[bigboydan]

the palm Beach post reported florida marlins owner jeffrey loria made a decision to fire joe girardi last week but was talked out of it.

according to the article, the beef started when loria (from his box seat) was shouting at umps about balls/strikes. when girardi told/motioned to him to stop, loria took exception. there are conflicting sides about whether or not girardi used a swear word when talking to his owner.

wow !! if loria had fired girardi, that would've been as bad a decision as he could've made. AKA... TOO BAD CUBS FANS

PHOENIX — Turns out there was a good reason Sunday for the Marlins to make preparations for an impromptu news conference: Owner Jeffrey Loria was going to announce that he had fired manager Joe Girardi.

But Loria was persuaded to change his mind in a heated post-game meeting, during which Girardi agreed to apologize to the owner in front of the team, according to sources with knowledge of the events.

"Everyone is going to write what they think happened. All I know is I'm still the manager of the Florida Marlins and I'm here,'' Girardi said Friday before Florida's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Asked if Loria had fired him and changed his mind, Girardi replied: "I'll discuss things at the end of the year. Right now the important thing is our club, and I'm still the manager of the Marlins.''

Loria had no comment Friday night, team spokesman P.J. Loyello said.

The incident that triggered Sunday's events at Dolphin Stadium began in the seventh inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who went on to sweep the three-game series.

Loria, occupying his field-level seat next to the Marlins dugout, was barking at plate umpire Larry Vanover about balls and strikes. Girardi motioned for Loria to stop, one source said, the implication being, "Hey, leave him alone, we're trying to win a game."

Loria, according to two sources, then put up two fingers to indicate that it was the second straight game in which umpires made questionable calls. On Saturday, Girardi had been ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

"Then Girardi said, 'Just stay out of it. I'm the manager.''" one source said. "And Loria said, 'Well, I'm the owner,' or words to that effect. 'If you don't like what I'm telling you, you're fired.''"

Another source said Girardi used profanities when telling Loria to stop, which angered Loria even more.

At that point, "Loria got up out of his seat and was preparing to get rid of Joe," one source said. "Jeffrey can be very knee-jerk. Before he was done walking up the aisle, Jeffrey made up his mind to fire Joe right after the game.''

At one point, team aides were setting up a Dolphin Stadium interview room, which is used by the Marlins for major announcements.

It was only after Marlins President David Samson, General Manager Larry Beinfest and Assistant General Manager Mike Hill intervened during a post-game meeting in Girardi's office that Loria changed his mind.

"They stopped and thought about this, that it would be a public relations nightmare if the resurging Florida Marlins were to have fired a man who turned them around,'' a source said.

When the doors to Girardi's office opened, the manager then addressed his team. With Loria watching, Girardi apologized for losing his temper with Loria in full view of players in the dugout.

Marlins players on Friday refused to talk about Sunday's incident. One person said the players and coaches "were sworn to secrecy.''

Sources have told The Palm Beach Post that Girardi, a former New York Yankees catcher and bench coach, and Loria have been at odds since at least last month.

"(Girardi) likes to say, 'Well, the Yankees would do things this way,' but they don't want to hear that,'' one source said.

A Marlins source confirmed a report Friday in the Rocky Mountain News that said friction between Girardi and the front office began in spring training.

Baseball columnist Tracy Ringolsby wrote in the Denver newspaper that "Girardi belittled suggestions by members of the organization in March that Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson should open the season in the rotation instead of middle relief ...

"It was more than a month before Girardi backed down and gave both opportunities to start, which turned out to be a critical fact as the Marlins rebounded from a miserable start to be competitive.''

The Marlins began the season 11-31 in Girardi's first season as a manager, but then turned around their season. They were the hottest team in the majors in one long stretch, and still have a chance for a wild-card berth.

[Willie Bee]

Loria is nothing but a bad decision. His life started out as a bad decision by his mother who forgot to use her diaphram that night when he was conceived. I wish he would screw up and fire Girardi. He's a putz.

[bigboydan]

i see your still holding that possable san antonio move the fish were considering

[Willie Bee]

I'd love to have a major league team that close to my home. But that was never a real possibilty. The San Antonio writers all got little chubs going thinking they were going to get an MLB team, and essentially fell into Loria's trap as he tried to scare Miami voters into thinking he wanted to move there.

Hell, they can barely support a Double-A team in San Antonio.