Manny Ramirez, interacting with teammates during batting practice last night, seems to be as tired of the Red Sox as they are of him.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

“Enough is enough. I’m tired of them. They’re tired of me.”

— Manny Ramirez, before Sunday night’s game with the Yankees.

It was Manny being mouthy, talking about how it would be just fine with him if the Red Sox traded him — as long as the team he was going to agree not to pick up his $20-million option for 2009.

“I can even play in Iraq,” he said.

That’s assuming Manny, who often can’t find the cutoff man, could even locate Iraq on a map.

Talk about guys you wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with. Would you rest easy, knowing Manny had your back?

At least you’d know you’d be safe from attack from 60-plus-year-old traveling secretaries. Manny showed in Houston how he could push guys like that around. And Pedro thought he was tough, taking on Don Zimmer?

There’s a certain irony in Manny bringing up the subject of Iraq, considering that he couldn’t be bothered joining his teammates in visiting the wounded veterans in Walter Reed Hospital when the Red Sox went to Washington during spring training.

Perhaps we should give Manny the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his tendinitis was kicking up and it was too painful for him to limp on that sore knee past all those kids in hospital beds with missing limbs.

Enough is enough.

Finally, Manny has said something that makes sense.

Have Red Sox fans finally had enough of Manny? Have they at long last learned he’s not the lovable flake they like to think he is?

He says he’s tired of Red Sox management. That’s right, he’s had it with the guys who have paid him $20 million a year for eight seasons — the guys who have coddled him and covered up for him, who have made excuses and exceptions for him, year after year because, season after season, he was hitting over .300, hitting more than 30 homers, and driving in more than 100 runs.

The Red Sox have put up with Manny because he puts up numbers.

But they tired of his act long ago.

General manager Theo Epstein put Manny on irrevocable waivers following the 2003 season. Nobody claimed him. Despite Manny’s stats, no other team in baseball thought he was worth the money or the aggravation.

Which is kind of funny, when you consider that Manny and his agent, Scott Boras, apparently believe some team will be willing to pay him more than the $20 million the Red Sox are now. Or, failing that, at least give him a four-year contract worth a guaranteed $60 million, or so — which is a better deal than having your employer holding the option on bringing you back, as the Red Sox do for 2009 and 2010.

Not that the Sox want to bring Manny back next season.

They may not even want him around for the remaining two months of this season, although it seems unlikely they can deal him for anything like comparable value.

The Sox have been struggling to score runs, and Manny, in the midst of all his foolishness, was hitting .302, with 16 homers and 65 runs batted in, going into last night’s game with the Angels at Fenway. As the cleanup hitter, he combines with the recently returned David Ortiz to give Boston a powerful, 1-2 punch in the heart of the batting order. In order to be most effective, Ortiz needs Manny hitting behind him.

Enough is enough.

You’d think $20 million a year would be enough.

Not, apparently, for our man Manny.

He has made it obvious that he does not want the Red Sox to pick up his option at that price for 2009. He doesn’t want anybody else to pick it up, either, letting it be known that would be a condition of his agreeing to any trade the Sox might be able to arrange between now and Thursday’s 4 p.m. deadline.

Not that he thinks he’s going to be traded.

“They’re not going to do it,” he said. “They’re not going to pull the trigger because they know what they’ve got here.”

What Red Sox fans have got is two more months of Manny. Or, optimistically, three, if his bat can help the Sox hold off the surprising Rays and the always dangerous Yankees and propel them into the postseason, when they can attempt to defend their World Series title.

A case certainly can be made that the Sox wouldn’t have ended their 86-year drought and won the World Series in 2004, when Manny was the MVP, without him. Or last year’s either for that matter, although he was only 4-for-16, with no homers and two RBI, in the four-game sweep of the Rockies. Manny did, after all, hit .409 (9-for-22) with two homers and 10 RBI in Boston’s come-from-behind ALCS win over Manny’s old team, the Indians.

Could a similar performance in October soothe ruffled feelings and results in Ramirez’s return?

Not likely.

As Manny so succinctly said: Enough is enough. They’re tired of him, and he’s tired of them.

jdonalds@projo.com