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What Was Wednesday About Lenny?

By mike42

I'm sitting here at the airport (God bless WiFi) and I'm comparing the accounts of Lenny Harris' tirade after Wednesday night's close loss.

From the Herald:

After Wednesday's game, in which the Marlins let a two-run lead get away with eight outs to go, Harris could be heard through closed doors delivering an expletive-laden tirade in which he told teammates to "to stop feeling sorry for ourselves" and "stop disrespecting each other."

...

One Marlin said Harris was especially upset with pitcher Josh Beckett, who, he said, threw a temper tantrum in the tunnel leading from the dugout to the clubhouse after he came out of the game leading 4-2 only to see reliever Ron Villone give up a three-run home run on his second pitch. But by Thursday afternoon, most of the players and coaches considered the case closed, even refusing to address the topic.

From the Sentinel (quoting Harris):

"I wasn't ripping my teammates. I was just trying to tell my teammates let's not fall behind, let's stay together and let's keep battling. Maybe it sounded like I was killing people in here. I was just trying to motivate my team because once you start losing you get into that atmosphere. ... When you're losing, it can become contagious. That's the bottom line."

I hope the Sentinel is closer to the truth and that there's not really an issue with Beckett.

In the end, what disturbs me most of all of this is that Harris is the guy who has to try to deliver the message. I'm not trying to jump on the coaching staff here (for once) - this is a players' issue.

But where is Carlos Delgado? He's making the big bucks, but has been hampered by a "tender elbow" for more than a week. For that matter, where's Paul LoDuca? He's the field general (as the catcher) - shouldn't he be stepping up in the clubhouse? What about Luis Castillo - who has been with the team forever? Or how about Juan Pierre?

I guess none of those guys is a leader, so we're left to count on Lenny Harris -- pinch-hitter extraordinaire -- to get this team back on the same page, focused, and motivated. Lenny seems to be a nice man and he's a tremendous role player, but it's just sad that he seems to be the sole leader on this team.

Side note: This will be the last you see of me for awhile, as I'll be offline at least until Monday. Craig will be in charge the whole time, so try to behave. He has been thorougly trained on how to use the "ban user" button - so don't test him (I just hope that I don't log back on to find myself banned).

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