The Angels fired Joe Maddon on Tuesday, a day after they equaled their franchise single-season record by losing their 12th straight game.
Third base coach Phil Nevin was named interim manager. Nevin has managed at Triple-A, but never in the major leagues.
This year the Angels got off to a 24-13 start, but they since lost 16 of 19 games.
Maddon, 68, was 157-172 in his three seasons with the Angels, the first time in three managerial stops that he didn’t have a winning record.
Maddon was 754-705 with the Tampa Bay Rays, leading them to their first American League pennant. He was 471-339 with the Chicago Cubs, famously leading them to a World Series title that ended a 108-year drought.
The Angels had high expectations under Maddon, but injuries and underperformance of key players doomed the team.
This season the Angels started off strong, with Mike Trout performing at his peak and the pitchers almost all faring as well or better than expectations.
Ironically, the Angels were at their best immediately after the most head-scratching decision of Maddon’s tenure. On April 15, Maddon intentionally walked Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager with the bases loaded and the Angels losing in the fourth inning. The Angels came back to win that game, starting a stretch in which they were 21-9.
But little has gone right for Maddon and the Angels since May 16.
