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| Thursday, July 20 | |||||
| Hidden Zapruder film key to Everett's appeal Special to ESPN.com | |||||
| With a simple flick of the wrist Thursday afternoon, Carl Everett demonstrated just how important he is to the Red Sox' attack and how sorely he'll soon be missed.
Everett's homer, which sailed over the right-field scoreboard at Camden Yards and gave the Red Sox a short-lived 2-0 lead against the Orioles, was his 26th of the season -- a team high and a personal best.
It came a few hours after Everett was given official notification from Frank Robinson, baseball's executive vice president of on-field operations, that he had been suspended for 10 games and fined an undisclosed amount of money for his on-field altercation with umpire Ronald Kulpa on July 15.
Everett immediately began the appeal process and was in the lineup for the first game of Boston's day-night doubleheader with the Orioles.
"I don't have any reaction," Everett said 90 minutes before the first game. "It's all behind me."
But Everett went on to echo remarks of his agent, Larry Reynolds, maintaining that irresponsible media coverage has tainted Everett and his case. Specifically, Reynolds has objected to news reports that allege Everett head-butted Kulpa following his ejection.
"The whole thing is, the majority of the media tried to make (me into a) monster," Everett said. "Everyone was quick to judge -- I fault the media. ... If you listen to everything someone said, it's own opinion, instead of what they actually see, I would say I didn't do the things that people have said I've done."
Reynolds is ready to present frame-by-frame videotape evidence of the incident to support their claim that Everett didn't make contact with Kulpa. The appeal will be heard by Major League Baseball president Paul Beeston.
Asked if he regretted his behavior -- which included confrontations with coaches and teammates -- Everett responded: "There's no need to answer that question. If I answer that, it can be fabricated."
He also would not answer directly when asked if he had apologized to his teammates for his behavior.
"That's something between me and my teammates," he said.
It will be Everett's teammates who will now suffer most. Heading into Thursday's action, Everett led the Red Sox in nearly every vital offensive statistic -- homers, RBI, total bases, and runs scored. He's second on the team to Nomar Garciaparra in batting average and slugging percentage.
When Everett's suspension begins, he'll be replaced by Darren Lewis, who while superior to Everett defensively, possesses nowhere near his offensive production.
Lewis went into Thursday's action with a .259 average, one homer and seven RBI and a slugging percentage of .333 -- just a little more than half of Everett's .638 figure.
Boston's starting right fielder Trot Nixon (hamstring) remains on a rehab assignment in Florida, but may be able to rejoin the lineup by the time Everett is forced to the sideline.
Troy O'Leary, who has three homers in his first 13 games since returning from a stint on the disabled list for personal reasons, may help fill some of the offensive void. But general manager Dan Duquette has been searching for offensive help -- he's talked to Cincinnati about Dmitri Young and Milwaukee about Jeromy Burnitz -- and Everett's upcoming absence may only intensify his search, since the Sox ranked 10th in runs, 11th in homers and 13th in total bases.
Those paltry numbers were compiled with Everett in the lineup; what they'll look like without Everett, the Red Sox don't even want to contemplate.
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal writes a weekly major-league notebook for ESPN.com. | ALSO SEE Proper re-buttal? Everett suspended 10 games, fined  Kreidler: We don't need no stinking rules | ||||