MANNY BEING MANNY

(AP Photo)

He's a Big Hit at Fenway
Sox Rally for 4-3 Win on Manny's RBI Single

"Forget about the trade man. This is the place I want to be man. It's great man. They love me here man. This is the place to be. 'Manny being Manny,' he's great man... we've been through a lot, this is the place for me, I'm just happy to be here... I'm back!" -- 7.31, Manny on Manny

Big Pap Makes Strong Debut
Olerud, Big Papi Go Back-to-Back
Don't-Trade-Bill-Mueller Throws One Away
Quite a Catch: Kapler Saves the Day
Stop the Presses: Rent Got a Big Hit
Schilling Nails it Down

He's Our Manny; No Sox Trades

Sox, Twins talked Romero-for-Youk

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration)

"I think it was the ultimate seller's market, and if you are a buyer and in the ultimate seller's market, it's hard to make a fair deal. It's hard to make a deal that doesn't hurt you more than it helps you. If you need a carton of milk and you put $5 in your pocket and you go to store to get some milk, and you go there and all of a sudden milk is $100, you might walk out of the store without some milk." -- 7.31, Theo Epstein on the trade market

Hall of Fame Rated PG

(Sean Walsh Photo / Cape Cod Baseball League 2001)

Peter Gammons Induction Speech

"Throughout my career I have tried to be guided by one principle, that because I am human I have the right to like people. But because I am professional, I have no right to dislike anyone. People ask me, as a New England, what was it like walking out there in the field when Aaron Boone hit a home run. To be honest, my first reaction was, I was ecstatic. I have known Aaron Boone since he was 13 years old and that's my privilege. My second reaction, I saw Tim Wakefield, head down, and I felt despondent. He's one man who did not deserve that. As I walked out on the field to try to get introduced, I turned to my producer, Charlie Moynihan, and said, 'look around here, you know what? I just got paid to cover the greatest game ever played in the greatest sporting venue in the world. I think I'm the luckiest man on earth.'" -- 7.31, Peter Gammons, Cooperstown

'With Gammons, Hall Makes the Write Call'

Jerry Remy on Peter Gammons
Classic Gammons: Game 6, 1975
Voices on Gammons

"The bottom line is, in a sea of people looking for controversy and negativity, he continually tries to find the positive story. He continually wants to find players he likes. He wants to find good stories. In a way, I don't view him as a writer or a member of the media. I view him as an ambassador for the game." -- Mark Shapiro, Indians GM

He's Got It Wade

The Original OBP Machine Goes to The Hall
But Will His Number Be Retired at Fenway?

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / David Visnick)

Wade Boggs Induction Speech

"I have a message for the young kids. Life is about obstacles, endeavors in life are not to be overlooked. Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings us but the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results." -- 7.31, Wade Boggs, Cooperstown

Wade Boggs: 2005 Hall of Fame Inductee

(Boston Dirt Dogs Illustration / J.Reilly / Southcoast247.com)

Manny Says He Wants to Stay

(NESN screengrab)

'I'm glad Tito gave me those two days off'

Positive Spin City

Manny Talked to Reporters in Francona's Office Before Today's Game

'I'm just here to play and win. I'm a gangster' -- 7.31, Manny Ramirez

Sunday 7.31, Steve Buckley on WEEI’s The Baseball Show: “This is just for the print guys (today's pre-game meeting in Terry Francona’s office today)… Terry was talking about Papelbon (then) Kevin Millar burst in to the room lugging with him Manny Ramirez, said that Manny wanted to talk to the media, Kevin Millar acting as his spokesman of sorts, and then Terry interrupted Millar and Manny to say this was planned. Terry didn’t get a chance to broach the subject with Manny first but they had planned that Manny was going to come in to this room and talk to these writers and clear the air and that Terry didn’t want people to think that Manny was being dragged in here, they all agreed that this would be the thing to do… Manny said he wants to play for the Red Sox through the 2005 season, and I’m not suggesting that he doesn’t want to play here beyond. He says he’s happy here. He says that as far as the day off goes, he says that he was hurt, that he needed the day and so forth and there was some miscommunication and so forth. He made it abundantly clear, and Terry Francona said this, that he gets along with Francona, they have a working relationship. He said that he did not pull himself out of the lineup last night. This is counter affecting some of the things that had been said and written about Manny the last couple of days. Manny said that he is happy playing for the Red Sox, he wants to play with the team; he wants the team to go to the World Series. He says he’s not bothered by the booing from a couple of days ago. He says he has a good working relationship with Terry Francona. It’s as if a cloud has been lifted over Fenway Park."

