ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Much as he did following his dugout tussle with teammate Kevin Youkilis earlier this month, Manny Ramirez yesterday attempted to downplay the fallout following his altercation Saturday in Houston with traveling secretary Jack McCormick.

“Let me tell you guys something,” began Ramirez, speaking to a group of reporters. “In the clubhouse, this is a family and whatever happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. Me and Jack, our friendship is good and he’s going to continue to be my friend yesterday, today and tomorrow. Everything is fine.”

Ramirez wouldn’t answer a question about how the scuffle began.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Ramirez evenly. “I talked to him and everything is fine. We fixed it, that’s it. What do you want me to tell you?”

On Saturday afternoon, Ramirez and McCormick got into a heated exchange over the player’s ticket allotment in the visitor’s clubhouse at Minute Maid Park, culminating in a shove from Ramirez that sent McCormick to he ground.

The two were quickly separated and Ramirez later apologized to McCormick.

Manager Terry Francona attempted to move on from the incident.

“When things happen,” he said, “we take them seriously. I hope we deal respectfully with all the parties involved. But we also do it internally. This is something that happened between friends. It’s been handled.”

Asked if he planned to speak to Ramirez again about the incident or pursue additional discipline, Francona said: “I’ve already talked to everybody I need to, like I always do. It’s been dealt with.”

Extra bases

J.D. Drew may been sad to see the month of June go. Drew, who homered last night, finished the month with a .337 average (31-92) with 12 homers and 27 RBI in 26 games. He led the majors in homers and slugging (.848) while ranking among the leaders in runs (27), extra-base hits (21), walks (21) and total bases (78). His .848 slugging percentage was the best for the month of June by a Sox place since at least 1956. … Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to eight games. … The Sox dropped to 3-13 indoors this season and 2-11 in one-run games on the road. … Dustin Pedroia singled in the fourth extending his hitting streak to eight games, too, though his multi-hit game streak came to an end at five.

smcadam@projo.com