Associated Press
The baseball notebook …
NEW YORK ó Mets general manager Omar Minaya apologized to a beat reporter for questioning his motives and credibility during a bizarre news conference. The writer accepted, saying the GM’s “remorse was sincere.”
Minaya said Thursday he had a good meeting with New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin a day earlier. But the GM didn’t retract his remarks when asked repeatedly if he stood by his critical comments Monday while announcing the firing of executive Tony Bernazard.
“Me and Adam had a conversation, we had a conversation that stays between us,” Minaya said in the Mets’ dugout before New York’s day-night doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies. “I’m very comfortable that in the conversation and my apology to Adam, and, as I said before, those are comments that I should not have made.”
In a statement posted on the Daily News’ Web site, Rubin said: “I appreciated Omar traveling into Manhattan on Wednesday to meet with me in person. His remorse was sincere. I’ve accepted his apology and I am ready to continue my job as Mets beat writer for the Daily News.”
Minaya’s job security has come into question in the wake of a series of embarrassing articles written by Rubin about Bernazard, a top Minaya lieutenant and longtime friend.
After announcing Bernazard’s dismissal Monday, Minaya said Rubin had “lobbied” him and others in the front office, including Bernazard, for a job in player development. Rubin denied he had asked Minaya for a job and insisted he had merely sought career advice.
Minaya said Thursday he let his emotions get to him and felt bad about his remarks.
“I should have never talked about those things that day,” he said. “I should’ve never said those things and that’s what I told Adam and I apologize.”
– NEW YORK ó David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, the sluggers who led Boston to a pair of World Series championships, were among the more than 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to a report in The New York Times.
The article posted on the newspaper’s Web site Thursday cited lawyers involved in pending litigation over the testing results.
Ortiz declined comment to the paper before the Red Sox played Oakland. The popular-but-slumping Big Papi had not been previously linked to positive tests.
– MILWAUKEE ó Umpire Joe West worked his 4,000th major league game Thursday when the Washington Nationals played the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the 19th man to reach the milestone. West worked his first game in 1976 when he was 23.