Marlins' Ramirez fires back at Gonzalez over removal from game

One day after being removed from a game and criticized by his manager for not hustling, Florida Marlins All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez ripped Fredi Gonzalez in quotes to the Palm Beach Post.

"It's his team, he can do whatever he [expletive] wants," said Ramirez, who is not in the lineup, before the Marlins play the Diamondbacks on Tuesday in Miami.

Ramirez also said he would not apologize to his teammates, saying, "We've got a lot of guys dogging it after ground balls. They don't apologize."

Of being removed from the game, Ramirez said of his manager, "That's OK. He doesn't understand that. He never played in the big leagues."

The incident began during the second inning of Monday night's game. Ramirez, who had fouled a pitch off his shin in the first inning and had to be looked at by a trainer, was unable to reach a short blooper to left by Arizona's Tony Abreu. Ramirez then accidentally kicked the ball about 100 feet and jogged after it. By the time he retrieved it, two runners had scored and Abreu was at third.

After the game, Gonzalez explained why he took Ramirez out. "Hanley left the game because we felt -- he got smoked in the ankle -- but we felt whether he was hurt or not hurt or whatever it was, we felt that the effort wasn't there that we wanted," Gonzalez said. "There's 24 guys out there that are busting their butts. Cody Ross got hit with a ball 95 mph and it wasn't hit or thrown any slower and he stayed in the game making diving plays and battling, got two hits and an RBI. There are some injuries there, but we expect an effort from 25 guys on this team and when that doesn't happen, we have got to do something."