The Boston Red Sox suspect Manny Ramirez, unhappy about a six-figure fine levied on the slugger for pushing a team employee to the floor, purposely took three called strikes during a pinch-hit at-bat against the New York Yankees earlier this month, according to a former Boston sports anchor.
In quotes published on the Boston Globe website boston.com, former WBZ-TV anchor and sports director Bob Lobel said on radio station WEEI that Ramirez was upset about being fined such a substantial amount. The money from the fine went to charity.
"That got (Manny's) attention," said Lobel. "He became a petulant child by being punished. No matter what the crime was, pushing an employee, that was the issue ... he acted out (after the fine). They got his attention. He doesn't like to be punished in any way, shape or form.
Lobel went on to say that Ramirez's three-pitch strikeout while facing Mariano Rivera at Yankee Stadium on July 6 -- more than a week after Ramirez pushed Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick in Houston -- was a message to the Red Sox that he did not appreciate being fined.
"I'm saying that there is a strong feeling that that was the message to the Red Sox and it's a strong feeling that that's unacceptable," Lobel said. "There's a feeling that he didn't give it his all, let's put it that way ... it's an at-bat that resonated very strongly in the front office."
Ramirez, under contract through this season with two one-year team options at $20 million each in 2009 and 2010, has said he wants to return to the Red Sox. This week, during the All-Star break, Ramirez told a Boston Herald reporter that if the Red Sox do not pick up his option, he would become a free agent and play elsewhere.
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