Houston Astros Fire Manager Cecil Cooper

Wherever Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice is today, he is smiling.

If anyone has ever read his Sports Justice blog, you will know that he has been calling for Houston Astros’ manager Cecil Cooper’s head for quite some time now.

Well, today he got his wish. With 13 games to go, the Astros fired the beleaguered manager.

The Astros are in forth place in the NL Central, 16.5 games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals.

In two plus years, Cooper was 171-170.

Third base coach Dave Clark will take over as interim manager for the remaining 13 games.

I don’t have a problem with the move. While I will fully admit I have not watched every Astros game this year, I have watched enough to know Cooper made one too many puzzling moves.

I loved Cooper as a player, but as a manager? Not so much.

However, here is my problem with this decision. What is the point of firing Cooper with 13 games left in the season?

What exactly is this going to accomplish?

The Astros have already been eliminated from postseason play and even if Clark goes 13-0 in his final 13 games, 13 games is too little of a sample size to evaluate a manager.

Astros’ GM Ed Wade will conduct a full search in the offseason for a manager. Clark will be included in that search.

Based on history of short-term interim managers, Clark has no shot at the job in 2010 and beyond.