Soccer Dad

Mazzilli fired

One of the few things I admired about Peter Angelos and his ownership of the Orioles is that he didn't fire managers mid-season. I'm no fan of Lee Mazzilli but I had hoped that he'd at least finish out the year. But his firing begs a few questions.
1) If he was at fault for the Orioles' swoon was he also responsible for their dominant two months of the season? (UPDATE: My wife's point.)
2) Assuming that the decision to fire Mazzilli came from Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan (and not from Peter Angelos), who hired him less than two years ago, what does it say about their judgment in hiring him in the first place?
3) Also when your outfield isn't producing much is that really the manager's fault?
4) If I remember correctly, when the O's were looking for a replacement for Mike Hargrove, Angelos was initially very taken with Eddie Murray. How happy will he be that the choice of his GM's didn't work out?
5) The Orioles just played the Angels. The Angels' GM is Bill Stoneman. He's a former GM of the Montreal Expos. Why oh why are the (past and present) two front office guys for the O's who previously were GM's for the Expos Kevin Malone and Jim Beattie? While, I guess, the verdict's still out on Jim Beattie he doesn't have much time left to prove himself. And by his second year as GM Bill Stoneman was running a championship team.
6) Finally, I can understand that the Orioles' management was a bit miffed this week. Instead of confiding in team officials and protesting his innocence, Rafael Palmeiro let them get blindsided by the news of his failed drug test. I doubt that they'd take out their frustrations on Mazzilli. However, I'm wondering if he, at all, had a role the Palmeiro scandal and if that might be the unstated reason for his dismissal.