"What I wanted to do today is get excited to play a baseball game, and what I ended up doing was apologizing to my coaches and being humiliated."
What transpires over the next eight-plus hours does little to clear the manager's head. In an early-morning meeting, the Boston players vote to not only boycott the overseas trip, but also the spring training game against Toronto that afternoon until their coaches, staff, and trainers are compensated properly.
Red Sox player representative Kevin Youkilis explains his team's position to Toronto rep Vernon Wells, and the Blue Jays express their support.
Below is a timeline of the extraordinary events:
9:25 a.m. - Sox third baseman Mike Lowell motions me into the closed clubhouse. "When we voted to go to Japan, it was not a unanimous vote," he explains, "but we did what our team wanted us to do for Major League Baseball. They promised us the moon and the stars, and then when we committed, they started pulling back.
"I'm so super proud of this team. When we put [the boycott] to a vote, it was unanimous. We're all in agreement we're not going to put up with this."
9:47 a.m. - Curt Schilling emerges from the clubhouse to talk with a number of Blue Jays who are taking batting practice. Schilling says during an October conference call with MLB, he "reiterated multiple times on the phone" that one of the conditions the Boston players insisted on was having their staff compensated. Schilling claims the league office also promised special travel amenities it later reneged on. "Some of the things they promised us had already been taken away," says Schilling, "but when this came up, we were all in agreement. This can't happen."
11:08 a.m. - Lowell jogs onto the field to speak with Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. A hopeful capacity crowd claps loudly. Moments later, Lowell disappears back into the clubhouse.
11:20 a.m. - Sox captain Jason Varitek meets the media on the dugout steps and announces no resolution has been reached. He says his team will not take the field until the issue is resolved. "It isn't about us," Varitek says. "There are other people that are involved who are being forgotten."
