BALTIMORE -- Fired Baltimore Orioles manager Ray Miller "dug his own grave" by losing the respect of his players, according to the team's right fielder, Albert Belle.

	Belle

"He developed some bad relationships with players that caused players to leave the team, that caused players to lose respect for him," Belle said during an interview Tuesday on John Thompson's radio show on WTEM-980. "But I've got nothing bad to say about the guy. He wrote my name in the lineup every day."

Belle said he thought, "it's a situation with Ray Miller that the players didn't like him and some quit on him."

Miller and general manager Frank Wren were fired last week by Orioles owner Peter Angelos after two lackluster seasons.

The relationship between Miller and Belle was rocky, culminating in a dugout shouting match between the two early in the season.

Belle said he was surprised Angelos forced out Wren. The general manager was following team policy when he didn't hold a charter plane for Cal Ripken Jr. last month, Belle said. The incident was one of the reasons cited by the Orioles for Wren's dismissal.

"I think it showed he had some guts not to issue a double standard," Belle said.