- Local games
- Sports activities
- NFL news
- College news
- NFL scoreboad
- College scoreboard
- NHL news
- College news
- Women's hockey
- NHL scoreboard
- NBA news
- Women's news
- Men's college news
- NBA scoreboard
- NCAA scores (M)
- NCAA scores (W)
- AL news
- NL news
- Other MLB news
- College news
- MLB scoreboard
- Soccer news
- MLS scoreboard
- International scores
- Tennis
- Golf
- Boxing
- Running
- Horse racing
- Auto racing
- Skiing
Bicycle dealers
Exercise equip.
Golf courses
Golf equip.
Health clubs
Sporting goods stores
Sportswear
Ticket sales
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Everett AWOL for today's game
By Bob Holher, Globe Staff, 03/07/01
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- With a blast of exhaust in a sudden air of trouble, a bus carrying the Red Sox yesterday to a game against the Philadelphia Phillies rolled away without a star player: Carl Everett.
Everett, whose persistent tardiness last year became a prime source of tension in the Sox clubhouse, was AWOL again.
In a sign that another summer of friction could loom, manager Jimy Williams boarded the coach for its posted 7:45 a.m. departure to discover that Everett was not on board. He was told the slugger had just arrived in the clubhouse to pack his bag for the trip.
"I asked somebody, `What time is it?' " Williams said before yesterday's game in Clearwater, a 2-hour 15-minute haul from Fort Myers. "He said, `I got 7:46.' "
Williams responded, "We can't wait. We gotta go."
Of all the Red Sox rules, punctuality ranks among the most preeminent. Williams said he stressed during a December meeting in Dallas with Everett and his agent, Larry Reynolds, the importance this season of the center fielder reporting on time or informing the manager if he is running late. Williams is even carrying a cellular phone this year for the first time, apparently for just such developments.
"If you're not on time, what do you do?" he asked reporters. "Call ahead. Why do you think I have my phone?"
Williams said he did not hear from Everett or speak to him before the bus departed. But he held a nearly 40-minute phone conversation with Everett after the Sox slammed three home runs in the ninth inning to come from behind and beat the Phillies, 9-8. The conversation unfolded while the team waited for Williams on the bus outside.
Williams said Everett "will be on the bus" today when the Sox travel to Bradenton to play the Pirates. "Which I think is good," the manager said. "We move forward here."
Williams would not elaborate on the discussion, even when asked whether Everett may have offered a reason why he failed to meet the scheduled departure time.
"We left at a specified time," Williams said. "Our team is the most important part of anything we do here. The players are the most important part, how they play, how they feel toward each other, to go win baseball games. That's the main focus of what we're trying to do."
He then hurried to the bus, cutting short his usual postgame news conference. "Rip me if you have to," he told reporters, "but we have kids out there waiting on the bus."
Everett was not available to comment and his agent, Larry Reynolds, said he was not aware of the incident.
But the episode was uncomfortably familiar to Everett's teammates, several of whom said the slugger has regularly been among the last to show up this spring for practices and some games.
"It doesn't take a brain specialist to see what's going on," one player said. "I don't know if it's a power play or what, but it's been going on all spring. He shows up a few minutes before we stretch. It's the same old stuff, and we're tired of it."
Other players downplayed the incident. "It's $500 to the Jimmy Fund," Pedro Martinez said. "If you miss the bus, pay your $500, that's it. Zero. No biggie. Everybody is late, sooner or later. I'm late sometimes. I pay $500 and that's it."
Everett said when he arrived for spring training that he had put last year behind him. Yet even before his second season with the Sox has begun, he is in the midst of another distraction, as the chatter in the visitor's clubhouse at Jack Russell Stadium yesterday was more about the missing center fielder than the game.
The difference this year is that Williams, who last year deflected criticism about Everett's tardiness for much of the season, acted swiftly. The fine is not extremely punitive, considering Everett's $7 million salary.
But the toll on his relationship with his manager and teammates has yet to be determined. Everett believed he was unfairly criticized last season over the tardiness issue. And he is not expected to react well to being portrayed again as a problem.
General manager Dan Duquette said he spoke to Everett yesterday morning about the incident. When asked if Everett offered an explanation for being late, Duquette said, "He missed the bus."
Asked why he missed the bus, Duquette said, "He missed the bus. You'd have to talk to Jimy about it. I'm sure Jimy will take care of it."
Williams noted that every other player showed up on time yesterday and that one -- Manny Ramirez -- insisted on making the trip even though Williams wanted to spare him the ride. Like Ramirez, who is trying to fight his way out of a 2-for-16 slump, Everett is off to a slow start (1 for 10, with no RBIs or extra-base hits).
Trot Nixon played in Everett's place and went 2 for 4, including a solo home run, and made an acrobatic, diving catch in the fourth inning of a line drive by Nelson Figueroa.
"Listen, everybody's got to make these trips," Williams said before the game. "We've got a guy out there we wanted to leave off the trip, and he wants to come. What are we talking about here?"
Williams said there was no chance Everett was unaware he was scheduled to make the trip, since the travel list is posted at least a day or two before the scheduled departure.
The manager was twice asked whether he has had any previous problems with Everett during spring training, either with punctuality or other concerns, and he declined to answer. "I'll leave that in-house," he said.
But he made clear that Everett should have had no doubt about how highly he prizes punctuality. "We talked about that a lot with his agent there [in Dallas]," Williams said.
Asked if Everett expressed any opposition at the time, Williams said, "I didn't hear anything negative about that."
So, with the bus idling yesterday at 7:46 a.m., Williams gave the go-ahead. Two or three minutes passed as the bus and accompanying van coordinated their exit, and Everett was still not in sight.
When the bus reached Clearwater, the manager said Everett had failed to fulfill a simple criterion of professional baseball. "You've got to get there and pack your own bag," he said, "and get on the bus."
Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to the story.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
