Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Reds manager Dusty Baker lashed out at Indians right-hander Derek Lowe on Thursday morning, suggesting Lowe might have been drinking at the ballpark four years ago when Lowe made a comment that touched off a feud between them.

Lowe, after a start against the Reds on Wednesday, had ripped Baker because he thought Baker ordered Reds starter Mat Latos to throw at him in the fifth inning. Lowe said its origin dated to an incident in 2008, when Lowe pitched for the Dodgers and Baker managed the Reds, and that "people almost got fired over it."

Lowe declined to provide details.

"Ask him," Lowe said. "Dusty will deny it, but it has everything to do with him. Go ask him. I have zero respect for that guy -- not that it matters. I'd imagine he'd say the same about me.''

After Lowe spoke Wednesday night, Baker no longer was available to the media. But Baker had become aware of Lowe's wrath in time for his regularly scheduled meeting with reporters Thursday before the Reds faced the Indians in the early afternoon.

Baker, asked whether it bothered him that a player did not respect him, said: "I don't care. A lot of people don't respect me. He doesn't respect himself -- because where it was, or whatever he did or said, there's probably a good chance that he was drinking at the ballpark at that time, three or four years ago. So he doesn't remember what he said or what he did, OK?''

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