BALTIMORE -- Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine expressed appreciation for the support he received from ownership and players like Dustin Pedroia, expects to remain as the team's manager for a while, and said it's a shame the issue of his relationship with players keeps coming up.

Valentine spoke with the media before Wednesday's game and touched on several parts of the issue that's popped up in the past day, when a Yahoo! Sports report came out that said some players were asking for a managerial change during a July 26 meeting with ownership in New York.

On Wednesday, owner John Henry strongly denied that players asked to get rid of Valentine. After Tuesday's game, Pedroia said players were not trying to get Valentine fired and that he didn't blame the skipper for this year's on-the-field problems.

"As I said before, I regret the fact that [Henry] has to be out there," Valentine said. "If we're 10 games over .500 and first place right now, I don't think he'd have to make any statements. I appreciate John coming out and saying that."

Valentine also said he appreciated Pedroia's long statement Tuesday night.

"I feel bad that he has to have that kind of comment," Valentine said. "Dustin is the warrior of warriors, one of the greatest players that I've ever been around, and to have to say he's to blame for something? He's not to blame for anything. I think we're in it together, personally."

Valentine also said he was puzzled why the story came out now and the players are getting frustrated at having this topic emerge again and again.

"The guys are just, you know, they're upset that every time we win a game that something pops out of the bag of tricks," Valentine said. "[I guess] this guy's been sitting on the story for, what, three weeks and decided to wait right before the Yankee series or whatever and pop it out there. It's great stuff. It's really good stuff."

Valentine also rebutted the part of the story that said he didn't interact with the players enough and remained in his office too much.

He said, while not reading that part of the story, he used to sit in the clubhouse more and go out to dinner with players. But baseball life is different now.

"I was supposed to change my style," Valentine said. "Things have changed so I give them their space. They know when they need me, I'm right here. I'm with them every day, every minute, every second of their lives."

And when asked how optimistic he was about remaining manager of the Red Sox in 2013, Valentine just smiled.

He didn't miss a beat and said that "'14 and '15 is what I'm confident about. I've got years of extensions out there."

Players didn't want to talk much on this topic. David Ortiz wouldn't comment and many cleared out before the game.

But Clay Buchholz spoke briefly about the situation and said a lot of false information is getting out there. He still has plenty of confidence in Valentine and isn't worried.

"It is what it is," Buchholz said. "It's hard for a player to sit here and say that [reports are] not true because everybody thinks you're backing up your guys -- but he's doing a good job."

Then Buchholz explained things in a simple manner that made a lot of sense.

"It's a game, man," he said with a smile. "It doesn't always work."

ORTIZ TAKES IT SLOW: There's still no return date scheduled for David Ortiz (strained right Achilles), and he said Wednesday that he won't be doing any running for the next few days.

"I've been feeling better lately," Ortiz said before Wednesday's game. "It's improving. I think I'm not going to be 100 percent once I get the green light to play because this is something that running doesn't help."

Manager Bobby Valentine said the Red Sox want Ortiz to get rid of all the soreness and that he hasn't hit for three days.

Ortiz said rest and time off helps heal this kind of injury, and he'll come back even if the Sox are out of the pennant race.

"I'm here to play baseball," Ortiz said.

Said Valentine: "We'll wait for him to get back, and we'll be fine until he does."

BAILEY'S READY: Manager Bobby Valentine said right-hander Andrew Bailey will be ready again for Wednesday's game after pitching for the first time this season on Tuesday.

Valentine said Bailey felt good after going 1/3 of an inning in Tuesday's 7-1 loss to Baltimore. The skipper put him in the bottom of the eighth after Bailey missed the first 116 games following thumb surgery in early April.

Bailey walked Chris Davis before striking out Mark Reynolds -- who already had hit two homers.

Afterward, Bailey said he was ready to do whatever was needed to help the team.

"It's hard not to think of all the time you missed, and you want to be out there all year," he said. "But we've got to win ballgames, and I've got to be ready to go. I'm back now, and I've got to go out and do my job."