Florida rookie skipper Joe Girardi is a serious Manager of the Year candidate.

He also might have been a serious candidate to be sacked last week.

Girardi is downplaying his reported disagreement with team Owner Jeffrey Loria that may have led to a potential firing/resignation last Sunday after a home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I think this whole situation has gotten blown out of proportion, which is OK,” Girardi said last week while the Marlins were in Washington. “People speculated on a lot of things that happened.”

The speculation occurred because the Marlins closed ranks. But this is certain: Loria was perturbed by blown strike calls by umpire Larry Vanover in the middle of last Sunday’s game and was vocal about it from his seat near the Marlins’ home dugout. Loria leaned into the dugout to express his displeasure, and Girardi apparently told his owner to pipe down. After the game, the home clubhouse was closed for 83 minutes.

Girardi held a team meeting, but he also had a loud, closed-door session with several management types, including Loria and General Manager Larry Beinfest. At one point, one Marlins beat writer saw club employees readying a side room for a news conference – a room last used when former Manager Jack McKeon announced his resignation in 2005. The Marlins later denied any announcements were planned, and Girardi said the meeting was about what to do with injured reliever Logan Kensing.

Last week, Girardi called his relationship with Loria “good. Obviously, we both have a huge desire to win, and if you find me after any loss I take them hard. I am going to be angry, and I don’t like to lose.”

Girardi, a 41-year-old former catcher hand-picked by Loria last offseason, said he thought his future was in Miami. He’s led a team filled with rookies and castoffs to a near-.500 record and striking distance of the wild-card race.

“I signed a three-year deal and when you take a job you hope to be there forever. Sometimes plans change, sometimes opportunities are different,” Girardi said. “Sometimes life brings different challenges and changes, but I don’t see myself going anywhere. I don’t have plans of going anywhere.”

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Minnesota Twins Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter microwaves his black Rawlings glove for 30 seconds if he fails to make a play the night before. And the glove gets nuked for two minutes after an error. Hunter said it’s partially a reminder that he needs to stay sharp defensively. But there’s a sadistic side to the ritual he has performed since the mid-1990s.

“That’s punishment (for the glove),” Hunter said. “You do something bad, you go to hell.”

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Texas Rangers infielder Mark DeRosa twice hit homers Wednesday off an Oakland Raiders banner hanging above left field at McAfee Coliseum. He saw it as an omen “that I must select (Raiders running back) Lamont Jordan with the first pick in my fantasy draft.”