Fired Yost has no hard feelings toward Brewers

[September 17, 2008]  MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Once he finished packing, Ned Yost figured he'd begin the long drive back home to Georgia. He might even tune in a ballgame. "I've got XM Radio, so I'll be able to listen to the Brewers pitch-by-pitch and be rooting Dale on in his first win," Yost said.

A day after being abruptly fired as Milwaukee's manager and replaced by third-base coach Dale Sveum, Yost insisted Tuesday he had no hard feelings toward the team that let him go with 12 games left while tied for the NL wild-card spot.

"If anybody thinks that I've got sour grapes or I don't want this club to succeed, they're crazy. I'll be rooting them on every inch of the way and I hope they can win that wild card and go deep, deep into the playoffs and win the World Series," he said.

Sveum starts out Tuesday night with the opener of a three-game series against the NL Central-leading Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Yost intended to be in charge when he flew into Chicago on Monday. Instead, he's got a new plan: taking wife Debbie out to dinner for their 31st wedding anniversary Wednesday night.

Yost said he had no idea he was about to be fired when he went into general manager Doug Melvin's room in the team hotel in Chicago and saw principal owner Mark Attanasio.

"When I walked in, I hadn't even sat down on the couch and Doug said we were going to make a change," Yost said.

"They didn't ask me any questions what did I think we needed to do," Yost said. "There was none of that."

That contradicted what Attanasio and Melvin said Monday at a hastily called news conference about four hours after the move was announced. The two said they had asked Yost for answers for the team's recent woes -- including a 3-11 stretch in September and a four-game sweep in Philadelphia -- before the firing.

The slide left the Brewers, trying for their first playoff spot since 1982, tied with the Phillies for the wild card.

Yost, known for never criticizing his players, said it didn't matter whether the final decision to replace him was made by Attanasio, the eager owner who talks to his front office daily, or Melvin, who hand-picked Yost six years ago.

"I don't agree with the decision, but I respect Doug Melvin's decision," Yost said. "That's what I ask my players to do. If I make a decision, I don't ask you to agree with it all the time. I just ask you to respect it."

The firing was unprecedented in baseball history, coming so close to the end of a full season with a team in playoff position. The Brewers, who slumped late last year, came into September with a 5 1/2-game lead in the wild-card race before a September swoon.

"We have not played good for the last two weeks, that's well-documented and I, being the head of the club, must take responsibility for that," Yost said. "They felt my responsibility was to step down and let somebody else take over."

Attanasio said Monday night that replacing Yost with Sveum wasn't desperate or rash. Yost's club went 20-7 in August before the poor start in September.

Attanasio made it clear that the Brewers were aiming at a playoff spot this year when he allowed Melvin to deal four prospects to Cleveland for reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia on July 7.

Both Sabathia and Ben Sheets are eligible for free agency this offseason and the payroll is currently over $90 million, meaning Sveum has a short window to succeed.

"Dale is a real calming influence. He's a very steady guy, he's a very smart baseball guy," Yost said. "I honestly don't think they could have picked a better person to finish out these last 12 days."

Yost worked under Atlanta's Bobby Cox for 12 seasons and the Braves won their division each year except for the strike-shortened 1994 season.

"Bobby was pretty upset when I talked to him last night, he called right as soon as he heard," Yost said. "He was really, really upset. There's no advice to get through it. You have to understand where you're at. I think I would be really upset if I felt like I could have done something different."

Milwaukee is hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's collapse when it led the Central by 8 1/2 games in late June but slid to 83-79.

Sabathia has been overwhelming, but the rest of the pitching and the hitting has vanished. Management decided it was time to act.

"I gave it my very best effort. I didn't quit on anybody. I don't feel like I let anybody down," Yost said. "I didn't take any short cuts and I didn't do anything to embarrass the organization. I feel real good about that."

 [Associated Press; By COLIN FLY]

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