One online commenter proferred that Ramirez had stepped on the old guy's lawn without permission. Another said old Jack thought Hanley was Manny, an allusion to McKeon's well-deserved reputation for forgetting and mixing up names.
The truth, of course, is that McKeon's first Marlins lineup card since 2003 did not include the name of his struggling and often sluggish shortstop because Ramirez showed up late for a clubhouse meeting. He also didn't run very hard in a Sunday loss to the Rays, the new manager said.
Batting only .200 before last night, Ramirez has been in the eye of several Florida storms. His run-ins with Fredi Gonzalez were said to have cost the manager his job last summer. Edwin Rodriguez, Gonzalez' replacement, tried a kinder, gentler approach before resigning - some reports said he was pushed - over the weekend.
"If you try to be a friend, that will get you fired," McKeon said upon his hire.
"I think we might need that," leftfielder Logan Morrison said, referring to McKeon's no-nonsense approach. "We got a lot of guys on this team that Edwin said don't play hard. Maybe Jack can kick them in the ass."
"I think he expects everyone here to play even harder," Ramirez said. "He knows we have lot of talent here. We just have to show it out on the field, and we haven't done that for the past 20 days. So, he's gonna get on everybody here - if you don't play hard, you're not gonna be here."
Unless you're Manny . . . um, Hanley. Ramirez' 6-year, $70 million contract, signed in 2008, has more than $50 million remaining. After earning $11 million this season, Ramirez is due $15 million in 2012, $15.5 million in 2013 and $16 million in 2014.
Which means the softer he plays, the more likely no one will want him for any price, and thus the more likely he will be here, beyond McKeon's latest managerial term. And that makes McKeon's latest reincarnation his most interesting and challenging yet.
