BOSTON - Manny Ramirez strolled into the middle of the clubhouse with a bat in his hand and smile on his face Friday, ready to put his dugout dustup with teammate Kevin Youkilis as far away as some the 503 career homers he’s hit.

“It’s in the past,” he said of his brief spat with Youkilis in Thursday’s 7-1 victory over Tampa Bay. “It’s a new day.”

TV cameras showed Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis being separated after exchanging words in the dugout at the end of the fourth inning. Ramirez pointed at Youkilis before being escorted down the runway toward the clubhouse by trainer Paul Lessard and a few players.

Later in the game, NESN, the team’s broadcast network, showed grainy footage of Ramirez apparently taking a swipe at Youkilis.

Ramirez was not listed in Friday’s starting lineup, saying his right knee has been sore.

But the knee was not what most of the media wanted to learn more about.

“Don’t worry about it,” was a phrase he repeated a few times. “It’s a new day.”

When asked what he might have said to Youkilis, Ramirez just replied, “what happened is nobody’s business.”

Youkilis took the same approach a few minutes earlier when he headed out for batting practice.

“It’s good,” he said, quickly walking past reporters. “It’s over. A new day.”

According to ESPNdeportes.com, the cause of the dugout disagreement was Youkilis' temper following a poor at-bat.

"It all happened because Manny complained about Youkilis' habit of throwing bats, helmets and other objects in the dugout when he has a bad at-bat, something that has become a constant practice," a source told the Web site. "Other players have told Youkilis in the past about the situation, which makes him look selfish and that he is more worried about each at-bat than about the team. If Boston is winning easily, there's no reason to throw objects all over the dugout because of a bad at-bat.

"There was a meeting where the team let Youkilis know that many of his teammates were tired of his explosive reactions for each bad plate appearance. It became very bothersome … more so when the team is winning and it's in first place. There's not much room for individualistic attitudes."

Ramirez homered and drove in five runs besides his spat during in a game that included a bench-clearing brawl between the clubs.

Tampa Bay starter James Shields, DH Jonny Gomes and Boston’s Coco Crisp were all ejected.

The fight on the field started after Crisp was hit on the right hip by a second-inning pitch from Shields. Crisp dropped his bat, charged the mound and ducked a wild right by Shields before throwing a few punches himself.

Ramirez’s right knee appeared to buckle when he took a pitch from Dan Wheeler in the seventh. Ramirez continued to flex his leg after drawing a walk before leaving for pinch runner Kevin Cash one batter later.

“Everything’s good,” he said of the knee. “Just kind of sore. It’s just going to be one day. I’m going to test it during BP.”

When his brief gathering with the media was over, he walked away with one final thought.

“We’re here to win championships,” he said, when he got about five feet away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Manager Terry Francona also played down the incident, as he did after the game.

“We had a lot of emotions going last night, a lot of things happen with teams that aren’t seen,” he said before Friday’s scheduled game against Seattle. “We’ll just move on and sometimes you’re better for it.”

As far as the slugger’s sore knee, Francona felt a day off would be good.

“I talked to him this morning and he thought he was going to be OK,” he said. “He was going to try to be OK and came in got treatment. I think we all saw how he reacted on that take last night, so we’ll give him a night and re-evaluate tomorrow.”

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