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And by the time he walked out of Progressive Field flush with one of the season’s hallmark moments - a game-winning, two-run home run off Cleveland closer Joe Borowski - nothing had changed.

“Like I told you, I’m going to play six years (in Boston), David (Ortiz) is going to play six years,” Ramirez said, “and then we’re going to retire.”

The matter-of-fact, dead-pan method in which Ramirez delivers his messages suggests he knows something we don’t.

There will be the barrage of simplistic answers, such as his response to how much he likes batting in what used to be Jacobs Field.

“I like hitting everywhere,” Ramirez said.

Or his reaction to catching Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff with 493 career home runs.

“Got to keep going,” he said.

And the analysis of Borowski’s pitch.

“Like a fastball, it was something like 80 (mph),” he said. “Or a changeup. It was right there.”

But then, just like with the laser beam that flew out over the left field wall in the ninth inning, comes the hammer. The expression doesn’t change, but the messages become more important. Take, for example, his refuting of the notion that he wanted to remain in Cleveland earlier in his career.

“I loved going to Boston because it was a big challenge, a big challenge that I was able to do,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason. It was a challenge for me, but it made me a better player. I changed everything (in Boston). Boston never had a player like me. They had Mo Vaughn in the ’90s, but after that nothing like me. I went there and my

“Everybody says Boston is a hard place to play. It’s not hard to play. It’s easy. It depends on what you focus on. There are things you aren’t going to like, but you have to look at the good things. Two championships in a city that hasn’t won in 100 years. How can you not like that? What more could you want?”

Ramirez also reminisced about the playoff-changing comment made after the Red Sox [team stats] fell behind, 3-1, to the Indians in last year’s American League Championship Series. At the time, he uttered those shockwave-inducing words regarding a possible Sox loss: “It’s not the tend of the world.”

Yesterday, he revisited the statement.

“I was just being honest,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about any impact. We were trying, so it wasn’t like we were slacking off out there. I didn’t realize (the effect it would have). I was just being honest.”

And then, boom!

The stare remains straight ahead, the tone doesn’t change, and along comes the home run. Something you didn’t expect.

“I told Ino (Guerrero) right after that we were going to win it all,” he said, a proclamation later confirmed by the Red Sox coach.

Manny says it, it comes true. You start to get the feeling that more times than not Ramirez knows something we don’t, such as what uniform he is going to be wearing for the next six years.

rbradford@bostonherald.com

News Sourced : http://www.bostonherald.com

DENVER — NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony was arrested early Monday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, hours after his worst game of the season.

The Denver Nuggets forward was arrested on Interstate 25, police said. He was alone in the car and pulled over for weaving and not dimming his lights.

Det. Sharon Hahn said Anthony failed a series of sobriety tests. He was charged with DUI, then taken to police headquarters before being released to a "sober responsible party," Hahn said. Anthony is due in court May 14.

Mark Warkentien, the Nuggets' vice president of basketball operations, said the team was aware of the situation but declined comment. The Nuggets did not practise Monday and Anthony wasn't available. He's expected at practice Tuesday.

Anthony's attorney, Dan Recht, said his client consented to a blood test, but results won't be available for about two weeks.

"Carmelo apologizes to his fans, the Denver community, his teammates and the Nuggets organization for the distraction this is causing them," Recht said.

The Nuggets (49-32) clinched their fifth straight playoff berth Monday night when Golden State lost at Phoenix. Denver had beaten Houston 111-94 Sunday night to move a-half game ahead of the Warriors for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

Anthony was held to 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting against a Rockets team that was missing defensive specialist Shane Battier. Anthony did extend his NBA-best streak of double-digit games to 206.

On Saturday, he committed a flagrant foul against Utah's Deron Williams that changed the course of a close game. The Jazz went on to win 124-97.

Anthony was named an All-Star starter for the first time this year. He's fourth in the NBA in scoring (25.8) and is averaging a career-best 7.4 rebounds.

Last season, he was involved in a brawl at Madison Square Garden. After J.R. Smith was collared on his way to a breakaway basket in the closing minutes of a rout, Anthony, then the league's leading scorer, dropped the New York Knicks' Mardy Collins with a punch that drew a 15-game suspension.

In February, Anthony was ticketed in Colorado for driving 40 km/h over the posted speed limit. A hearing is set for next month.

News Sourced : http://canadianpress.google.com

Manny: Six more years

Nuggets' All-Star Carmelo Anthony arrested on suspicion of DUI