Florida Marlins All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez and second baseman Dan Uggla exchanged heated words Wednesday afternoon in the team's clubhouse before a game against the Atlanta Braves.

A frustrated and injured Ramirez told reporters he made ``some people upset'' after leaving Tuesday night's loss in the fourth inning with a strained left hamstring. Moments later, after reporters attended a meeting with manager Fredi Gonzalez in the dugout, Uggla openly argued with Ramirez in the clubhouse.

According to 790 The Ticket (790 AM), which witnessed the squabble, Uggla accused Ramirez of a lack of desire and effort to win. And at one point, Uggla, lacing his remark with an expletive, said: ``Yeah, you got your $70 million,'' while asking Ramirez why he came out of Tuesday's game.

``You don't get the same respect from teammates when you're not playing,'' Ramirez said before the squabble. ``I [made] people upset when I [left] the game last night. I try to do the best I can.''

Ramirez said he didn't like the way several teammates reacted when he left Tuesday's game. Uggla confirmed he raised his arm in the dugout after Ramirez's injury to ask ``What's wrong?'' but said he didn't do it to question the injury.

Gonzalez said he knew nothing about a confrontation when he first met with reporters before the game.

However, the Marlins quickly closed their clubhouse for a team meeting after Gonzalez met with reporters.

Uggla said he did not apologize to Ramirez.

``I didn't feel it was necessary,'' he said. ``Hanley brought it to the media, [but] it's over and done with.''

Ramirez leads the National League with a .355 average but is in an 0-for-14 slump over his past four games. He has missed only nine of the Marlins' 133 games despite hip, wrist and hamstring injuries.

He repeatedly said Wednesday his hamstring was at ``10 percent'' and also said he was experiencing pain in his left calf.

Gonzalez said Ramirez came to him and asked to be placed in the lineup Wednesday.

But Gonzalez replaced him with Emilio Bonifacio about two hours before the first pitch upon learning the severity of Ramirez's injury.

``It's one of those things that happens in a course of a long season,'' Gonzalez said after the team meeting. ``It's among teammates and we'll keep it in house.

``Just a verbal argument, verbal fight that happens all over the world in 162 games. It's taken care of. It's over.''

Catcher John Baker supported Ramirez and said no one on the team should question the shortstop's toughness.

``I think he went through some stuff, been hit by pitches and been in the lineup every single day and battling for us through success and struggles,'' Baker said. ``I definitely don't question any of his toughness or anything, and I think maybe what you heard was more frustrations of how we've been playing lately.

``We need to worry about what we're going to put out on the field and how we're going to do against the Braves. It's getting to do-or-die time.''

Miami Herald sportswriter Barry Jackson contributed to this report.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@