Lee Mazzilli fired by Orioles.

[GOPisEvil]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-os0804,1,2799554.story?coll=bal-news-breaking&ctrack=1&cset=true

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With the Orioles having lost 16 of their last 18 games, manager Lee Mazzilli was fired Thursday morning and replaced on an interim basis by bench coach Sam Perlozzo.

Mazzilli was hired before the 2004 season to replace Mike Hargrove. He went 129-139 in his first stint as a major league manager, including 51-55 this year.

[dajoki]

1. is angelos taking steinbrenner lessons...

give the guy a chance. they played alot better this year than they did in the last seven. btw, i'm a yankee fan.

[JohnKleeb]

2. Hes been

The only ways Angelos isnt like Steinbrenner is that hes a exclusive democratic only donor. That his free agents dont play well. Do you remember the Davey Johnson incident? I think Maz was our best manager since Johnson. Now we're gonna get an experienced manager like we did with Hargrove and hes gonna suck.

[dajoki]

4. yes, i remember,

angelos seems to be a good guy and steinbrenner is a dick, but angelos seems to be ruining the oriole's great tradition. the "boss" depleted the yankee farm system in the 80's. i thought he learned his lesson in the 90's when we were winning with homegrown talent; bernie, jeter, posada, pettite, soriano, mendoza, rivera and a few free agents here and there. but he's back to his old tricks, trying to buy a team.

[JohnKleeb]

5. Angelos is a great guy when its not baseball

I believe I read something about him standing up for steelworkers and many of my mom's uncles were steelworkers so that makes him cool with me.

[dajoki]

6. i also heard he helps the poor.

don't remember where, i think the "sun" but not sure.

[JohnKleeb]

7. Yeah hes not a bad guy politically

In fact he started out his ownership of the club rather strong, being one of the only owners not to use replacement players. Politically, Angelos rocks, but as owner of the Orioles well since 1997 its been downhill.

[dajoki]

8. well, good luck with new manager...

O's need to be in hunt for AL east, makes it more exciting.

[JohnKleeb]

10. Yeah totally I am glad

at least one fan of the Yanks realizes the same ole sucks.

[Doctor_J]

12. Hargrove wasn't an inexperienced manager

He led the Indians to some great years in the 90's, including a WS, while keeping Albert Belle under control.

Expecting Sosa to produce this year was a mistake though.

[JohnKleeb]

15. He wasnt the best one theyve had since Johnson is what I meant

Hargrove can develop hitters great but pitchers not so. Yeah agree totally on Sosa, the best part of this deal is that Brian Roberts will be a full timer.

[DaveinMD]

16. you can't make

chicken salad out of chicken shit. The Hargrove years are all on Angelos.

[JohnKleeb]

17. I agree 100%

but I think Mazzali was the better manager for the orioles than Hargrove. I blame Angelos for the direction of the team post 1997.

[DaveinMD]

18. Maz

was fine, but he was never very popular. I think he learned too much small ball crap from Torre.

[JohnKleeb]

21. He wasnt that in your face too

I would love to have another Weaver, guy was an ass but damnit he was a feisty sob. Knew how to win too but his way of ball isnt htat common anymore, four man rotations are a thing of the past.

[DaveinMD]

22. Weaver was ahead of his time

he understood the importance of on base percentage 20 years before anyone else talked about. I really admire his disdain for the sacrifice bunt. One of the best managers ever.

[JohnKleeb]

23. OBP is important yep

Also a master of platooning. Great man, its hard for me to believe that his last game was when he was younger than my godfather, and he retired after 82 younger than my dad is now. I miss him, great man, and its a shame he only has one ring.

[matcom]

3. DOH!

could this be the biggest choke season in Baltimor history? i certainly can't remember when they started so strong and (if it continues) finished so weak.

[Baclava]

9. Just hard to imagine that at the end of June they were the 2nd best team..

...and now like they're 10 games out of the AL wildcard.

They had injuries and their starting pitching sucked yet again. Look no further than those two reasons for their slide.

Edit - Shame about Mazzilli - he was a good coach.

[JohnKleeb]

11. Yeah but now those who were injured are back, so its odd

including Bedard.

[Baclava]

13. Pitching still horrid?

Don't know why this team with a rich owner and a great offense and defense can't figure out they need one or two top notch starters and they'd be in the playoffs easy.

p.s. Sammy Sosa still sucking?

[JohnKleeb]

14. Yeah

Yeah Sosa is still hitting in the 230s, we need some starting pitching. Thats whats hurting us.

[Kingofalldems]

19. Wanna see good pitching?

Take a ride down the BW Parkway and see the Nats, a winning team with a great pitching staff. John Patterson shut down the Dodgers tonight with a 4 hit shutout---13 strikeouts.

[JohnKleeb]

20. I still havent become a full pledged nats fan

Old habits die hard man.

[nickgutierrez]

24. The Nats have struggled since the break.

All that good luck in one run games in the first have seems to have come back to haunt them.

[JohnKleeb]

25. I was about to get at that too :(