ShareThisMilwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio stretched the budget as much as possible and added CC Sabathia in midseason to help in the team's bid for its first postseason since 1982.With the anticipated free-agent losses of Sabathia and Ben Sheets this offseason, he knows the Brewers must win now or else.That's why when the Brewers lost 11 of 14, Attanasio decided to fire manager Ned Yost with 12 games remaining and the Brewers tied with Philadelphia for the National League wild-card lead. This year's struggle brought back memories of last year, when the Brewers went from an 8-1/2-game lead in the NL Central to a second-place finish.This was only the 65th time in history that a manager with a .500 record or better was replaced during the season. Only 10 of the previous 64 resulted in a postseason appearance. Never has a move been made so late in the season with a team in the battle for a postseason spot.The most active managerial shuffle among contenders came in the strike-interrupted 1981 season when baseball qualified teams with the best records before and after the strike for the postseason. Three of the teams that advanced to the postseason made changes:-- The Expos fired Dick Williams with his team in second place, four games out on Sept. 7. The Expos went 16-11 under Jim Fanning and finished a half-game ahead of St. Louis in the NL East second half.-- The Yankees fired Gene Michael, after claiming the pre-strike postseason berth with a 48-34 record, and replaced him with Bob Lemon. The Yankees finished 11-14 but beat Milwaukee and Oakland in the playoffs before falling to the Dodgers, 4-2, in the World Series.-- The Royals fired Jim Frey on Aug. 29, the Royals having gone 10-10 since play resumed, and hired Dick Howser, who guided the team to a 20-13 finish and the playoffs.INFIELD CHATTER-- The Cubs are working on a contract extension for manager Lou Piniella and general manager Jim Hendry.-- St. Louis' Tony La Russa says "If I'm managing next year, I'm going to be managing here." That doesn't rule out opting to move to the front office with another team, such as Seattle.-- Arizona manager Bob Melvin will survive despite September struggles, according to the East Valley Tribune.THE ROTATIONIntriguing circumstances involving replacing managers with winning records:-- 1966 Detroit: Chuck Dressen suffered his second heart attack in two years and, with a 16-10 record, was replaced by Bob Swift, who was 32-25 before being diagnosed with lung cancer and being replaced by Frank Skaff, who was 40-39.-- 1978 Yankees: Billy Martin was 52-42 but fired for calling George Steinbrenner a "born liar" and President Nixon a "convicted liar." Dick Howser took over for one game, lost it and was replaced by Bob Lemon. Lemon went 48-20, and the Yankees rallied from fourth place, 10-1/2 games out when Martin was fired, to the world championship.-- 1961 Baltimore: Paul Richards resigned with a 78-57 record after it became public he had agreed to become general manager of the 1962 NL expansion Houston Colt 45s.-- 1988 Boston: John McNamara was fired at 43-42 with the team in fourth place, nine games out. Joe Morgan took over, and the Red Sox went 46-31, winning the AL East.-- 1929 Yankees: Miller Huggins stepped down with an 82-61 record on Sept. 20 and died five days later from blood poisoning created by an infection under his eye. Baseball canceled its Sept. 26 games that year in honor of Huggins.OUT IN LEFT FIELDNow that the Astros have gone on the road and fallen flat, instead of looking in the mirror, they have decided to make commissioner Bud Selig the culprit.Because of Hurricane Ike, Selig had the Astros move two games with the Chicago Cubs from Minute Maid Park in Houston to Miller Park in Milwaukee on Sunday and Monday, where Cubs fans were numerous.The Astros managed one hit and one run in the two games and then complained about being forced to play the games in Milwaukee.Selig's role can certainly be questioned, but what the moaning Astros, including owner Drayton McLane, refuse to point out is that the move of the games required approval from the players and McLane.CLOSING STATEMENTWith the way the Veterans Committee has been restructured after three consecutive ballots without a player being enshrined, if former Cubs third baseman Ron Santo fails to get elected this time, the dream should be put to rest.Santo needs to be listed on 75 percent of the ballots cast by the 64 living members of the Hall of Fame, all of whom saw Santo play and many of who played at the same time.Santo earned nine All-Star selections and five Gold Gloves in the 14 years he spent with the Cubs before finishing his playing career in 1974 with the cross-town rival White Sox. Six times during the '60s he received support in MVP voting, finishing as high as fourth.He suffers some from the fact that three other Cubs contemporaries - Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins and Billy Williams - already are in the Hall of Fame and the Cubs of his generation had a winning record in only seven of 14 seasons. They also lost 90 or more games five times.They finished second three times but fifth or lower eight times.NUMBERS GAME-- 9: Pitchers in history that have been 20 games above .500 during a season, including Cleveland's Cliff Lee, who is 22-2 this season. The eight previous all earned Cy Young Awards - Don Newcombe (1956), Whitey Ford (1961), Sandy Koufax (1963), Denny McLain (1968), Ron Guidry (1978), Dwight Gooden (1985), Roger Clemens (1986) and Bob Welch (1990).HOT TICKET? NOT RAYSIt doesn't seem as though the Rays have grabbed the attention of sports fans in Florida's Tampa Bay area.While they did sell out their American League East showdown with Boston on Wednesday, they had more than 10,000 tickets go unsold Monday and Tuesday.And that's despite the fact the Rays have shrunk the Tropicana Dome to a seating capacity of less than 37,000.HE SAID IT"Sometimes we put ourselves in a position where we've got to win games ... The pieces are starting to come together."-- Outfielder Jayson Werth, on Philadelphia's second September surge in a row.(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
Ringolsby: Brewers sense urgency
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