Posted by Michael Street on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 3:20 am

According to several websites, including the Nationals own site, Manny Acta was finally fired last night as the Washington Nationals manager.

This comes as a surprise to practically nobody, since the story had been leaked several weeks ago. Even if you didn’t believe the denials that came out afterwards, you had to think that the manager of the league’s perennial cellar dwellers wouldn’t be there for long.

As Acta himself said last night, “It’s normal for the manager to pay the price when the team is not doing well.” The Nats are currently 25-60, 8 games behind the second-worst 34-53 Cleveland Indians. At 59-102 last year, they were even behind the moribund 61-101 Mariners, albeit at a much lower payroll.

Both of these finishes make his first year, 2007, when Washington was 73-89 and two games ahead of the Florida Marlins, look spectacular.

Jim Riggleman will reportedly take his place, making this the fourth managerial gig on his resume.