Trembley said after the Orioles' 18-10 loss Sunday that he had met with his disgruntled third baseman, but offered few details about their discussion. Asked if he thinks the meeting will help their relationship, Trembley said, "I don't know."
Mora said that his issue was not with playing time, but what he perceived as Trembley's "excuses" for keeping him out of the lineup.
"Don't give me the excuse that I cannot beat John Smoltz, that I cannot beat Josh Beckett or I cannot beat [Jon] Lester or I cannot beat Pedro Martinez or I cannot beat nobody here because I've been here for nine years," Mora said. "All those guys in the [American League] East, they know me. They know me and you don't make the All-Star team for nothing. You deserve respect. That's the only thing I can say.
"When you do that, especially with a guy who's been here for nine years, tried to save your butt and played hard, I think that's not respect. I always speak up. I never hide nothing and I'm an honest man, and that's the way I do it. I cannot control whatever lineup is put up there. The only thing I can control is just respect me. ... That's it." Mora said that a conversation during Saturday's game with Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz further fueled his ire.
"He told me something like, 'Why are you hitting seventh? I've never seen you hitting there,' " Mora said. He said something like, 'You know what, I think I have the best manager in the world because he trusts his veterans.' I said, 'Yeah, but Terry Francona has been in the league a long time.' My opinion about this [situation] is it's 'what have you done for me lately.' "
Mora then sounded like someone who has played his last game as an Oriole, thanking the fans and owner Peter Angelos, who he said, "created a monster" by allowing him to play third base.
"I'm never going to forget the Orioles and whatever's going to happen next year - next year I'm going to be with somebody else - I'm an Oriole," he said. "The last few years, I played through injury. I played the first half [last year] with a bone sticking through my nerve and ... I came back and tried to play hard for Trembley and to try to give everything I've got for the second half. Now this year, I think I deserve more respect than what I've been getting."
