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Astros make their moves
AP photo
Phil Garner took over halfway through 2004 for Jimy Williams, who took an underachieving ballclub to a .500 record at the All-Star break. I was excited because Jimy drove me crazy with the moves he would make in a game. Well, Garner pretty much did the same thing, giving stars days off, overanalyzing matchups by putting in a lesser talented lefthander against a righty and going to the bullpen too soon.
But Garner did something right, maybe by lighting a fire under some players and took the team to the Wild Card title and a game away from the World Series. In 2005, the Astros were 15 games under .500 and later made it to the World Series. Last year, the team almost made a miraculous comeback and came within a game and a half of winning the Central Division.
So this was Garner’s first “bad year” and now he’s fired. It just seems to me that he had no room for error and I think he deserved another shot. He’s not the one that injured half the starting pitching staff or the one who let Willy Taveras, Jason Hirsh, Taylor Buccholz, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Carlos Beltran, Jeff Kent or Russ Springer go. And besides that, he’s the one known for the miracle comebacks yet he didn’t get a shot to do it this year. (sarcastic tone)
As for Tim Purpura, I don’t know what to blame him for because I don’t know what moves he made on his own or had Drayton McLane’s orders to make.
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