Goodbye Ramirez, hello Bay

Jason Bay nearly ended his Red Sox debut with a walk-off homer in the 12th. Jim Rogash/Getty Images

BOSTON -- By 3:15 p.m., five television trucks were idling on Van Ness Street, beyond right field of Fenway Park. A few steps from a statue of Ted Williams and within view of a series of banners honoring Red Sox greats, a local sports reporter led into the afternoon news broadcast and summed up the club's prevailing attitude toward Manny Ramirez: "They loved his power hitting but not his antics ..."

The tumultuous tenure of Manuel Aristides Ramirez in Boston ended Thursday in a last-minute deadline deal that will tarnish his legacy. In 7½ years, he hit 274 home runs, added 868 RBIs, was named to eight All-Star teams, won seven Silver Sluggers and helped the Red Sox claim two World Series titles. But his bitter departure from the Hub will make it less likely that his No. 24 will join other Boston legends on Fenway's façade. His number was available cheap on Thursday, both for the Dodgers (Boston is paying the final $7 million of his salary) and for Sox fans (Ramirez merchandise was discounted to half-price at souvenir stores near the park).

"What matters, ultimately, is winning and winning the right way," said Boston general manager Theo Epstein, who traded Ramirez to the Dodgers and two young players to the Pirates in exchange for left fielder Jason Bay. "It was important to gauge what was real and what was imagined. I've spent a lot of time with [manager Terry Francona] lately and in the clubhouse, and it's undeniable that there was an environment that was not conducive to winning. We wanted to change that, and we did. We also wanted to make a good baseball trade for now and the future."

Boston's newest acquisition featured prominently in its 2-1, 12-inning win. Bay was nearly the walk-off hero, skying a two-out, Wall-scraping triple off Alan Embree in the bottom of the 12th and later scoring on Jed Lowrie's infield single. He finished the night 1-for-3 with the triple, two strikeouts, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Bay's performance took some of the focus off Ramirez's unceremonious exit, but the evening was more about the absent leftfielder than the one who scored both Boston runs. In a press conference before the night's game against Oakland, Epstein rarely uttered Manny's name but made it clear that he believed trading the future Hall of Famer was the club's best option. Francona said he didn't think the Sox had been handling distractions or frustration very well and that "it was an exciting time" to address his retooled team in a 10-minute team-only meeting this afternoon. Added Epstein: "There are 25 guys down there right now that feel like a team. It hasn't felt like that for a while, and you have to feel like that in professional sports to perform at your best."

The Providence Journal reported that Epstein met with team veterans on Wednesday, who urged the general manager to trade Ramirez, and WCVB-TV's Web site said in an informal poll of his 24 teammates, 23 supported a trade with only David Ortiz abstaining. (One member of the Sox denied this story, saying he had not been polled for input.)

No matter what divisions existed within the clubhouse, it was telling how teammates weren't racing to defend their former left fielder. Ortiz was very short of words when speaking to a crowd of reporters near his locker. He lauded Ramirez's ability -- "there's no cleanup hitter like that," Ortiz said -- but added he hadn't spoken with the slugger since he was dealt and didn't want to guess if his friend was happier now. "He wanted to be traded, and they did trade him," said Ortiz, who added to his personal space in the clubhouse by taking over Ramirez's locker. He wouldn't commit to saying that he'd miss Ramirez. "I'll let you know after the season," Ortiz said.

When a reporter prefaced a question to usually gregarious third baseman Mike Lowell with, "I know we're belaboring this, but ..." Lowell interrupted him: "You really are." Such has been the distraction of the last week.

"It can provide a weird atmosphere, yeah, like this right here," he said later, gesturing to the dozen reporters around his locker. "I'd rather you ask me about Justin Duchscherer and how we're going to play [the last] 55 games than how I feel about Manny. Because Manny's not here any more. I understand that it's a great story because he was a great player, but now we're living in the past already."

Lowell clarified that "Manny's not a bad guy. He's a different guy, but he's definitely not a bad guy." But his trademark light-hearted presence was missing in the clubhouse as he became consumed with his contract and demanded to be traded. When asked what was most different about Ramirez's absence, reliever Javier Lopez's response was "no dreadlocks."