Four days into Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt broke his silence.
McCourt acknowledged during the Dodgers' 7-5, 13-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday that he spoke to Ramirez on the phone the previous day, and also met with the troubled All-Star outfielder. McCourt wouldn't disclose the location of their meeting, but a source familiar with the situation said that it took place at Ramirez's Pasadena apartment.
"I felt it was important that the conversation be eyeball to eyeball and not on the phone," McCourt said. "I found him to be very sorrowful. He was really apologetic. He's very sorry. He knows he's disappointed not only me but everybody in the front office, [Manager] Joe [Torre] and everybody in uniform down there, all of his teammates and the fans and the community. He's hurt. But he also knows he dropped the hurt on himself."
McCourt had demanded that Ramirez reach out to him, according to sources. Torre and General Manager Ned Colletti said they also spoke to Ramirez on Saturday.
McCourt said he'd wanted to meet with Ramirez in part to see whether he was genuinely remorseful, and the owner said he came away convinced that he was. Then again, McCourt also met with Ramirez on the morning they agreed to terms on a two-year, $45-million contract and said at the time that he believed the reputed troublemaker wouldn't cause any problems.
McCourt said he didn't ask Ramirez whether he took a banned substance to enhance his performance or for a "personal health issue," as Ramirez claimed in a statement issued by the players' union Thursday. Ramirez was found to have used human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, which is often used to replenish testosterone levels at the end of steroid treatment cycles.
In saying he didn't care to find out why or how Ramirez failed a drug test administered during spring training, McCourt borrowed a line from suspected steroid user Mark McGwire, who said at a congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs in 2005 that he wasn't there to "talk about the past."
"We can sit and dwell on the past, but I'm not going to do that," said McCourt, who said repeatedly that Ramirez and the Dodgers had to move forward. "We all do things from time to time that disappoint people, don't we? So it's how you deal with that that really matters."
