Cubs show Baker door after rough season
Dusty Baker ducked into the small, cave-like interview room underneath Wrigley Field for a final time. As usual, he was reflective and philosophical, even on the day he learned he was out as the Chicago Cubs’ manager.
“I wish we could have gotten it done, but we didn’t,” Baker said. “I guess all things must come to an end and all things come to pass.”
Baker’s four-year run ended Monday when the team declined to renew his contract, ending a tumultuous span of less than 24 hours for a franchise that hasn’t won a World Series since 1908.
After his first Cubs team collapsed in the 2003 N.L. Championship Series, when the World Series was a mere five outs away, he couldn’t get them back to the playoffs.
Even though he led the Cubs to their first back-to-back winning seasons in more than three decades, his final two years turned into losers, including an N.L.-worst 66-96 mark this season.
“Obviously, history was almost changed for good in ‘03,” general manager Jim Hendry said. “It’s gone down a slippery slope the last two years and we all deserve a big part of the blame, not just him.”
Giants send Alou packing
Nobody in the Giants’ front office is blaming manager Felipe Alou for San Francisco’s failures the past two seasons. Owner Peter Magowan is willing to take the heat for that.
The club cut ties with Alou a day after the team finished its second straight losing season. San Francisco is committed to moving forward with a younger roster, and likely a younger manager.
“He’s in every way a victim of circumstances,” general manager Brian Sabean said. “He knows he had four good years here. The last two were rugged.”
The change had been expected for some time, with the 71-year-old Alou’s contract expiring. He said he would like to stay in baseball in 2007, possibly with the Giants, the franchise that signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 1955. And Sabean already has offered Alou another job.
After winning 100 games and the N.L. West in his first season in 2003, the Giants did not make the playoffs in Alou’s final three years. He had a 76-85 mark in 2006, ending his tenure with a 342-304 record.
“I’m proud of my behavior, my respect to the game, people, to the cities and countries, the flags,” Alou said last week. “I don’t like .500. A .500 man to me is mediocrity.”
Blalock undergoes surgery
Texas Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock had arthroscopic surgery on his sore right shoulder Monday.
Blalock’s shoulder started bothering him in July. He didn’t start at third base after Sept. 14 because it hurt when he threw, and his last 12 starts were as the designated hitter.