Larry Brown Sports

The second episode of “The Franchise: A Season with the Miami Marlins” aired on Showtime Wednesday night, and it was equally entertaining as the first episode which featured copious amounts of Ozzie Guillen cursing. The highlight of the second episode was the clip seen above.

Marlins 1B/LF Logan Morrison was barely included in the first episode and bitched about his exclusion during the credits. Showtime made it up to him by making him the focal point of the second episode. They followed the Kansas City native as he traveled home for the All-Star break in search of a meeting with his idol George Brett. Along the way, LoMo had a chance meeting at a hotel with Derek Jeter, who had no clue who the Marlins outfielder was.

LoMo was standing at the top of an escalator with the Showtime cameras rolling behind him as Jeter made his ascent up the steps. Morrison said “Sup Jete, how you doing man?” and extended his hand for a shake. Jeter was polite and gave him a handshake, but Morrison acknowledged that Jeter had “No idea who I am.”

We can’t really blame Jeter. Given the setting, he probably just thought it was some random fan saying hi. Plus, Morrison plays in the NL and isn’t that well known. But how awesome was it to see one big leaguer — who is being featured on a prominent show no less — get put in place by another big leaguer? Fantastic.

Thanks to Hot Clicks for sharing the clip

The Marlins may have been demolished by the Giants on Thursday night, but Logan Morrison dodged a major bullet. In the top of the seventh with a runner on second, Buster Posey singled to right. Morrison was lucky to leave with his head still attached to his shoulders after what came next. Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton fielded the ball and went to fire it home to prevent the runner from scoring. Stanton was shallow enough that his throw could have gone directly to the catcher, but he nearly took Morrison’s head off with it instead.

Stanton has had some issues finding cut-off men this season. Morrison had shifted over because of the ground ball through the hole, but he wasn’t the cut-off man on the play. Fortunately he has cat-like reflexes. When you’ve been attacked by a praying mantis at some point in your life, I guess your skills tend to be sharpened.

Logan Morrison was demoted to Triple-A after Saturday’s game, leaving many people to question the Marlins’ decision. We’ve already established that LoMo’s outspoken ways were a major reason why they sent him down. We’re also learning that the front office wasn’t alone in their thoughts. Catcher John Buck told The Miami Herald that Morrison’s tweeting had become more of his focus than baseball.

“He’s an awesome dude, a great teammate and a great person,” Buck said. “I don’t think anybody’s telling him not to do the things that he does. I think it’s, just don’t let it be the main focus of who you are, because you’re a pretty dang good baseball player. That, for him, I think that should be good enough. And the other good stuff coming out of him, being who he is, should be icing on the cake. It shouldn’t be flip-flopped, which I think it has become.”

I’m not around the team so I can’t say whether or not tweeting had become more of a focus for Morrison than baseball. Maybe it did. All I know is that Morrison was outperforming most of the team offensively, including Buck. I really think many players are jealous of Morrison’s popularity. Additionally, they probably feel threatened by a youngster who is unafraid to speak his mind. Morrison’s proven he’ll go after anyone. Maybe that’s left the veterans somewhat on guard.

The Florida Marlins announced one of the most shocking, inexplicable moves of the season Saturday night. The team demoted left fielder Logan Morrison to Triple-A New Orleans hours after batting him third in their lineup against the Giants. The move was stunning for several reasons.

Although Morrison was hitless Saturday, he had two hits in each of the previous two games. He was second on the team with 17 home runs, third with 60 RBIs, and second with a .791 OPS. Yes, the Marlins sent one of their best hitters down to Triple-A to work on things.

Sure, Morrison struggled in June and July after getting off to a scorching start in April and May. His batting average had dropped to .249 and he struggled in the field, but he had plenty of time to turn it around. It’s apparent the demotion was due to several factors, very few of which related to baseball. In short, the Marlins wanted to teach him a lesson about falling in line.

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Somebody needs to explain the concept of messing with the bull and getting the horns to Logan Morrison.  If someone was staring you down wouldn’t you go after them?  You don’t just walk around looking at people and expect them not to get pissed off.  That’s not how the world works.  Recent history already told us Morrison was a pretty weird guy, but he should know better than to stare a dangerous insect in the eye.  Check out this video of a praying mantis attacking Logan Morrison on Tuesday night, courtesy of SI Hot Clicks:

What did you expect, bro?  Have you not heard the rumors that female praying mantises (manti?) bite their male counterparts’ heads off while they’re doing the dirty?  That’s the last time he’ll walk around the dugout acting tough.

For the record: Yes, I ignored the announcer’s ridiculous laugh on purpose. Didn’t even feel like getting into it.

When Jack McKeon was hired by the Florida Marlins as the team’s interim manager Monday, his first order of business was to bench shortstop Hanley Ramirez for that day’s game. McKeon said he was benching Hanley for not running hard enough during Sunday’s game. A report in The Miami Herald posted Tuesday evening via Hardball Talk suggests McKeon may have benched Ramirez for a different reason.

The Herald reports that Hanley was last to arrive for McKeon’s meeting Monday when he addressed the team (the Palm Beach Post says he was late). Hanley says he shows up at 3:30 on game days, but the expectation was that players would arrive early for the new manager. Left fielder Logan Morrison reportedly ripped into Hanley for being late to the meeting. He also reportedly suggested that Hanley’s tardiness (he arrives to the park later than most teammates) is contributing to his poor batting.

Because I’m not around the team enough to know what time Ramirez arrives at the park each day (not to mention if it’s the same routine he employed during his All-Star seasons), I will leave that out. But I will say that showing up last for the new manager’s team meeting shows disrespect, so I can understand if that’s why he was benched.

What’s sad is that such a talented player continues to be involved in issues suggesting he’s not a good team leader. In 2009, Dan Uggla questioned his toughness and desire to win. Last year he was yanked for not hustling after a booted ball. Ramirez has shown he can be a great player, but as the franchise player he should also be a great team leader. It’s pretty indisputable that he’s not, and that is a shame.

For whatever reason, baseball players tend to be the most superstitious people on the planet.  We rarely hear about football players sacrificing a chicken to recover from a string of bad performances.  We have never heard of a basketball player wearing a thong to snap a stretch of poor shooting, but guys like Aubrey Huff and Jason Giambi have done it to break out of hitting slumps.  And never can I remember catching word of an entire hockey team destroying a piece of locker room equipment to turn their luck around, yet somehow these things are common in the baseball world.

Looks like the latest weirdo to go to extreme measures in an attempt to bust the slump is Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison.  According to the Miami Herald via Ben Maller, Morrison decided to shave all of his body hair off twice in a 24-hour period when he found himself in an 0-for-14 slump this past weekend.  Thinking a hairless body may not be enough to do it, he also started avoiding sidewalk crevices during that period.

Morrison may have been onto something, as he recorded three hits on Monday to break out of the slump.  I wonder if his speed benefited at all from improved aerodynamics.  In any event, Morrison’s slump buster idea worked.  What does that mean?  Chicken sacrifices, thongs, beaten-down toolboxes, and hairless bodies are here to stay in the baseball world.