Following a season that saw the team have the worst month in franchise history, the Cleveland Indians fired manager Manny Acta on Thursday with a week left of baseball still to play.
The Indians were in contention through the first half of the season, but one disastrous month changed everything for the team and ultimately cost Acta his job.
Heading into August the team was 50-52, but completely collapsed from playoff contention after going 5-24 during the month. It is the worst month in the 112-year history of the franchise. The team was just 3 ½ games out of first place in the division on July 26th, but then lost 11 straight games.
The team was even in first place for a short period of time, leading the AL Central with a 37-33 record on June 23.
"That month just crushed our hopes," Acta said to the Associated Press.
Acta was hired in 2009 after managing the Washington Nationals. Cleveland has gone 21-50 in the second half of the season and decided to make a move with just six games left on the schedule.
"I had a great three years here," he said on a conference call. "I have no regrets and no bitterness. I gave my best and that's all I can do."
General manager Chris Antonetti announced the firing during an off day and replaced Acta with bench coach Sandy Alomar, who was a six-time All-Star catcher for the Indians.
"Sandy brings a lot to the table," Antonetti said. "He's obviously been a managerial candidate in other places and I'm confident he will be a primary candidate. Where he will fit among the alternatives, I don't think it's fair for me to speculate at this point.
Acta took the fall for a franchise that had many players get hurt and underperform and also had a range of signings and trades that failed to meet expectations.
"My job was to make us better," Acta said. "We didn't get better."
All-Star outfielder Grady Sizemore has been hurt on-and-off for the past three years and slugger Travis Hafner never regained the power he had a few years ago after suffering a back injury. The team also traded for former All-Star Ubaldo Jimenez last year from Colorado, which hasn't worked out the way the team planned. Jimenez has only gone 9-17 with the team and has a bloated 5.55 ERA.
"I'm not going to sit here and point fingers or second guess myself," he said. "I didn't go to the ballpark and wing it. It's a little disappointing when you can't win as often as you want. But that's the game, I guess."
During his three years with the Indians Acta went 214-266. During the abysmal August this season, the team had three losing streaks of six games or more, losing seven straight, nine straight and six straight with scattered wins in between.
Acta tried a range of options to right the ship during the month, including changing the starting lineup, moving players in the batting order and even called team meetings to try and fire things up.
"I was surprised," he said. "I wasn't expecting it, but when you play the way we played, anything can happen."
Since June 26 the Indians have gone a 15-42, which is worst in the major leagues. The starting pitchers and the staff as a whole didn't do any favors for Acta either, posting a 6.44 ERA since July 27.
Cleveland is currently tied with the Minnesota Twins for the worst record in the American League at 65-91 and has a chance to become just the fourth team in baseball history to finish in last place after being in first place through half of the season.
The Indians haven't had a winning record since 2007
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