print article Print     e-mail article E-mail
Published July 14, 2009, 07:23 AM

Nationals fire manager

So much for the plan to have Manny Acta’s patient optimism lead the Washington Nationals out of the doldrums. The abysmal won-loss record became too much to stomach, costing him his job at the All-Star break and adding another layer of instability to the worst team in baseball.

WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for the plan to have Manny Acta’s patient optimism lead the Washington Nationals out of the doldrums. The abysmal won-loss record became too much to stomach, costing him his job at the All-Star break and adding another layer of instability to the worst team in baseball.

Acta was fired after the team reached the unofficial halfway mark of the season with a majors-worst 26-61 record, on pace to clear the 100-loss mark for the second consecutive year. Acting general manager Mike Rizzo — himself an interim placeholder — announced Acta’s dismissal Monday morning.

“We feel that the team has underachieved,” Rizzo said. “We feel we have a better ballclub than we’ve shown on the field. ... We feel with a different voice and possibly a different feel in the clubhouse that we can have a more successful second half of the season.”

Tags: , , , , , , 

More from around the web