Perhaps there’s never been a better time for a Buffalonian to be a fan of the Houston Astros.


That’s because this past Tuesday, with 13 games left in the regular season and the Astros reeling from a seven-game losing streak, they named Dave Clark their interim manager.

Younger fans might not recall, but Clark was one of the first stars to emerge for the “modern” Bisons, back when Triple-A ball returned to the city in 1985.

Clark first played for the Herd in 1984, when the club was a Double-A affiliate of Cleveland. He returned to town in 1987 as a Triple-A player, and made the Bisons’ final season at War Memorial Stadium quite memorable.

His .340 batting average and .621 slugging percentage in ’87 have remained team records through the modern era. Clark homered 30 times that year, too, a milestone reached by only by six Bison players since then.

Clark returned for another 78 games in 1992, when he was playing in the Pittsburgh organization. He batted .304 in that spell with another 11 homers.

For his contributions over the years, he was inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Now Clark’s at the top rung of the managerial ladder, after having good success in minor-league stops in Single-A Hickory (85-55 record) and Double-A Corpus Christi, where he won a championship in 2006. At the time of his promotion, he was Houston’s third base coach, a position he took after compiling a 64-79 record in 2008 while managing Triple-A Round Rock.

Clark will be evaluated for the Astros’ permanent managing position not on whether he wins a majority of the 13 remaining games, but rather on how he will relate to the players.

Astros general manager Ed Wade believes Clark will do just fine, saying, “We saw how he handled himself at the minor league level and we’ve seen how he conducts himself at the big-league level, with the rapport he’s created with the players and his stand-up personality.”

Clark will also be helped by another former Bison: Al Pedrique, who played 61 games for Buffalo in 1988. Pedrique, who had been the Astros’ minor league field coordinator, was named third-base coach.

………

Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants had done all he could to keep his team in the hunt for the National League Wild Card playoff spot. Without his 14-6 record and 2.47 earned run average, the Giants wouldn’t even be close.

But after being a model of consistency over the past three seasons, his performance last Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers was very puzzling.

Lincecum allowed five runs, matching a season-high, in a 6-2 loss at Dodger Stadium. He also walked four while striking out three, only the second time this year he recorded more free passes than K’s. And his 87 pitches matched the fewest in a 2009 start since he threw only 78 on opening day.

The opener, in which he worked only three innings, was the last time Lincecum went as few as the four frames he threw on Sunday.

Postgame, the Giants ace said, “It’s hard to say you let the team down, but I just felt like I could have done a better job out there, put up a better fight.”

“He had an off-day today and we took advantage of the opportunity,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

The rough outing may have spelled the end of the Giants’ post-season hopes – they’re about five games back in the wild card chase with less than 10 days remaining in the season. And for Lincecum, who has never been to the playoffs, it might have been a doubly crushing blow, as he is now considered a dark horse candidate (behind St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright and Chris Capenter) for the N.L.’s Cy Young Award.