Pinotito

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration)

Francona's Nose is Growing Again

"I visited with him and told him that I think it's not just his best interest but our ballclub's best interest, that he sit and clear his head, take a few breaths. We'll go (Saturday night, tonight) and have an off-day Monday, and he agreed."

''I went to him today. I thought that was the best way to do it. He's got some things flying around. I've got an obligation to everyone in the ballclub to communicate, set things straight, and in some situations reassure people. I thought it was very successful." -- 7.30, Terry Francona's postgame comments

"Francona, who originally had Ramirez batting cleanup and playing left field on the lineup card posted in the clubhouse, denied that Ramirez had come to him a half-hour before the game and asked to be taken out of the lineup, then 15 minutes later said he wanted to play, a version of events provided by a source who had spoken to high-ranking club officials." -- 7.31, Boston Globe

"According to sources familiar with the situation, Ramirez told manager Terry Francona 30 minutes before gametime that he wasn't going to play, only to return 20 minutes later with a change of heart, offering to once again be put in the lineup. By then, however, the Red Sox manager wasn't about to accommodate him and stuck with a lineup that was without Ramirez." -- 7.30, Providence Journal

"'They don't talk, they haven't spoken since the first day Ramirez came,' the source said of Francona and Ramirez. 'He's had it for Manny for a while. The friction's been there for a while. Manny's not his kind of player - Francona has one way of thinking and there's one type of player he wants on his team and that's not Manny.'" -- 7.31, Boston Herald

Manny Costs Sox $116,000 Per Game to Sit Out
Wells: 'It's Selfish for Him Not to Step Up'

(NESN screengrab)

"The guy's messing with my cake. I want to try to get a ring, man. If he's not out there, that creates a problem. And I don't know the situation. Whatever it is, he better have a great excuse because we need Manny Ramirez in the lineup. I don't care what's going on. This team needs him. If he's going to come out and say he needs another day off, that's not going to sit well with a lot of guys. There's no question... It's selfish for him not to step up. Listen, we've got a couple guys hurt. We need you in there. His impact in that is tremendous. The (opposing) pitchers are going, 'Oh boy. What do we throw this guy?' He's hitting everything. For Manny not to step up, I think that was selfish on his part. If I'm getting paid $20 million, I want to play every day to show this organization and these fans that I'm worth every dime. -- 7.30 David Wells on Manny Ramirez sitting out again

Wells Says 'Cameratown' and Autograph Hounds Don't Give Sox Players Space
(Can the Fanboys and Girls Please Back Off the Guys in Town?)

"Can the Fanboys and Girls Please Back Off the Guys in Town? Uhh, sorry... When guys are making $20 million a year (and significantly less for the other players but still in the millions for most) fans can take pictures and ask for autographs all they want. In comes with the territory and is part of the deal when you sign on the dotted line." -- 7.31, CJAS

Johnny Has His Say on Mannygate

(Boston Dirt Dogs Illustration / Steve Kurth, Illustrator Answers)

Large and in Charge

(Boston Globe Staff Photo / Barry Chin)

David Does the Dealing at Fenway

No Manny, No Problem. Olerud Delivers 3 RBIs in 6-2 Win.
Sign of the Times: Manny's Best Friend Draws Four Walks
The Specialists: Bradford and Myers Seal the Deal

''We go out and play, whatever our lineup is. Nobody is going to take that away from us. Period. I'll tell you that right now." -- 7.29 Captain Jason Varitek

WELCOME BACK KAPLER

(Getty Images Photo)

To the Sound of Welcome Back Kotter, by John Sebastian

Welcome back,
Japan dreams were your ticket out.

Welcome back,
To that same old place that you cared about.

Well the names have all changed since you left our town.
But those dreams have remained since we won the crown.

Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya)
Back here where we need ya (Back here where we need ya)

Yeah we’ll tease you a lot 'cause Payton misplayed your spot, Welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

---

Tito scratches Manny to 'clear his head'
Papelbon to get start today
Sox pick up D-Backs DFA Jose Cruz Jr.

It's Tito's Time

I present myself as a sporting resident of New England about to figuratively place my neck directly onto the guillotine of public opinion, fully expecting someone out there to pull the switch and behead me for daring to speak what could be the single most controversial issue anyone could possibly even consider putting to the printed word.

