Miley 125-164 in three season as Reds manager

CINCINNATI -- The last-place Cincinnati Reds fired manager Dave Miley on Tuesday and promoted bench coach Jerry Narron to take over on an interim basis for the rest of the season.

Pitching coach Don Gullett also was fired. Vern Ruhle will handle the job for the remainder of the season.

ESPN's Peter Gammons reports that Narron is trying to hire former Red Sox manager Grady Little as his bench coach. Narron was Little's bench coach in Boston. Little is working in the Cubs organization as a roving catching instructor.

At 27-43, the Reds were 18½ games behind St. Louis in the NL Central. Cincinnati lost 6-1 at home to St. Louis on Monday night in Miley's last game.

Earlier this month, Reds chief operating officer John Allen traveled to Denver to meet with Miley. Allen called the Reds' performance "unacceptable" and hinted that changes could be made if there was no improvement.

The Reds went 5-9 after Allen's remarks. Cincinnati has already had four straight below-.500 years -- its longest such streak since 1945-55 -- and has not reached the playoffs since 1995.

Coming off a 76-86 season in which injuries to Ken Griffey Jr. and other players hurt them, the Reds increased their payroll by $17 million and started this year with three straight wins. But a 1-10 slump that began in late April dropped them far behind in the NL Central.

The Reds have been particularly poor on the road, with eight straight losses dropping them to 6-24. Though they were 21-19 at home, their most notable game at Great American Ball Park this season came in early May when St. Louis pulled off its biggest ninth-inning rally in team history, scoring seven times for a 10-9 win.

Miley became the Reds' manager on July 28, 2003, when he replaced Bob Boone. Cincinnati was 125-164 during parts of his three seasons. Miley was in his 26th season in the Reds' organization.

Gullett, a former ace for the Reds, had been the team's pitching coach since May 24, 1993.

Narron was in his second season as Miley's bench coach. Narron managed Texas in 2001-02, and also managed for four years in Baltimore's minor league system. He was Boston's bench coach in 2003 and coached with Texas from 1995-2001.

Ruhle was hired by the Reds in 2004 as a minor league pitching coach. The former pitcher was the Reds' minor league pitching coordinator this season.
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