Hal Lanier

Hal Lanier, clad in street clothes, made his way around the Phils' clubhouse yesterday morning, shaking hands with the players. He wasn't doing it to be friendly. He was saying goodbye. Long before game time, he was history - the sole man to be excised from the Phils' coaching staff at season's end. Lanier, a former division-winning manager with the Astros, was completing his second year as a Phils coach. Officially, he was "dugout assistant" to manager Jim Fregosi - the guy who filled out the lineup card, positioned infielders during games, and relayed directives from the manager.

Former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta says he has been contacted by the Houston Astros about their managerial opening. "To interview with the Astros is very exciting," Acta told Houston TV station KRIV yesterday. Acta did not say when he would be meeting with club officials. He was fired by the Nationals during the season. The Astros finished 74-88 in 2009. They fired Cecil Cooper on Sept. 21 and promoted third-base coach Dave Clark to run the team over the final 2 weeks.

Less than a week after he was fired as the Phillies' dugout assistant, Hal Lanier has surfaced as a leading candidate to replace Stump Merrill as manager of the New York Yankees. "I hope so," Lanier said from his Florida home last night. "I'd like to get back into managing. I see people getting fired and people getting hired whose credentials aren't as good as mine. " Lanier managed the Houston Astros from 1986 through 1988, and won the National League West in his first year.

Phillies dugout coach Hal Lanier is expected to be interviewed by St. Louis Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill when the Phillies are in Atlanta early next week. Maxvill called Lanier at his Dunnello, Fla., home during the All-Star break and said he would call back shortly to firm up the date for their meeting. The Phillies play the Braves next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. "I think our relationship was very good," Lanier said. "We always got along. " Lanier was a minor league manager in the St. Louis system from 1976 through '80 and coached for the Cardinals from 1981 through '85 before being named manager of the Astros in 1986.

It is the typical story of the little boy growing up, following his favorite major league team, dreaming about someday being out on the field. Except that most kids grow up and get a real job. Phillies lefthander Pat Combs, 23, will live out one of his childhood fantasies tonight at the Astrodome. "This is really a dream for me," Combs, a Houston resident, said yesterday. "I had been a lifetime Astros fan and I always dreamed about playing here in front of my family and friends.

Among the ranks of People Least Likely To Go 3 For 3 Against The Phillies last night, Danny Darwin was right up there with Nancy Reagan, Donna Rice and Charlie the Tuna. We're talking about a guy who wasn't even 3 for his career. We're talking about a guy who was 2 for 26 in the big leagues, with 20 strikeouts. We're talking about a guy who hadn't batted in 12 years before last August and whose major problem as a hitter was summed up by his manager, Hal Lanier, last night in exactly two words: "Making contact.

Phillies manager Nick Leyva was still trying to figure it out yesterday afternoon: In the Phils' 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, the Phillies went 1 for 17 with men in scoring position. In each of four innings - the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth - the Phillies had a baserunner on second and fewer than two outs and were unable to score. The skipper tried everything: bunts, pinch-hitters, more bunts, more pinch- hitters. None of it worked.

Dickie Thon is not the type of person to walk into Nick Leyva's office and suggest he might want to make a lineup adjustment. But as long as the manager continues his search for an everyday No. 2 hitter . . . "I'd love to hit second. It would be great," Thon said. "I'd get to run more, do more things. I'd see more fastballs. First, second or third; those are the places to hit. " In his last six games, including last night's 4-for-5 showing against the Braves, the Phillies' shortstop is batting .440 (11-for-25)

When Jeff Parrett was growing up in Lexington, Ky., his heroes played for Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. "I didn't even know there were any other teams," said Parrett, who lived about 75 miles from Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. "To me, they (Cincinnati's opponents) were just teams the Reds practiced against, until the playoffs rolled around. " Today, Parrett, boyhood Cincinnati Reds fan, will make the second start of his major-league career. The opponent: A powerful Cincinnati team that is reminding folks of the Big Red Machine.

Hal Lanier, who guided the Houston Astros to the National League West title in his first season as a major-league manager, was named National League Manager of the Year yesterday by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Lanier, the first rookie manager to win the award, received 19 of a possible 24 first-place votes. Runner-up Davey Johnson, who managed the New York Mets to the World Series championship, received three first-place votes, while Roger Craig of the San Francisco Giants got the other two. Overall, Lanier finished with 108 points to 62 for Johnson, 42 for Craig, three for Phillies manager John Felske and one for Jim Leyland of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta says he has been contacted by the Houston Astros about their managerial opening. "To interview with the Astros is very exciting," Acta told Houston TV station KRIV yesterday. Acta did not say when he would be meeting with club officials. He was fired by the Nationals during the season. The Astros finished 74-88 in 2009. They fired Cecil Cooper on Sept. 21 and promoted third-base coach Dave Clark to run the team over the final 2 weeks.

