Leyland Decides He Has Seen Too Many Hits

On the message boards at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, as a way of firing up Florida Marlin fans before the first pitch, they play a clip from the movie “Network” in which Peter Finch, as the aggrieved anchorman Howard Beale, screams, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Jim Leyland knows the feeling.

The Marlins manager was admittedly mad as hell Thursday night and definitely not going to have the Marlins or Cleveland Indians or this World Series maligned anymore.

In the managerial news conference conducted before each game of the Series--and on the Florida bench later--Leyland said he was “sick and tired” of hearing and reading about how much better this Series would be and how much higher the TV ratings would be if the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees or Baltimore Orioles were playing.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing the weak comments about Atlanta and New York and Baltimore,” he said. “I’m sick of . . . everybody crying because [those teams] aren’t here. [Cleveland Manager] Mike Hargrove said it best. [Those teams] had the same chance that we did. We won it. We’re the teams that are supposed to be here, and it makes me puke when I continue to hear people talk about the Marlins and Indians the way they have.”

Leyland was only warming up.

He returned to the theme no matter what he was asked, saying he was hurt by what he considers to be cheap shots, as if the Marlins and Indians had to apologize for advancing.

“I’ve been in baseball 33 years, riding buses for 18 years, and I’m not apologizing to anybody for being here,” he said. “I’m sick of it. We keep getting cheap shots. Who gives a . . . about ratings? I’m sick of reading about ratings. If they want to up the ratings, start the games earlier.

“I keep reading the ratings would be higher if Atlanta and New York were playing. Hell. Cancel the Series and let Atlanta and New York play it.

“You just get to a point where you have to stick your chest out and defend it. “

Leyland seemed to be responding to remarks by acting Commissioner Bud Selig regarding 1) the length of Tuesday night’s Game 3--”I thought the ‘Unfinished Symphony’ would finish before the game,” Selig said--2) the quality of pitching in that game and 3) an admission that the historically low ratings would be higher if the Braves and Yankees were playing.

Leyland shook his head. This was early Thursday evening before Livan Hernandez won Game 5 for the Marlins, 8-7, despite eight walks, adding to a total of 54 in the Series. It was another game that ended after midnight in the East, underscoring Leyland’s contention that they should start midweek games at 7 or 7:30 p.m. rather than 8:20.

“We contradict ourselves a lot in baseball,” he said. “We’re trying to get the youth back involved . . . well, for God’s sake, most youth are sleeping by 9 o’clock. More importantly, so is the guy who works from 7 to 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The blue-collar guy is tired. By the sixth, I think he’s in la-la land somewhere.

“So I don’t want to hear about everything that’s not perfect about us being in the Series. We’ve got a hell of a lot more problems in baseball than worrying about the time, the TV thing with NBC.”

How many more dialed out during Thursday’s eight-pitcher affair isn’t certain.

Leyland acknowledged that Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland had gotten “a little ugly” and said, for the first time, that the cold and snow flurries had undoubtedly contributed to it.

“I have to believe,” he said, “that when you’re taking batting practice and you feel like you ought to be downtown Christmas shopping, it’s not exactly good.”

The solace for the Marlins is that they moved a bit closer to an early Christmas. They lead the Series, 3-2, and could wrap it up Saturday night in Miami.

Some believe there was more to Leyland’s rap than defense of his team and the Series. The highly respected manager has been in an irascible mood throughout the season and playoffs, they point out. He may be:

* Not entirely happy in Florida, where he often slept in the clubhouse while his family remained in Pittsburgh for much of the summer.

* Feeling guilty, perhaps, over a sense of having bailed out on the Pirates.

* Frustrated for much of the first half by a team of mercenaries who were unwilling to hear and follow his message.

Leyland finally reached the promised land of the World Series, but many close to the team would not be surprised if he exercises an escape clause in his three-year, $7.5-million contract and leaves this winter, particularly if owner Wayne Huizenga opts to keep the team on the market and jettison some of his high-salaried players.

The Chicago White Sox, where Leyland once coached under Tony La Russa, are a possible option.

Some of the manager’s inner turmoil may have spewed out Thursday, but he had an ally in Hargrove.

“I think we felt kind of underappreciated all year, but we didn’t let that deter us,” Hargrove said. “As I said the other day, the Marlins and Indians have no reason to apologize to anybody about being in the World Series.

“If people have a problem with us being here, that’s their problem. We won 99 games last year [before losing in the division series] and I don’t remember anybody saying the best team in baseball wasn’t in the World Series.

“It’s upsetting, but there are things you can’t control in life and this is one of them. All we can do is let it go and play the game.”