Houston Astros Manager And GM Fired

Monday, August 27th 2007, 2:20 pm

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ Manager Phil Garner and general manager Tim Purpura were fired Monday by the Houston Astros, less than two years after leading the team to its first World Series appearance.

Bench coach Cecil Cooper was appointed interim manager and team president Tal Smith will serve as interim general manager.

``I felt this was the time for a change,'' owner Drayton McLane said. ``I just think we needed a fresh start.''

Garner took over the Astros in the middle of the 2004 season after Jimy Williams was fired. The Astros went 48-26 in the second half and won 36 of their last 46 games to win the NL wild card, then defeated Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs before losing to St. Louis in Game 7 of the NL championship series.

Houston won its second straight wild-card berth in 2005 and defeated the Braves and Cardinals in the playoffs before getting swept by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.

The Astros were 82-80 last year, finishing 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central, and following the departures of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte slumped to 58-73 this year, nine games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs.

``When we started the season, I felt we had a great team,'' McLane said. ``The team is there. It's how do we change what's there, renew some of them.''

Houston signed free agent Carlos Lee to a $100 million, six-year contract last offseason but also acquired disappointing starter Woody Williams (7-12). Purpura also took some of the blame for hanging on to Morgan Ensberg, whose stats dropped precipitously after an All-Star season in 2005.

Purpura also made an ill-fated trade with Colorado, dealing speedster Willy Taveras and promising pitching prospects Jason Hirsh and Taylor Buchholz for Jason Jennings, who was 2-9 before he was placed on the disabled list with a bad elbow on Aug. 21.

Craig Biggio's 3,000th hit has been the highlight of an otherwise dismal season. The Astros were 39-50 record at All-Star break and lost five of their last seven home games to the lowly Washington and Pittsburgh.

Garner managed Milwaukee from 1992-99 and Detroit from 2000-02. He has a 985-1,054 career record as a major league manager, including 277-252 with the Astros.

Purpura joined the organization in 1994 and directed player development and the Astros' six minor-league affiliates before taking over from Gerry Hunsicker as GM before the 2005 season.