08:36 AM EDT on Monday, July 12, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Red Sox manager Terry Francona couldn't believe his eyes after first base umpire Randy Marsh called out Pokey Reese on a pickoff play at first base in the bottom of the ninth inning yesterday.

BOSTON -- Manny Ramirez has an uncanny habit of getting involved in a controversy around the All-Star break. This year is no different.

Ramirez, who before yesterday had played in all but two games this season and started all but three, asked out of the lineup yesterday after being listed on the team's original lineup card. Manager Terry Francona explained that Ramirez was battling a "tight" hamstring, but seemed fuzzy on the details.

When Ramirez was approached before the game and asked which hamstring was bothering him, he shrugged off the question and walked away. Later, when a Red Sox public relations official went into the trainers room to get clarification, Ramirez told him "both" hamstrings were tight.

With Ramirez sidelined, Kevin Millar went to left field and David McCarty was the first baseman.

During batting practice, Ramirez was on the receiving end of a serious talk from teammate Curt Schilling , who repeatedly gestured in an animated conversation in the outfield. Ramirez was said to be upset that Francona didn't pull him out of the later innings of Saturday night's blowout win over Texas.

"I always like to have everybody available," Francona said. "If Manny says he can't go, he can't go. He's been great. He's played a lot of baseball for us -- more than anybody else."

Ramirez was on the on-deck circle in the eighth, set to hit for Kevin Millar with the tying run on base. But when baserunner Nomar Garciaparra stole second, leaving first base open, the Sox figured that Texas manager Buck Showalter would walk Ramirez and pulled him back into the dugout.

He hit for Doug Mirabelli with pinch-runner Pokey Reese on first in the ninth and popped up.

"He made himself available to pinch hit," Francona said, "and we tried to find a spot where we could get him and have somebody to run (for him). It's not always a perfect situation, but we got him up there in a situation where he could change the game with one swing. It just didn't happen."

Ramirez, present but unavailable for comment after the game, left the team on the morning of the final day of the first half last year, phoning then-manager Grady Little in the middle of the night to tell him that his mother had taken ill in Florida.

In 2001, Ramirez showed up at the All-Star game in Seattle hours before gametime and gave conflicting accounts for his tardiness.

Foulke struggling

Closer Keith Foulke took the loss yesterday, extending a rough stretch that has seen him go 0-2 with two blown saves in his last 10 outings.

In those last 10 outings, he's allowed 14 hits in 13 2/3 innings while allowing four earned runs.

By contrast, he allowed only four earned runs in his first 29 outings, during which the Sox were 25-4. In the last 10 times he's pitched, the Sox were 5-5.

Foulke hasn't had a save in a month -- June 13 was his last -- though that's more a function of the team's lopsided wins and lack of save opportunities than anything else.

Francona insisted he wasn't concerned about Foulke.

"I agree there have been some base runners," he said, "but I guess my answer would be that he's not perfect. He was close for a long time. There are going to be periods where you give up runs."

Foulke was brought into yesterday's game in the eighth, with the game tied, 5-5. He allowed the first two hitters to reach -- allowing a single and a double -- before yielding a sacrifice fly to Alfonso Soriano for what proved to be the winning run.

"I left a ball up where he could his bat on it," said a frustrated Foulke.

Asked about making changes, Foulke snapped: "What I've got is what I've got. Sometimes it works. Right now, it doesn't."

Damon extends streak

Johnny Damon extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a homer just past the foul pole to tie the game. For the first time in eight games, however, he didn't have a multi-hit game, though he did reach base again in the ninth when he got on board via an error.

The streak, the longest active in the majors and the second-longest of Damon's career, has Damon hitting .436 (34-for-78) with six homers and 23 runs scored.

Around the horn

With almost half a season still to play, catcher Doug Mirabelli has already topped his homer output from a season ago. Mirabelli hit his seventh yesterday, one more than he did all of last season. He's reached base safely in each of his last 11 starts and has two homers in his last five starts . . . David Ortiz , who delivered Mark Bellhorn with a run-scoring double, goes into the break as the American League RBI leader with 78. He has 24 RBI in his last 19 games . . . Since coming off the disabled list, third baseman Bill Mueller is hitting .407 (11-for-27) in eight games.