Last straw for Manny Ramirez?

Not to take anything away from Joba Chamberlain coming up big last night and winning the pitching duel vs Josh Beckett, but the story of the night may be what did not happen. Manny Ramírez did not play.

Why not? In such a big game to boot. As Dan Shaughnessy writes:

"...never concerned with wins or losses, Manny told Brad Mills he was unable to play and took himself out of the batting order for the (thus far) biggest game of the season."

Ramírez had an MRI yesterday and it was clean.

"Manny has punched his ticket out of town. It's over. O-VA. Adios, amigo. Good night, Irene. Turn out the lights. Last night's 1-0 loss to the Yankees (think they could have used Manny?) was the proverbial last worthless evening."

Whether or not the Red Sox can trade him (I think they'll try) is unknown, but I think this guarantees that the Red Sox do not pick up the option for Manny next year or in 2010 for $20 million per year. Manny may be care-free and careless, but my guess is he'll care when he realizes he's going to be playing for less money than he thought in 2009.