This isn't a huge surprise. The scuttlebutt all year has been that if the Red Sox fell five games out Williams would be fired; they finally did after losing Wednesday night to Seattle, and he lost his job today. It hasn't exactly been a secret that he and GM Dan Duquette did not see eye to eye.

	Managers since '97
	Winning percentages from 1997-present of managers who were in their current jobs since the start of the '97 season (through Wednesday's games):
	Manager, team	Pct.
	Bobby Cox, Braves	.613
	Joe Torre, Yankees	.608
	Dusty Baker, Giants	.559
	Lou Piniella, Mariners	.552
	Larry Dierker, Astros	.549
	Bobby Valentine, Mets	.548
	Jimy Williams, Red Sox	.540
	Tony La Russa, Cards	.509
	Art Howe, A's	.502
	Bruce Bochy, Padres	.499
	Tom Kelly, Twins	.436

I have a tremendous amount of admiration for Jimy Williams. He's old school, just like Larry Bowa in Philadelphia. Players don't necessarily like managers like them, but they play hard for both of them. All they ask is that you leave everything on the field, battling every night for 27 outs. They are not the touchy-feely type of personalities that a large segment of our population seems to embrace.

Most of today's players are extremely pampered. From Little League on everyone tells them how wonderful they are. The biggest offenders are the players' agents -- I don't blame the agents, part of their job is kissing up to their clients. But it creates a situation that when a player is benched, criticized, or sent to the minors, it is always the manager's fault.

A lot of today's players never want to look in the mirror when they are stinking up the joint. The Red Sox overachieved this year with a bunch of castoffs nobody else wanted filling in for injured stars. Now that they should get Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek back soon, the stage can be set for the new manager to potentially succeed.

It's too bad Williams will never get credit for the tremendous heart the Red Sox showed all year. They lost John Valentin for the year, Nomar Garciaparra for four months, Pedro and Varitek for over two months, Carl Everett for a month, and Frank Castillo for close to a month. I'd like to see some other manager do better given that situation.

A number of the Red Sox players pride themselves on being called "Dirt Dogs" -- guys who love the game and are tireless workers. But the guy who loved that type of player, and who was the ultimate "Dirt Dog," was Jimy Williams.

Dave Campbell, who played eight seasons in the major leagues, works as an analyst for Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio.