NEW YORK — Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon compared former teammate Manny Ramirez to cancer, saying Boston made the right decision when it traded the slugging left fielder to the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer.

"He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him," Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire. The story was posted on the magazine's Web site yesterday.

"So Manny was tough for us," Papelbon added. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening.

"Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him," Papelbon said. "It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us. And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay — Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball — and it was like a breath of fresh air, man!"

DODGERS

MANNY FOCUSING ON L.A.

Manny Ramirez's spring training debut was pushed back at least one more day.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger was scratched from yesterday's exhibition game against South Korea in Phoenix because of tightness in his left hamstring. Ramirez said he could have played, but manager Joe Torre decided to give him the day off.

"It's going to get better, so I'm not worried about it," said Ramirez, who had been in the lineup as a designated hitter. "I'm not disappointed. You've got plenty of time to get ready."

Ramirez also seemed unconcerned about criticism from former Boston teammate Jonathan Papelbon, who compared Ramirez to cancer in the April issue of Esquire.

Ramirez shrugged off Papelbon's comments.

"That's fine, that's fine," Ramirez said. "I've already moved on with my life. Like I said, I wish everybody the best. I'm in LA now. I'm just focusing (on) playing here."

METS

GOOD DAY FOR SANTANA

New York Mets ace Johan Santana was glad to finally get his spring debut over.

Held back because of elbow tightness for two weeks, Santana gave up four hits and three runs, including a homer to Dan Uggla, in 2 2/3 innings against Florida in the Marlins' 16-8 victory last night at Port St. Lucie, Fla. He struck out two and hit a batter in his first game action since having offseason knee surgery.

"The first time being in a real game situation, I felt pretty good," Santana said. "I was able to get everything going right away and throw all my pitches. It was a good sign."

WBC

CUBA FIRST IN GROUP B

Yulieski Gourriel, Ariel Pestano and Frederich Cepeda homered to help Cuba rout Mexico, 16-4, in seven innings last night at Mexico City to secure first place in Group B at the World Baseball Classic.

Pestano and Cepeda each hit three-run homers in a nine-run seventh-inning rally to lead Cuba to a win by the mercy rule. Gourriel hit a two-run homer in a five-run fourth and finished with four RBIs.

Cuba finished the first round undefeated in three games, and Mexico dropped to 2-2.

Mexico will open the second round on Sunday in San Diego against South Korea, winner of Group A in Tokyo. Cuba will face Japan in a rematch of the 2006 final won by Japan.