"I didn't tell him he couldn't play,'' Francona told the Boston Globe last Sunday. "I've asked him in the interests of our ball club, I think it's something he needs to think about. I'm hoping that's what he'll do.''

A day later it appeared the ten-time All-Star would indeed bow out, although Major League Baseball is said to be none too pleased about the decision. In fact, the suits are reportedly pressuring Ramirez and the Red Sox to at least have him show up and kiss a few babies. Apparently, they think it might be considered offensive if the top vote getter ignores the fans' wishes and ices his kneecap simply so he can play in some games that actually matter a few days later.

Even the normally closed-mouthed Francona conceded Ramirez was having some problems receiving the equivalent of a Major League hall pass when he said the affair was "getting bogged down a little bit.'' No one expects, in the end, anyone will actually try to force Ramirez to play. How could they when so many other players have used doctor's notes to get out of the game in the past? Still, in a time when everything is an issue even if there really isn't an issue, Ramirez and the Red Sox are being looked upon by some of their peers with a jaundiced eye, regardless of the fact that two weeks ago he asked out of a game in Atlanta complaining of a sore knee and later was seen wearing a wrap around it.

That did lead teammate Trot Nixon to holler jokingly across the locker room, "Manny, take that eyewash off your knee,'' but there's no accounting for locker room humor now is there?

That kind of comment might give skeptics something to wonder about, but the guy says his knee hurts. While his pain threshold will never be mistaken for Brett Favre's, he has played 77 games in 3 1/2 months, so he's sore and tired.

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At 34, Ramirez has finally begun to again belt the ball with his usual consistency, delivering 23 home runs and 63 RBI to date for a team that is leading the AL East in a race that, unless Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago collapse, will produce no wild card playoff team this season. Should he put his team's pennant race at risk, minimal though the risk may be, just to play in an exhibition game? What would Allan "We're talkin' about PRACTICE'' Iverson say about that concept?

The possibility still remains that Ramirez shows up in a cameo role. But wouldn't that take a spot that might be filled by another deserving player whose knees feel fine, whose hamstrings are not sore and who hasn't already been selected so many times that it has begun to look more like the loss of a three-day vacation than an honor to be selected in the first place?

So what should Major League Baseball do if, as expected, Ramirez chooses to decline the invitation instead of showing up for a meaningless exhibition game in July? Maybe instead of worrying about a popularity contest, they should worry about something significant — like how many of their players are still using human growth hormones and other performance enhancers in the hope of one day playing baseball half as well as gimpy-kneed Manny Ramirez.