Oakland, Calif. ? Ken Macha managed the Oakland Athletics into the AL championship series, yet it still wasn’t enough to save his job.

Macha was fired by the Athletics on Monday, two days after the West champions were swept out of the playoffs by Detroit.

The A’s did not announce a replacement. Bench coach Bob Geren was considered a top candidate.

“Not to fault either side, but I felt a disconnect on a lot of levels,” 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.”

Oakland went 368-280 in Macha’s four seasons as manager, but has frustrated management and fans by failing to get into the World Series.

The A’s finally reached the ALCS this year following four straight first-round exits from 2000-03. The Tigers eliminated them in four straight games.

“I feel good about what we did here,” Macha said in a phone interview. “I went to the ballpark every day with the sole intent of winning a baseball game for the Oakland A’s, and we did a lot of that. I have zero regrets.”

In an odd episode last October, the A’s parted ways with Macha – and then rehired him about a week later, giving him a three-year contract.

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.

Ken Macha walks away from the mound during Game 4 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers. Macha was fired as manager of the A's on Monday, two days after the AL West champions were swept out of the playoffs.

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.

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 – their first ALCS since 1992.

“I’m really shocked by this,” said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who managed in Oakland from 1986-95. “I just look at the season they had. … Well, they had such a great second half. (If) there was friction, how did they beat Minnesota?”

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 Monday. “I hope he ends up somewhere and gets a job.”

First baseman Nick Swisher heard the news when he arrived at the Coliseum to clean out his locker.

“It happens,” Swisher said. “As a team and as players, we move on.”