Baker, Alou lose their jobs

Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou, who led championship-starved franchises to the 2003 playoffs but failed to reach the postseason again, had their paths cross again yesterday when both lost their managerial jobs.

Baker's four-year run as manager of the Chicago Cubs ended when the team declined to renew his contract. Even though he led the Cubs to their first back-to-back winning seasons in more than three decades -- and was five outs from reaching the 2003 World Series -- his final two years turned into losers, including a National League-worst 66-96 mark this season.

The San Francisco Giants, meanwhile, cut ties with Alou, a day after the team finished its second straight losing season. After winning 100 games and the NL West in his first season in 2003, the Giants did not make the playoffs in Alou's final three years.

Baker's dismissal ended a tumultuous span of less than 24 hours for a franchise that hasn't won a World Series since 1908. One day earlier, team president and CEO Andy MacPhail resigned after 12 years.

"I wish we could have gotten it done, but we didn't," said Baker, 57, who posted a 322-326 record in four seasons. ``I guess all things must come to an end and all things come to pass."

Alou, 71, said he would like to stay in baseball in 2007, possibly with the Giants, the franchise that signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 1955. He had a 76-85 mark this season, ending his tenure with a 342-304 record.

``He's every way a victim of circumstances," general manager Brian Sabean said.

Alou dealt with numerous controversies during his tenure, especially the past two seasons when injuries and steroid allegations followed Barry Bonds.

While there will be a new manager in the dugout, it remains to be seen whether there will be a new left fielder for the Giants next season. Owner Peter Magowan said that if Bonds is back next season -- and that still seems to be a big if -- the slugger will not be the centerpiece of the roster.

``I think we need to go in a new direction," said Magowan, who made it clear the 42-year-old Bonds, who is 22 home runs away from breaking Hank Aaron's career record of 755, wouldn't be brought back in 2007 just to attract fans.

The federal prosecutor overseeing an investigation of steroids in baseball said a Los Angeles Times report suggesting that five players, including Roger Clemens, may have used illegal performance-enhancing drugs contained ``significant inaccuracies." A spokesman for the prosecutor declined to elaborate . . . Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock, who had career lows in home runs (16) and RBIs (89), had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.