OAKLAND, Calif. — Ken Macha was fired as manager of the Oakland Athletics yesterday, two days after the AL West champions were swept out of the playoffs by Detroit.

Macha had two years left on his contract. The A’s went 368–280 in his four seasons as manager, but have frustrated management and their fans by failing to get into the World Series.

In an odd episode last October, the Athletics parted ways with Macha as their manager — and then rehired him about a week later.

“Not to fault either side, but I felt a disconnect on a lot of levels,” the Athletics’ general manager, Billy Beane, said. “Once again, it’s not to point the finger at Ken or anything like that. But that disconnect was there and it was something we needed to address as soon as possible.”

The Athletics did not announce a replacement, but bench coach Bob Geren is considered a top candidate to be Macha’s successor.

The A’s became the sixth major league team to let its manager go since the final days of the season. Dusty Baker (Chicago Cubs), Joe Girardi (Florida), Felipe Alou (San Francisco), Frank Robinson (Washington) and Buck Showalter (Texas) are not coming back next year.

To manage the A’s, taking a back seat to Beane is an understood requirement. In the best-selling book “Moneyball,”an in-depth look at Beane’s management style and reliance on statistics, the job comes across as practically interchangeable and not worthy of the big dollars that other teams pay their managers.

Macha made $800,000 this year and was still owed $2.025 million. He was due to make $875,000 in 2007 and $1.15 million in ’08.

A call to Macha’s cell phone was not immediately returned yesterday.

Oakland won the West with a 93–69 record this year. After sweeping Minnesota in three games in the first round of the playoffs, the A’s were eliminated by the Tigers in four straight in the AL championship series.

During Oakland’s injury-plagued season, Macha referred to some players with long stints on the disabled list — such as star right-hander Rich Harden and lefty reliever Joe Kennedy — as nonentities because they weren’t really part of the team at the time.

That didn’t always sit well with players. Macha believed in leaving his players be, staying out of the way and letting them play. Yet that sometimes led to a lack of communication.

“Mach’s a good guy,” Harden said yesterday. “I hope he ends up somewhere and gets a job.”

The A’s’ first baseman, Nick Swisher, heard the news when he arrived at the Coliseum to clean out his locker. Macha met briefly with Beane yesterday morning.

“It happens,” Swisher said. “As a team and as players, we move on. You just hope he ends up finding another job somewhere.”

The 56-year-old Macha went through a topsy-turvy time last October, too, during which he briefly was out as manager.

Right after missing the postseason for a second straight season in 2005,the A’s failed to reach an agreement with Macha on a new deal. The A’s cut ties with him and Beane announced there would be no further negotiations.

At the time, Macha called it one of the “massive disappointments” during his seven years in the organization.The A’s interviewed other candidates for the job and Macha talked to Pittsburgh about its managerial vacancy.

But about a week after the sides split, the A’s rehired Macha and gave him a three-year contract.

Beane said he didn’t regret rehiring Macha last year.

“No, I think you can only take a decision out of the context of when it was made,” Beane said. “So that was the right decision at that point and we feel this is the right decision at this point.”

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The Philadelphia Phillies put together an all-star coaching staff to assist oftcriticized manager Charlie Manuel.

Former major league managers Art Howe, Davey Lopes, and Jimy Williams each signed a one-year contract yesterday to join Manuel’s staff, giving the Phillies tons of experience in the dugout.

“They have instant credibility,” the Phillies’ general manager, Pat Gillick, said. “Hopefully the players listen to their ideas.”

Two days after the Phillies finished 85–77 and narrowly missed the playoffs for the second straight year, the team didn’t renew the contracts of first-base coach Marc Bombard, third-base coach Bill Dancy and bench coach Gary Varsho.

Instead, Gillick gave the beleaguered Manuel an opportunity to reshape his staff going into the final season of his three-year contract. Manuel’s managing skills have come under intense scrutiny in Philadelphia since he replaced Larry Bowa following the 2004 season.