The Associated Press

CHICAGO - Another winning season wasn't enough to save Jerry Manuel's job.

The Chicago White Sox manager was fired Monday, a casualty of unmet expectations after the team missed the playoffs for a third straight year. The talent-laden White Sox led the AL Central by two games on Sept. 9 but slumped and finished four games back.

"This was a very difficult thing to do," general manager Kenny Williams said. "But I think it's a necessary thing to do. We need to change the voice and direction of the ballclub.

"I know that there is an urge for everyone to point a finger in the direction and say, 'It's this person's fault or it's this person's fault.' I choose to think it was an all-out group effort."

Williams said he hoped to hire a replacement by shortly after the World Series ends in late October.

Manuel was 500-471 in six seasons, the fourth-most wins for a White Sox manager. Chicago was .500 or better in each of the past four seasons and finished below second place only once under Manuel, in 2001. The White Sox won the AL Central in 2000, earning Manuel the AL Manager of the Year award. But Chicago was swept by Seattle in the playoffs and hasn't been back to the postseason since.

Manuel, who had one season left on the four-year extension he signed in 2001, declined comment.

ORIOLES: Mike Hargrove was fired as manager, one day after the team finished its fourth consecutive losing season under his direction and sixth straight overall. "They said they weren't going to offer me another contract," Hargrove said. "I guess they wanted a different personality."

Hargrove, 53, went 275-372 with the Orioles, including 71-91 this year. His departure did not come as a complete surprise, given that his contract ran through this season and the team never talked about an extension.

For the Birds, it all added up to a sixth straight fourth-place AL East finish.

ATTENDANCE: Crowds picked up in the second half of the season, with the final average of 28,055 down 0.4 percent from last year.

TIME OF GAMES: The average time of a nine-inning game dropped six minutes this year to 2:46, the fastest since 1989.

UMPIRES: Bruce Froemming, John Hirschbeck, Ed Montague and Northern Kentuckian Randy Marsh head the crews picked by the commissioner's office for the first round of the playoffs.

GAMBOA IS FIRED: Kansas City fired Tom Gamboa, the coach attacked last year during a game against the White Sox in Chicago. Gamboa was dismissed as bullpen coach less than two hours after the Royals' final game of the season.