Mackanin, Garner interview

Sam Khan's summation of Pete Mackanin and Phil Garner's interviews had some nuggets for us.

Mackanin, who flew in to Houston from LA following the Phillies' 2-1 loss to the Dodgers on Friday:
“I’ve done an awful lot of different things. I’ve been a major league player, a minor league player, I’ve been a minor league manager at every level. I’ve managed in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. I think I have a wealth of experience to bring to the table. With over 40 years in baseball, that’s a lot to draw on. I think the Houston Astros have a pretty darn good team right now. I think with a few ingredients, this team will become very competitive. When (the Phillies) played (the Astros) at the end of this year, I liked what I saw. I liked the energy that the guys played with. Like every team, you just need one or two ingredients that can put you over the top.”

And Garner:
“It was a good start to the process. This is energizing and I’m happy and grateful to be one of these 10 candidates. There are nine other people that are very well-qualified and I think (the Astros) will make some good choices. Getting fired — there’s nothing wrong with that. It happens all the time in baseball. I did not have any ill feelings. You have to change things up when things aren’t going right and in 2007, things weren’t going right. You have to take your individual feelings out of this and get over those things and look at what’s right for the ballclub. If you go back and look at that time, it was probably the right thing to do. I don’t see any problems with that.

“There’s a different scenario now. Maybe it’s a good fit. That’s why I decided to put my name in the hat and see if there’s a fit here. I don’t think what happened in 2007 is going to have anything to do with it. I’m re-energized. That’s important — to bring a can-do attitude to the ballclub. I can see a lot of good things in a storm. I can bring in a lot of baseball experience and knowledge.

"I think there are a lot of things that need to be done with this ballclub and for whatever reason, I don’t think it’s where it should be. I think there’s going to need to be a tough hand applied and I think I’m very capable of doing it — I know I can. I think the players respect that and will appreciate that we need to get on a different path to get back to where we need to be.”

Tim Bogar and Brad Mills will be the last two candidates to interview for the first round.