LoMo Survives Praying Mantis Attack

Marlins outfielder gets jumped by Mother Nature

For a guy who jokes about having a pet silverback gorilla, Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison seems a bit skittish around some of nature's creatures.

Late in last night's win over the Washington Nationals, the Marlins dugout got a visit from a praying mantis who was a bit too friendly as far as Morrison is concerned.

The mantis was spotted on Marlins reliever Clay Hensley's back by FSN Florida cameras. The bug ended up perched on Hensley's hat for awhile after his teammates tried to brush it of his back.

Hensley did not seem to mind, as this screengrab suggests.

But in the middle of the ninth inning, while perched on the Marlins' dugout railing, the mantis pounced on Morrison as he was walking by, sending the outfielder into a conniptive fit that induced some laughs from play-by-play man Rich Waltz (see video below).

Waltz was not the only person laughing at Morrison after the incident. First baseman Greg Dobbs, upon seeing the video after the game, told the Palm Beach Post, "Oh god... oh god... that's a 240-pound man scared out of his mind."

Perhaps Morrison was worried because females of the species are known to bite off the heads of their mates. LoMo didn't want to become just another statistic in praying mantis aggression.

He tweeted after the game, "LoMo fears no man. Bugs on the other hand..."

And in keeping with the trend of setting up a Twitter account for every cultural meme, no matter how fleeting, there is already a @LoMoMantis Twitter feed.

David Hill is a Miami native and cofounder of Marlins Diehards, the only Florida Marlins blog with perspective on the eccentricities of Marlins fandom.

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