McLaren out as Mariners manager

He is the second manager fired this week by a major league organization.

SEATTLE (AP) — John McLaren was fired Thursday as manager of the Seattle Mariners, who began the season with playoff aspirations and now have the worst record in the major leagues.

Bench coach Jim Riggleman will run the Mariners for the rest of their lost season, beginning Friday night in Atlanta.

The Mariners made the announcement before the team left on its road trip and three days after general manager Bill Bavasi was fired. McLaren was the second manager in the majors to be fired this season — the New York Mets dismissed Willie Randolph this week.

Seattle is 25-47 and 171‚Ñ2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.

“John worked extremely hard, but our team continued to underperform compared to our expectations of them,” interim general manager Lee Pelekoudas said in a statement. “With 90 games left on our schedule, we owe it to ourselves and our fans to do everything we can to win as many games as possible.”

McLaren was an assistant for 211‚Ñ2 years in the majors before he took over as Seattle’s manager last July when Mike Hargrove abruptly quit. McLaren went 68-88 in less than a full season on the job.

This season, the revamped Mariners expected to reach their first postseason since 2001. Instead, they are on pace to become the first team to lose 100 games with a $100 million player payroll.

“As we move towards the trade deadline and decisions have to be made on the futures of the players on our ballclub, I wanted to see if a different voice could make a difference in their performance,” Pelekoudas said.

Seattle players still hadn’t been entirely informed of the morning announcement and were expected to hold a team meeting before leaving for Atlanta.

When asked Wednesday night if he was worried about his future before yet another loss, to Florida, the mostly sunny McLaren laughed.

“You know, it’s business as usual for me,” he said, with a hint of emotion in his voice and eyes. “I come out here with the positive attitude, ready to grind. It’s a new day. Not happy with where we are, but I know where we want to go. And I’m here just to work hard.”

“I’m here to win this game tonight. That’s the attitude I will always have.”