Baseball whispers: Hanley Ramirez supports Florida Manager Edwin Rodriguez

Edwin Rodriguez is taking heat in Florida, but if the Marlins fire their manager they could lose shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the process. Ramirez supports Rodriguez and thinks responsibility for the team’s sudden slide belongs with the players, not management. “When we do good, people look at us,” Ramirez said. “It’s like Ozzie [Guillen] says, yeah, when the team is winning you have to give credit to the players and when they’re losing they want to fire me. No, that’s not how it [should be].” ? The Indians have been stunned by the long slumps that have befallen Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana. ? Jim Leyland, a hero in Detroit, is back in Denver this weekend for an interleague series. He walked out on the final two years of his deal to manage the Rockies in 1999. The Rockies are the only team that Leyland has managed that didn’t reach the playoffs. ? The Seattle Mariners are excited about the hitting potential of Dustin Ackley, who was drafted No. 2 overall after Stephen Strasburg in 2009. The question is whether he will be able to handle second base defensively. ? The Giants are worried that Freddy Sanchez’s dislocated shoulder will be a season-ending injury. It only adds to the heat on General Manager Brian Sabean to add a run-producer to replace Buster Posey. -- Phil Rogers