Update: The  Houston Astros named their Triple-A manager, Tony DeFrancesco, as interim manager. It appears that Shannon's Dave Clark may remain as third-base coach.

Original post:

The last time the Houston Astros fired their manager, at the end of the 2009 season, former Shannon standout Dave Clark was named the team's interim manager.

Late Saturday, the struggling Astros pulled the in-season trigger again, firing Brad Mills along with the team's hitting coach (Mike Barnett) and first-base coach (Bobby Meacham). Notably, though, the purge did not include the 49-year-old Clark, who was Mills' third-base coach.

The Astros plan to announce an interim manager and other new coaches today (Sunday, Aug. 19) at a 10 a.m. news conference. There was some speculation in the Houston media that Clark would again be tabbed as the interim manager.

There are 41 games remaining in the regular season - Houston is a dreadful 39-82, the worst record in the major leagues - so it would be a more substantial period of time than Clark had as an interim manager last time, after Cecil Cooper was fired.

Clark went 4-9 at the tail end of the 2009 season and was interviewed for the "permanent" manager's job before Mills - Boston's bench coach - was hired. The Journal caught up with Clark in 2009 and talked about his stint as interim skipper.

Clark was a first-round draft pick by Cleveland in 1986 and went on to a 12-year big league career. He'll turn 50 on Sept. 3.