Terry Francona should be signed to a new contract. Immediately, if not sooner. If there is one member of the Boston Red Sox that has proven to be worthy of a greater commitment at more dinero, I for one cannot think of who that person might be.

Francona is the manager who kept enough Gelusil handy to deal with Pedro Martinez in his final and "diva" Red Sox season. Francona managed to coax and cajole a clubhouse full of disparate attitudes into a cohesive winner. Francona made all the right moves and, to be sure, a few questionable ones, in winning that elusive World Series.

Fast forward to this season. Curt Schilling slipping into an injury-aided mediocrity, a bullpen that at times should simply be considered a rotation of bull, Kevin Millar hitting at times more like a grandmother and Mark Bellhorn fielding like one, and a shortstop who couldn't find his groove much less his hitting stroke. Let us not forget another season of hearing everything short of dismemberment threats tossed his way by fans whipped into a homicidal frenzy by airbag talk show hosts. Oh yeah, there's also the matter of a guy named Manny pulling an "el foldo" on his teammates at a time when they needed him most. Despite all this, as of this writing, the Red Sox are still in first place with the August chase just about to kick into full speed.

There's the evidence. I stand firm and fast in my resolve, and dare anyone...yes, this means you...to argue the contrary and find fault with any of this logical reasoning to award Terry Francona that new contract. Right. Now.

As long as you put that guillotine in the garage first.

-- Ed Berliner, host of CN8's Sports Pulse

20/20 Archives

Ready to Rumble

(2004 Boston Globe Photo / Jim Davis)

Reports: Soxers Curt 'Max Schilling' and 'Cinderella Manny' Ramirez Have to Be Separated by Referee David Ortiz After Curt Confronts Manny About Bailing Out on the Team in Time of Need

"The source said that before that game, which was started by Tampa Bay's Seth McClung, David Ortiz said aloud to Schilling, 'Man, that guy's got some nasty stuff,' to which Schilling supposedly responded, 'Yeah, that's why Manny took the day off.' Ramirez then supposedly said to Schilling, 'Screw you, I can hit anyone in baseball, including your ass.' Then, the source said, Ramirez went up to Schilling and, before the confrontation escalated, Ortiz had to separate the two." -- 7.31 Michael Silverman, Boston Herald

"Ramirez's insistence that he be given a day off Wednesday as promised, sources indicate, infuriated some teammates and resulted in an angry confrontation between Curt Schilling and Ramirez. Schilling got into a heated argument with Ramirez and David Ortiz had to step in and separate them." -- 7.30 Sean McAdam, Providence Journal

The Big Trade?

(AP Photo)

Bigbie-to-Boston deal appears to be off

An Olerud Awakening

(AP Photo)

Arroyo Steps Up; Olerud Slams One Out
Sox Hang on for 8-5 Win Over Twins

Burger King Johnny Boos Home Run King Manny
Ortiz Doesn't Know That Fans Were Upset Over Lack of Hustle, Day Off
Wade Miller Throws Sox a Curve; Bronson Finds His
Forget That Mueller for JC Romero Deal
Damon Slams Bizarro Three-Run 'Homer'
Schilling Shuts the Door

(NESN screen frame)

"Terrible. They should never boo Manny here. The crowd cannot be hard on Manny yet because nothing happened with Manny yet. What about if they don't trade Manny? They've got to stick with Manny all year long. Are they going to keep booing him?" -- 7.29 David Ortiz on his friend Manny

"The Sox, we thrive on controversy. So Manny is really turning this around on everybody else. This man is going to be OK. I believe he'll be a Red Sox. I believe that we're going to go off and have a chance to repeat this year. We're going to get hot here. You know how it goes here. The three years I've been here, this stuff pushes the team. We traded Nomar Garciaparra, the closest thing to Ted Williams. It was like, `Oh my God!" We got hot and won a World Series." -- 7.29 Kevin Millar on controversy

Foulke Gets Some Work In

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Derek Hixon)

Keith is on the Comeback Trail

Good news for Sox hitters: Yanks sign Embree

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Nick Merrill)

Edes Chat Wrap: Latest Trade Rumor Talk

giants56: Q: Is the Burnett trade officially DOA?

Gordon_Edes: No, it's not. Remember, there were people saying that the Nomar deal was 90 percent dead 24 hours before it happened. There are growing indications that the Marlins have decided to keep him, but things have a funny way of changing at the last moment. I know the sides are still talking.