Less than a week after he was fired as the Phillies' dugout assistant, Hal Lanier has surfaced as a leading candidate to replace Stump Merrill as manager of the New York Yankees. "I hope so," Lanier said from his Florida home last night. "I'd like to get back into managing. I see people getting fired and people getting hired whose credentials aren't as good as mine. " Lanier managed the Houston Astros from 1986 through 1988, and won the National League West in his first year.

Hal Lanier sat in front of his Veterans Stadium locker yesterday morning. He looked mournful and tired. Finally, he got out of the chair and made a somber tour of the clubhouse, shaking a few hands, murmuring a few words. And then he was gone. It was only later that the Phillies made the official announcement. Lanier, who had served for two years as the team's dugout assistant, will not be back in 1992. The remainder of the staff - John Vukovich, Larry Bowa, Johnny Podres, Denis Menke, Mike Ryan - will be retained.

Hal Lanier, clad in street clothes, made his way around the Phils' clubhouse yesterday morning, shaking hands with the players. He wasn't doing it to be friendly. He was saying goodbye. Long before game time, he was history - the sole man to be excised from the Phils' coaching staff at season's end. Lanier, a former division-winning manager with the Astros, was completing his second year as a Phils coach. Officially, he was "dugout assistant" to manager Jim Fregosi - the guy who filled out the lineup card, positioned infielders during games, and relayed directives from the manager.

All around baseball at 11 o'clock Wednesday night, lives came to a halt. Games came to a halt. All of a sudden, the normal business of baseball didn't matter anymore. The great Nolan Ryan, 44 years old, was pitching a no-hitter. That mattered. In the Phillies' clubhouse in Philadelphia, players dressed in seconds and sprinted for the television. Two men who once managed Ryan - Phillies manager Jim Fregosi and coach Hal Lanier - huddled around a monitor in Fregosi's office, rooting unashamedly for the greatest pitcher they've ever managed.

Dickie Thon is not the type of person to walk into Nick Leyva's office and suggest he might want to make a lineup adjustment. But as long as the manager continues his search for an everyday No. 2 hitter . . . "I'd love to hit second. It would be great," Thon said. "I'd get to run more, do more things. I'd see more fastballs. First, second or third; those are the places to hit. " In his last six games, including last night's 4-for-5 showing against the Braves, the Phillies' shortstop is batting .440 (11-for-25)

Phillies dugout coach Hal Lanier is expected to be interviewed by St. Louis Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill when the Phillies are in Atlanta early next week. Maxvill called Lanier at his Dunnello, Fla., home during the All-Star break and said he would call back shortly to firm up the date for their meeting. The Phillies play the Braves next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. "I think our relationship was very good," Lanier said. "We always got along. " Lanier was a minor league manager in the St. Louis system from 1976 through '80 and coached for the Cardinals from 1981 through '85 before being named manager of the Astros in 1986.

When Jeff Parrett was growing up in Lexington, Ky., his heroes played for Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. "I didn't even know there were any other teams," said Parrett, who lived about 75 miles from Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. "To me, they (Cincinnati's opponents) were just teams the Reds practiced against, until the playoffs rolled around. " Today, Parrett, boyhood Cincinnati Reds fan, will make the second start of his major-league career. The opponent: A powerful Cincinnati team that is reminding folks of the Big Red Machine.

Phillies manager Nick Leyva was still trying to figure it out yesterday afternoon: In the Phils' 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night, the Phillies went 1 for 17 with men in scoring position. In each of four innings - the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth - the Phillies had a baserunner on second and fewer than two outs and were unable to score. The skipper tried everything: bunts, pinch-hitters, more bunts, more pinch- hitters. None of it worked.

It is the typical story of the little boy growing up, following his favorite major league team, dreaming about someday being out on the field. Except that most kids grow up and get a real job. Phillies lefthander Pat Combs, 23, will live out one of his childhood fantasies tonight at the Astrodome. "This is really a dream for me," Combs, a Houston resident, said yesterday. "I had been a lifetime Astros fan and I always dreamed about playing here in front of my family and friends.