Boston Red Sox players blasted manager Bobby Valentine to owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino during a heated meeting called after a text message was sent by a group of frustrated players to the team and ownership in late July, three sources familiar with the meeting told Yahoo! Sports.

The owners called the meeting for Boston's off-day in New York on July 26 after first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, texting on behalf of himself and some teammates, aired their dissatisfaction with Valentine for embarrassing starting pitcher Jon Lester by leaving him in to allow 11 runs during a July 22 start. It was the latest incident in a season's worth of bad relations bubbling between Red Sox players and Valentine.

Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were among the most vocal in the meeting, in which some players stated flatly they no longer wanted to play for Valentine, the sources said. The tenor of the 2 p.m. meeting at The Palace hotel in New York turned ugly almost immediately, according to the sources, whom Yahoo! Sports granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about internal matters.

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Not all of the Red Sox players attended the meeting, the sources said, highlighting the chasm that exists not only between some players and Valentine but among players in the clubhouse. The perception that Valentine is being scapegoated unfairly to divert attention from mediocre performances by star players exists among some players, according to sources.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington confirmed the meeting. Although he declined to provide specifics about what was said, he told Yahoo! Sports: "The intent of the meeting was to provide a forum for people to express whatever frustration needed to be expressed at a time during the season when things were not going exactly the way we wanted to on the field in hopes that we could put whatever issues were there aside and focus on playing games the rest of the season. That was the intent of the meeting. That was the focus of ownership. It was a productive meeting.

"Since then, we have not gone on the run we were supposed to."

Ownership has not wavered in its support of Valentine since the meeting, and the sources said players have accepted that Valentine will remain manager for at least the rest of the season. The Red Sox doubled down on Valentine over the last week despite the perception that his first year as Boston manager has been an abject failure. Boston, with an opening day payroll of $173.2 million, is 57-59 and sits 11 games back of the first-place Yankees and 5½ behind the second wild card. The Red Sox's last sub-.500 season was in 1997.

Eight days ago, besieged by questions about Valentine's present and future, Red Sox general manager Cherington told reporters: "Bobby is our manager, and we're not considering anyone else. He's as committed to managing the team as he ever has been, and we're committed to him and trying to do everything we can to support him and make this work."

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Henry emailed a statement to Boston media members that echoed the sentiment.

"To blame Bobby Valentine for the Red Sox being .500 at this point in the season," he wrote, "is simply wrong."

Some of the Red Sox's biggest names disagree.

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