Whew! I thought I was going to be covering the Texans most of today ....but that didn't work out. Manager Phil Garner and General Manager Tim Purpura were officially fired today by the Astros. I asked Phil Garner if he was stunned and he told me,"No. After being around Drayton awhile I know that he likes to make changes when things aren't going right."

I asked owner Drayton McLane, Jr if there was one thing that made him pull the trigger twice on these firings and he said no. McLane said it was just an accumulation of things that went wrong that made his decision for him. Purpura was roundly booed Sunday when the team retired Jeff Bagwell's number-5 jersey but McLane said that didn't enter into his decision. He said at the news conference that even though he felt bad for Purpura and his family to hear him booed like that but McLane had already made up his mind by then.

Long-time team team president Tal Smith will take over as interim general manager for the club while bench coach Cecil Cooper will move into teh interim field manager position.

I talked with Tim Purpura today but he had no comment on his firing. Garner on the other hand had quite abit to say. Garner told me,"This organization and the players in it rejuvenated my career. We had great, great fun here." Garner told me he was proud of what he and his players did making it to the playoffs in 2004 and to the World Series in 2005. Garner said,"My pride is hurt, but that hurt is far outweighed by the great memories that I have from working here. I'm grateful for the opportunity that the Astros gave me."

But although Garner isn't exactly thrilled about getting fired he did say this about his close friend Cooper. "I'm so excited that Cecil is getting this chance. I've been saying for sometime now that he deserves a chance at managing. I hope he's successful," said Garner.

Everyone around the club expected either Garner or Purpura to be fired at the end of the season .......but very few people predicted that they'd be fired on the same day at this point in the season.

McLane said in his news conference that he wants a new general manager that has a new vision. A different vision than the people that have been in charge of personnel decisions in his organization. He said in the corporate world many times when a business brings in a new director or manager from another company that person brings new ideas and a new energy to that company. That's what he'll be looking for in his new general manager.

Here's what I think. Tim Purpura did make some personnel decisions that hurt his team and Phil Garner didn't always make the right decisions managing from the bench ....but I thought Tim left himself open for a possible sacking more than Garner. The Jason Jennings deal alone hurt him. Giving away 3 young players including the Astros starting centerfielder Willy Taveras in exchange for Jason Jennings was a bad, bad deal. Then when he couldn't get the team's top 2 draft picks signed this year .... that really hurt his standing too. As for Garner he was the perfect pick-up in 2004 that turned this team around and got the Astros to the playoffs. Plus Gar did a lot of things right in 2005 when the team got to the World Series. This year I've had issues with the way he plays Mike Lamb and some others ....but all in all it wasn't Garner's fault that this team has been mired in the lower part of the standings most of the season. I think this .... if Drayton McLane would have allowed Purpura to sign any Pettite and to give Pettite the extra year on his contract he was looking for this wouldn't have happened. I believe that had the Astros re-signed Pettite, Roger Clemens would have returned to the team.... Willy Taveras wouldn't have been traded because they wouldn't have hit the panic button to get Jennings and the team would be in first place now. That's what I think. Plus, I'll add this Purpura maybe be hated by some fans and Garner may be taken to task for his managerial style but these two men are really solid individuals. They were always great to work with and I'll always remember them for that.

What do you think of the firings??
Just e-mail me at mmusil@khou.com and let me know.

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