Marlins Fire Ex-Spokane Manager Lachemann

Rene Lachemann, the manager who helped give birth to the Florida Marlins four years ago, was fired Sunday, leaving the team he helped build and leaving a clubhouse of angry and teary-eyed players.

Lachemann was about to go to church when his phone rang Sunday morning. Moments later, he stood face to face with his fate and Marlins general manager Dave Dombrowski.

“I’m going to keep the faith,” said Lachemann, who has been in baseball since he was a batboy with the Dodgers.

Lachemann, who managed the Spokane Indians from 1979-81 and the Seattle Mariners from 1981-83, has a year and a half left on his contract, which the Marlins will honor.

“When you don’t win and you don’t execute, the manager goes,” said Lachemann, 51. “That’s baseball. The job didn’t get done here. My biggest regret is that this team is going to win. From top to bottom, this is a first-class organization. I’ll be back at Joe Robbie (Stadium) to see it.”

Said Dombrowski: “There is a thin line between patience and when you feel you should start performing. And at this time we felt we should start performing.”

Lachemann’s players loved playing for him, even if they couldn’t win for him. Gary Sheffield walked into a stunned clubhouse and said: “Everybody in this room needs to look at themselves. We got him fired.”

Third baseman Terry Pendleton, who had never experienced a manager firing in his 13-year career, was teary-eyed. “If there is a guy in here who doesn’t feel responsible for getting Lach fired, then he needs a gut-check,” Pendleton said.

Due to travel constraints, Lachemann had to fly back to Miami with the team after Sunday’s game, which the Marlins won.

This whole lineup’s out of order!

Little League teams get caught batting out of order. Sometimes, high school and college teams. But a major-league team?

Incredibly, the Brewers got it wrong Sunday and it may have cost them a run. But Milwaukee still beat the New York Yankees 4-1, so the Brewers could laugh about it.

“It was a terrible mistake on my part,” Brewers manager Phil Garner said. “I’ve had that happen to me once before as a player, a long, long time ago.”

Milwaukee led 2-0 in the second inning when John Jaha, the No. 6 hitter, doubled leading off. Matt Mieske then singled, sending Jaha to third.

Only Jose Valentin was due to hit seventh and Mieske was up eighth, according to the lineup card written by Garner and given to home plate umpire Rick Reed. The card posted in the Brewers’ dugout, copied from Garner’s card by third-base coach Chris Bando, had it the other way around.

Yankees manager Joe Torre pointed out the mistake, Valentin was called out and Jaha was sent back to second.

Mieske, now batting in the correct spot, flied to right. Mike Matheny flied to right, too, ending the inning.

“As soon as he came out, I said to myself, ‘Oh no, I gave him the wrong lineup card,”’ said Bando.

Garner chewed out his team following Saturday night’s loss and said he now expected he would be on the receiving end. He said he anticipated a fine from the players’ kangaroo court. “I will be fined, and I will deserve it and I will pay,” Garner said.

All-Star news

Mo Vaughn of Boston and Roberto Alomar of Baltimore will play in Tuesday’s All-Star game despite hand injuries.

San Francisco’s Matt Williams will miss the game due to a badly bruised elbow.