Redmond's dirt-kicking ejection impressed soft-spoken Dawson; plus other Marlins notes

Mike Redmond rarely gets visits from Andre Dawson. Sometimes he won't even get a word out of him. 

So when the Hall of Fame outfielder and Marlins special assistant walked into the manager's office Wednesday afternoon Redmond said he knew it was for a special reason.

"I just told him, 'I'm impressed man. I liked that," Dawson said. 

A man of few words, Dawson was of course referring to Redmond's dirt-kicking, profanity-laced tirade that got him tossed by plate umpire Will Little in the sixth inning Tuesday night. 

Redmond felt a called strike three against Adeiny Hechavarria -- visibly high and inside by replays and pitch tracker -- was out of the strike zone. It was one of the many pitches the second-year big league ump missed for both teams.

Marlins outfielder Reed Johnson, who played for one of the best at getting tossed in Lou Pinella, said if Redmond hadn't exploded he's pretty sure Phillies skipper Ryan Sandberg would have.

"He's obviously into the game and wants to win more than anybody on that field. That's how he was as a player playing against him. You can see emotions wise how he's invested in the game," Johnson said. 

"Sometimes when you feel like calls are continuously going against you and something needs to be said he'll do it. It was a good effort. One of the better efforts I've seen in a long time. I know some of the guys on the other side looked like they got a kick out of it as well."

Redmond said his wife Michele and his sons Ryan and Michael got a kick out of it. Redmond said he didn't receive any ribbing from his assistants, but did get a lot of text messages from a lot of people.

"I didn't go out there with the intention to do that," Redmond said of kicking the dirt. " Anger just sort of took over. I don't even remember what I did I was so mad. [Pulling my shirt out of my pants] I think it just signified I was officially done."

First baseman Garrett Jones said Redmond's ejection fired the Marlins up. He said he'd never seen that side of his skipper. Trailing 6-3 at the time, the Marlins eventually lost 6-5, but had the tying and winning runs on base with two outs in the ninth. 

"You're not going to see too much of that out of Red," Dawson said. "But when you do you're going to document it because it's always going to be a keeper. Red got his money's worth."

GARRETT JONES ON A TEAR

Jones had four of the Marlins' six hits in Tuesday's loss -- his first four-hit game since Aug. 13, 2012. Since May 12, Jones has been on a tear. He's produced a hit in seven of his last eight games, batting at a .419 clip with five doubles, a triple, one home run and six RBI and he's raised his average from .238 to .273.

Jones, who had one five-hit game in his career back with the Pirates on May 14, 2010, said this is definitely the best groove he's been in at the plate in a while.

"Even a lot of my outs I've hit some balls hard lately," Jones said. "I feel comfortable. Timing feels good there. Like I said, I just want to maintain it, keep working in the cage to keep it going."

Jones ranks seventh in the National League among everyday first baseman in OPS (.807). His six home runs are tied for eighth among first basemen in the NL and his 21 RBI are tied for fifth in the same category.

In case you were wondering, former first baseman Logan Morrison, traded to the Mariners last off-season, hasn't played in a game since April 14 and won't begin a minor league rehab assignment until Friday at the earliest.

He's missed the last five weeks with a hamstring injury and reported discomfort running on Tuesday. He was 3-for-20 for the Mariners before being hurt.

DIETRICH TALKS BEING ROBBED, PLUNKED

Marlins second baseman Derek Dietrich said he was surprised to see Tony Gwynn Jr.'s sensational over the shoulder catch in the fourth inning Tuesday didn't make SportsCenter's Top 10 plays. Gwynn raced back to the warning track in center field and nearly into the wall to rob Dietrich of what would have easily been a run-scoring extra base hit.

"I didn't think I hit it out because only Stanton can hit a ball out to center here -- from what I've seen. But I thought I hit it well enough to maybe bang off the wall," Dietrich said. "He made a play like Willie Mays."

Dietrich was hit by a pitch for the seventh time this season on Tuesday -- tied for second-most in baseball behind only the Pirates' Neil Walker (8). He was plunked seven times all of last year.

Does he have a bulls-eye on him? "I think so," Dietrich said. "Whatever it takes [to get on base]. [My teammates] were like did you see that ball? I said 'No. I knew exactly where it was going.' Anything to get on in front of Stanton. That's my whole goal, getting on base in front of him. Just got to do what you got to do to get on base."

> Redmond said he's giving Hechavarria the night off "because he's a little banged up, got a few things going. Nothing major." Redmond said he plans on starting Hechavarria in Thursday's afternoon series finale.

> Asked if there are future plans to move veteran left-hander Randy Wolf into the starting rotation, Redmond said the Marlins are "working through that, trying to figure out exactly what is going to be the best for him."

"Do I see him in the bullpen for a long period of time? Probably not," Redmond said. "But that's something we're going to try to figure out as we go."