Edwin Rodriguez is starting to feel some heat with the Marlins tied for last place in the NL East at 32-36 after losing 13 of 14 games to begin June, but today Hanley Ramirez made it very clear that he’s in the manager’s corner.
Ramirez, who just returned from a stint on the disabled list and has hit just .206 while battling back problems, told Joe Frisaro of MLB.com that Rodriguez “is a pretty good guy and a pretty good manager ... he’s smart.”
Here’s a little more from Ramirez, who’s expected to sit out day games following night games for the next two weeks:I’m on his side. I’ve got his back, till the death, man. Everything he is doing is good for the team. I’m never complaining about anything he does. When the team wins, everybody wants to give credit to the players. When we don’t, everybody wants [to blame] the manager. That’s not the way it is.
I’m on his side. Whatever he wants to do, I’m all for. He’s the best guy we ever had here. He lets you play. We’re going through things where everything is going bad right now. But he’s there for you.
Ramirez is right, of course. His being hurt and ineffective along with Josh Johnson being on the disabled list for the past month has cost the Marlins more runs and more wins than anything tactical Rodriguez could possibly do.
On the other hand, that doesn’t necessarily mean Rodriguez has done a good job and, even if he has, the Marlins fired Joe Girardi after he won Manager of the Year, canned Fredi Gonzalez following back-to-back winning seasons, and have never stuck with a manager for more than four seasons in their entire history.
Last week they fired hitting coach John Mallee and this afternoon Rodriguez held a team meeting before facing the Phillies, so the seat is definitely warming up.