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Peter Stasiowski)

---

Manny Goes to Summer School

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Meir Weinberg)

Teacher's Pet Gets All A's

NYT's Chass: 'Despite All the Baggage, the Mets Need Ramirez'

'Whether Slugging or Sluggish, Nobody Can Stop Him'

"So where are the leaders of this team when Manny stands down? Where's the clubhouse outrage over Manny's abject indifference? Where's captain Jason Varitek or know-it-all Curt Schilling? Where's nail-spitting Trot Nixon? Where's Kevin Millar, who has an opinion on everything? Where's David Ortiz, a fellow slugger who can communicate with Manny in the language of their homeland?" -- 7.29 Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe

Photo Gallery: 'Manny Being Manny'

'If people started booing Manny he'd probably wonder when they resigned Lou Merloni...' -- Wharf Rat

---

Meanwhile in the Bronx...

(Illustration courtesy of Frankie Galasso, Sports Cartoonist)

Yankees 'Has Been' Staff Comes Together

Brown on DL Again; Chacon on Board

What Will Johnny Do?

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Don D.)

Will Manny Hear the Burger King Boo Birds at Fenway Friday Night?

Lucchino Confirms Manny Trade Request

Sox Will Entertain Offers. Privacy Issue Explained.

Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino speaks with WEEI's Dennis and Callahan: "Manny has issues with Boston and privacy, from the week before... actually our first meeting with him about being traded was the week before we took over the team in 2002, but the short answer to the question is yes he did (ask for a trade). We certainly have some perspective on it. It has happened annually,and our general response was 'it's that time of year' and we'll explore it as we explore other trades."

As best you can, can you explain what the privacy issue is, because this is the guy I think invited the Globe in to take photographs of his son and his bedroom?

"Yeah, that’s not really the issue, I know you guys have focused on that as have others, that he did that. I think the privacy issue is the ability to kind of leave your apartment and go to the park with your kid. Leave your apartment and go out to dinner with your wife without sort of being surrounded by well-wishers and autograph seekers, things like that. My sense from that issue and how he’s articulated it is that it comes down to that daily sense of personal privacy not the idea that every once in a while you might invite someone in to your house to do a photo shoot."

And what major league city would he be able to enjoy those freedoms Larry?

"Well I think that you would acknowledge that Boston is probably one of the two or three most intense baseball towns in America where the team occupies a central place in the day-to-day life in the community and the people who live here, so there have got to be several other teams where there’s less focus on baseball. I’ve heard Derek Lowe quoted as saying he misses that central focus on baseball, the kind of day-to-day recognition that he experienced here in Boston that he doesn’t have in, and see it in Los Angeles for example."

It seemed to me that Manny of late was relishing it, was enjoying it. We were under the impression that this was a new Manny, a happy Manny. Were you under that same impression and were you taken by surprise when you found out he was so uncomfortable that he wanted out?

"The answer is yes and no. I think everyone feels that Manny is comfortable at Fenway Park with his teammates, with the organization, he made that point quite clearly that he was appreciative of all that had been done in terms of changing the physical set-up of the ballpark, in terms of our organization’s approach to him and to the team, but that his concern was more with the city and the focus on baseball and the lack of some freedom of movement that comes with that obsession with baseball. So that’s the answer to the first part of it. As to were we surprised by a request, I don’t think it would be intelligent of us to be surprised because as I’ve said this is our fourth season and in each of those seasons, beginning the week before we took over, we were well aware that Manny had issues. In each of those years there has been a request for a trade."

Does ownership and management feel more inclined or compelled to trade him today than you did a week ago when he asked to be traded based on the events of the last two days?

"That’s a very hard question to answer publicly. I try to respond to your questions as best I can but it’s hard to know if the events of the last couple of days are the result of sort of psychological and physical needs for a sustained period of rest or it’s some calculation or some move to encourage us to trade him. It’s hard to know which that is and we’ll try to focus on it in the next couple of days to make an intelligent assessment. It is the time of year when you consider all manner of trades. You know that we are not sentimental people, we try not to be, as much as we like and admire our veterans, you’ve got to be prepared to trade them if it’s in the best interest of the club. Theo is certainly willing to be bold and make moves that other GMs might shy away from, so this is the time for us to think about trades and certainly Manny’s name will come up from time-to-time I’m sure in the next 72 hours. We have until 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. I think that it’s hard (to try to trade Manny) because of the size of his contract obviously, it’s hard. There aren’t a lot of clubs that are going to be interested, but it depends how little you’re willing to take in return with respect to trades. I’m not talking about Manny specifically, although it certainly applies to him. If you’re willing to take a broken bat and a couple of baseballs and a player to be named later, I supposed that makes it more possible but there’s just a certain set of clubs that will never be interested because of the dollars involved, but then again that club may say ‘hey if he’s got a $18-20 million contract this year, and you pay 95% of it, you know, we’ll trade with you,’ but that’s not a particularly intelligent thing for us to do."

