The story raged on the airwaves and in the blogosphere all day, but Manny either didn't know or didn't care. He was approached by a few media members when he awoke from his nap and said, "No, not talking. I already talked."
He talked quite a bit in the days leading up to the break, and again in New York on All-Star Tuesday. Manny did a lengthy interview with Channel 7's Larry Ridley and said he wanted to know what was going on with his contract. He talked about ownership going behind his back in prior negotiations. Then he said the same stuff to the Herald Tuesday.
Owner John Henry fired back with an e-mail to the Herald, writing, "I find remarks that we have been anything other than completely straightforward to be personally offensive."
Next came the Lobel broadside on WEEI: a six-figure fine for Manny and club suspicions of an intentional strikeout.
"I don't think this is false information," Lobel said last night. "It's not something I'd make up. It didn't come to me in a dream. I know it's not in their best interests to talk about this, but I'm pretty confident with what I said."
Regarding the amount of the fine, the Globe's Gordon Edes (citing industry sources) last night reported Ramírez was assessed $10,000-$15,000 for assaulting McCormick (who turns 65 tomorrow).
"Obviously, the [Lobel] report is inaccurate," said Ramírez's agent, Scott Boras, who attended last night's 11-3 loss to the Angels.
This from CEO Larry Lucchino: "We said at the outset that we were going to handle this as an internal matter, and that remains our position. We're not going to discuss what actions we took."
Manager Terry Francona added, "We handled it how we thought was appropriate. So much has happened since. Things that happen, we take seriously. I don't think because we don't say things that that makes us spineless."
When told of Lobel's accusation regarding Manny's passive pinch-hitting appearance, Francona asked, "Where'd he come up with that?"
"It's ridiculous and incendiary for anyone to suggest that Manny would purposefully make an out in any game," Henry wrote in an e-mail. "Ridiculous."
