Having recently returned to Twitter, it took just 10 days for manager Ozzie Guillen to once again stir up controversy online.
After Friday night’s victory, Guillen tweeted an angry message aimed at ESPN journalist Buster Olney, who had criticized the Marlins in multiple recent articles.
“buster olney u so full a [expletive] whit u stupid comments about the miami team we still play hard we yes no win games i think u no watch,” Guillen wrote.
But Guillen said he was not upset about his, or his team, being labeled as failure. Both were valid points, he said. Instead, Guillen said he was upset that Olney said the Marlins had quit.
Olney had written in a Sept. 12 article that the Marlins were “a team that some evaluators believe has stopped playing.”
“When you make comments that say [we] aren’t playing hard enough, you aren’t watching us,” Guillen said.
“First of all, there’s only two players in my lineup for next year — [Jose Reyes and Giancarlo Stanton]. The other guys have to bust their tails to convince us they can play here next year.
“… We’re not very good, but we play hard.”
Whether Guillen will still have the job of making those decisions next season is still up in the air. Guillen said that he deserves to be fired for Miami’s last-place standing, but so too, he added, does everybody else.
“When you’re in last place you need a better manager, better G.M., better owner, better everything,” Guillen said. “We all failed. … Hopefully, we learn from the mistakes we’ve made and we move on.”
With three years remaining on his contract, Guillen said he expects to be back in 2013 even though he knows that many critics have called for him to be fired.
“Of course [I expect to be back],” Guillen said. “One hundred percent. … I love the challenge.”
Guillen said that with such a young team and with so many roster moves he has had to do more managing than he ever has done in his career. Fourteen players on the Marlins’ 40-man roster are 25 years old or younger.
“This is my best year as a manager,” Guillen said. “It’s easy to manage when you’re winning 100 games. You just let the guys play and you stay behind.
“I’ve made more moves this year than I ever did.”
• The Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers, one of the Marlins’ two Single A affiliates, ended their season on Friday after losing in the fourth game of the best-of-5 South Atlantic League Championship to the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists.
Coming up
• Sunday: Marlins RHP Ricky Nolasco (12-12, 4.40 ERA) vs. Cincinnati Reds RHP Mat Latos (12-4, 3.72), 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park.
• Monday: Marlins LHP Wade LeBlanc (2-4, 2.95) vs. Atlanta Braves RHP Tim Hudson (14-6, 3.66), 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park.
• Scouting report: Latos, a former Coconut Creek High standout, is 5-1 with a 3.36 ERA since July 18 and is two wins away from tying his career-best mark of 14 victories. Nolasco has won his past three starts and given up one earned run over his past 25 innings.
