Florida Marlins owner Jeffery Loria had to be convinced not to fire manager Joe Girardi after a loss last Sunday, the Palm Beach Post reported on Saturday.

Loria was set to make the move, but changed his mind after a postgame meeting with Girardi and other front-office officials, the paper reported. Girardi did apologize to Loria in a subsequent meeting.

During the Aug. 6 game against the Dodgers, Loria yelled at the umpire after two borderline pitches were called balls. Girardi asked him to stop, wanting to talk to the umpire himself.

"Then Girardi said, 'Just stay out of it. I'm the manager,'" a source told the Palm Beach Post. "And Loria said, 'Well, I'm the owner,' or words to that effect. 'If you don't like what I'm telling you, you're fired.'" Another source told the newspaper Girardi's reply to Loria included profanities, which irked the owner even more.

"Loria got up out of his seat and was preparing to get rid of [Girardi]," one source told the newspaper. "Jeffrey can be very knee-jerk. Before he was done walking up the aisle, Jeffrey made up his mind to fire Joe right after the game."

Marlins employees were seen setting up for a postgame press conference, but it was never held. The paper reported that Loria, after talking with team officials, decided against firing Girardi.

"They stopped and thought about this, that it would be a public relations nightmare if the resurging Florida Marlins were to have fired a man who turned them around," a source told the newspaper.

Neither Girardi and Loria wanted to talk about the incident.

"Everyone is going to write what they think happened. All I know is I'm still the manager of the Florida Marlins and I'm here," told the paper before Saturday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Loria declined comment Friday through team spokesman P.J. Loyello, the newspaper reported.

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