Either this is a brilliant plot by Manny to Jay Payton his way out of Boston and as you indicated maybe force a trade and force management’s hand, or the other side of that is he’s a complete and total moron and does not realize that what he did the last two nights disrespects his team, the uniform, the game, and the organization all at once. It’s kind of either/or isn’t it?

"There’s another alternative that Manny would offer and I don’t mean to be an apologist for him because I’m not taking that position today but I would simply say to you that those are not the only two alternatives, the third alternative is that he very much needed either physically and psychologically a couple of consecutive days off. He postponed it from the promised possibility of last weekend ‘till yesterday and his point of view was ‘listen I was tired and I was not going to help this team being out there in this mental and physical condition.’ I don’t know if that’s the case, and I don’t mean to be an apologist for Manny. I just think that you guys have got to consider all the possibilities."

Do you think he notices what Damon does and Renteria and Varitek and Bill Mueller and Schilling and Clement. Do you think he notices how they put their heart and soul into this and they take on the obligation of playing every day and playing hurt?

"Yes. Yes, it’s impossible not to notice that when you’re in a small clubhouse and you see that so I’m sure he does."

Then he is sticking them in the back. He’s saying ‘you guys can play everyday, you can play in pain, not me.’

"Well, those are your words Callahan. I think his attitude is ‘I’ve got to take care of me in the best way that I can in order to make the contribution that I think I can make.’"

What empowers him more to do this and get away with it? The 40 home runs and the 140 RBI? The $20 million contract that is virtually untradeable?Oor the fear that if somebody actually calls Manny on this, whether it would be management, ownership, or the captain, that you could lose Manny to a hamstring/DL appearance for the next 15 days?

"You’re asking me to put myself in Manny’s shoes, that’s a very hard thing to do, it’s probably all of those things. I think all of those things probably contribute to his sense of that but there is one thing that you do have to remember in sports and it’s true in any business. There are times when some differentiation among employees, I know that Jack Welch has written books about it, where you’ve got to differentiate between and among employees. You cannot expect to treat everyone exactly the same. We’ve all been part of a team, or growing up members of a team, when we recognize that there are different people and personalities within the team who were treated differently. I know there’s an old bromide that says ‘this is a team, we’re all treated the same, we all act the same’ well that’s not the way life is. That’s not the way human nature is. The best managers are those, and I mean managers in the broadest sense of the word, those who are able to accommodate different personalities and different perspectives and treat them with respect to those differences."

Do you see any of that support (fans who applaud him, teammates who look the other way) eroding, in particular in the clubhouse where teammates are saying ‘hey, when we needed this guy the most, when one of our own almost lost his life, when another one got seriously injured, and he was asked to help out the team and he just turned his back,’ do you think that continued empowerment by his teammates is as solid as it was two days ago?

“I obviously don’t know. The teams been on the road. I haven’t been in the clubhouse nor have I heard anything that suggests that. My guess is that there would be some reaction to it on the part of his teammates because there are some guys who take that the obligation of constant effort quite seriously and so I suspect there will be some. What’s more obvious to me is the media position. The media which has frequently written about ‘Manny being Manny’ over the years has certainly leaped into this issue with both feet if you read the papers today and listen to you guys on talk radio. There’s hardly an averting of the media’s eyes from this issue. They’ve focused on it intensely." -- 7.28 Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan (Listen to the interview here)

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Dan Goldberg)

The Anti-Captain

(Boston Dirt Dogs Photo Illustration / Nicholas Brown)

Manny Gets a New Uniform

'Give a Rest to Giving Ramirez a Free Pass'

"One Sox veteran blamed the media. 'You guys never hold him accountable,' he said. 'I've never seen a guy get such a free pass. You all think it's a joke, 'Manny being Manny.' What is 'Manny being Manny?' Him disrespecting the game?'" -- 7.28, from Gordon Edes' story on Manny

Time to Be Curt with Manny?

(Boston Globe Photo / Jim Davis)

Or Is It Time for Manny to Just Walk the Walk Out of Town?

Juliana Ramirez Says They 'Love Living Here'

The Bench Player

(Boston Globe Staff Photo / Jim Davis)

He Likes to Watch