FanHouse FreddieBynum

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Manny Ramirez and the sluggish Boston Red Sox arrived in Baltimore very early this morning at the tail end of a tough 10-game road trip. Ramirez sits just two home runs away from the 500th of his career, but he doesn't appear to be letting Boston's 6 AM arrival here in the Charm City slow him down.

As Manny departed the clubhouse for a pre-game workout he pointed to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox starter tonight, and told him he was going to get to 500 homers in the next two days. Ramirez doesn't have a home run against either of the Baltimore starters in this abbreviated series -- Jeremy Guthrie and Daniel Cabrera -- but if Manny feels good, I'm not sure it even matters. He is, after all, one of the top right-handed hitters of this generation.

The other major news to report is that Boston manager Terry Francona has left the team because of a death in the family. His wife's mother passed away last night during the Red Sox's game against the Twins and Francona found out following the game. He could return to the team as early as Thursday, Boston's first off day this month. The Red Sox face the Brewers Friday at Fenway Park to open interleague play.

Brad Mills will take over the managing duties in the meantime, but he doesn't expect much to change. "This is a veteran team, the dynamics are going to stay the same," he said during his pre-game meeting with the press. Mills has been Francona's bench coach since he took over as manager in 2004, and he may eventually have a future as a manager himself, but he isn't thinking about that today. "Not under these circumstances," said Mills.

Just how bad are things getting over in Baltimore? If you believe some reports, the clubhouse chemistry has deteriorated to the point of physical violence, though the allegedly parties involved deny any such thing. From the Baltimore Sun:

Orioles third base coach Juan Samuel downplayed a report in yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune that said he and utility man Freddie Bynum had a verbal and then physical confrontation before the Orioles' 7-1 victory over the Padres on Wednesday night.

"It was nothing," Samuel said. "It was no big deal, just something that was between player and coach."

The newspaper reported that the two had words during batting practice and it escalated into the clubhouse when Samuel "slammed into Bynum, launching the player into his dressing stall." The paper said that Orioles outfielder Jay Payton restored order in the clubhouse.

Bynum, who acknowledged that he had words with first base coach Sam Mejias earlier this season in Toronto, denied that an incident took place, saying, "I've never had a problem with Juan."

So what really happened? It's hard to tell -- the Union-Tribune article in question mentioned the "incident" in a brief paragraph at the bottom of an article and it's unclear whether the reporter saw things unfold first-hand, so it's not like there are many details to really think about.