BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox outfielder Carl Everett says the media is to blame for the recent controversy between him and teammate Trot Nixon.

	Nixon

	Everett

Earlier this week Nixon told reporters that Everett needs to work harder to get back on the field.

Everett responded by telling The Boston Globe that the media should apologize to Nixon for what Everett called trying "to make (Nixon) look like a bad guy, and he wasn't that way."

Nixon told reporters he was quoted accurately and did not believe he is due an apology.

According to the newspaper, Everett lashed out Saturday when a reporter asked if he were available for an interview. Everett has a history of confrontations with members of the media.

The request for the interview came after Nixon was quoted as questioning Everett's lingering status on the DL.

"You all need to go over and apologize to him before you even ask me a damn thing," Everett told The Globe of Nixon. "Whoever put that in the paper, you all need to go apologize to him because you all lied on him. ESPN needs to do the same thing. Until you all do that, don't come to me."

Nixon is quoted as saying of Everett, "He's sitting over on the bench and we're wondering what's going on with him. Whatever it is, he needs to get it straightened out, period. He's a guy we need out on the field every day, but you also have to make efforts to work your way back onto the field."

Asked why reporters should apologize to Nixon, Everett said, "Because you all (expletive) him, that's why. You tried to make him sound like a bad guy, and he wasn't that way. So what you all need to do is take your old Boston same old (expletive) out the door. There ain't no controversy here. It's just you all starting the same (expletive). Goodbye. Toodle-oo."

General manager Dan Duquette told The Boston Herald that Everett, who hasn't played since June 21, will undergo more tests to determine just what's wrong with the center fielder's right knee.

"Carl's going to have some more studies done on his knee over the next couple of days because his knee's not really responding to the treatment, so we're going to do another series of studies to see if we missed something when his knee had significant swelling," Duquette told The Herald.