Around the horn

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 2, 2008 | by Rick Hurd

-- The trade of Manny Ramirez likely has not left a slew of broken hearts inside the Boston Red Sox clubhouse. The Boston Globe reported that an informal poll of the clubhouse taken by management revealed manager Terry Francona was in danger of losing the team if Ramirez's antics were allowed to continue. Ramirez took himself out of the lineup in a game against the New York Yankees earlier this month and didn't run out a ground ball during the near no-hitter by the Angels' John Lackey on Tuesday.

-- Ramirez's new Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Nomar Garciaparra said there may be something to Ramirez's claim that the Red Sox tried to paint him as "the bad guy." Garciaparra, whose own contract dispute with Boston ended with a trade deadline deal in 2004, said "there is a lot of truth" to Ramirez's statements and that "I can definitely understand and relate."

-- Privately, the Yankees might be raising a glass to toast Ramirez's new life. Ramirez played 200 games against the Yankees in his career, hitting .321 with 55 home runs and 163 RBI. He was an even more exceptional wrecking machine since 2006, collecting 25 extra-base hits and hitting .455 with 30 walks and 40 RBI in 39 games.

-- Of course, Ramirez was an equal-opportunity masher in Boston. His 274 home runs ranked behind only Ted Williams (521), Carl Yastrzemski (452), Jim Rice (382) and Dwight Evans (379) in club history. Only Yaz (1,844), Williams (1,839), Rice (1,451), Evans (1,346), and Bobby Doerr (1,247) had more RBI than Ramirez's 868, and Williams (.634), Jimmie Foxx (.605) and David Ortiz (.603) were the only Red Sox with a higher slugging percentage than Ramirez's .588.

-- Needless to say, the Ramirez trade generated some huge headlines. Clever ones, too: SO MANNY MEMORIES! (The Boston Globe), MANNY OVERBOARD! (The Boston Herald) and ODD MANNY IN (The Los Angeles Times).

-- Nobody will ever mistake Kelly Shoppach for Ramirez, but the Cleveland Indians catcher did something Wednesday that Ramirez has never done. Shoppach, according to Elias Sports Bureau, became only the second American League player ever to collect five extra-base hits in a game when he had three doubles and two home runs against the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland's Lou Boudreau also did it in 1946.

-- What the Giants' Fred Lewis did when he collected four hits against Arizona's Randy Johnson last Sunday was just as remarkable. Only 11 other left-handers had collected as many as three hits in a game against the Big Unit before Lewis became the first one to have four. Entering the weekend, Johnson had allowed 3,186 hits in his 21- year career, and only 341 -- 11 percent -- were by lefty swingers, according to stats guru Bill Arnold.

-- Finally, did you savor a weekend without any baseball in the Bay Area? It doesn't happen often. According to Arnold, this was only the fourth weekend since the A's moved to Oakland in 1968 that both teams were out of town.

Information for this notebook was obtained from writers in other cities, Bill Arnold's "Beyond the Box Score," various wire services and the Internet. Unless otherwise noted, stats reflect games through Thursday. Contact Rick Hurd at rhurd@bayareanewsgroup.com.