which if so would produce a suspension for Rodriguez. Although there was only one out at the time of the ejection, the runner who reached third base failed to score as the next batter was out on a foul pop to the first baseman and the final batter of the inning struck out. The Mariners won the game by a score of 3-2. You can access the box score at this link, while wraps from MLB.com are available here and here. Additional coverage is available from The Detroit News; The Detroit Free Press (here and here); The Seattle Times; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer; and The Associated Press. And you can view related photos here and here.

Credit umpires Mike Winters and John Hirschbeck with one ejection each. Winters now has a total of five ejections on the season, tying him for 3rd place in the standings. Hirschbeck's total increases to two.