Fast Finish Doesn’t Save Trebelhorn : Baseball: As part of housecleaning, Brewers fire manager who won more games than any in club history.

Tom Trebelhorn’s five-year plan for the Milwaukee Brewers fell a pennant short. And not even a 40-19 record over the final two months of the 1991 season could save his job.

Trebelhorn became the 11th manager to be fired this season as the Brewers on Wednesday continued major changes in their operation that began a day earlier when Sal Bando replaced Harry Dalton as general manager.

“They are making changes, and they think it’s time to make a change in this position, too,” Trebelhorn said. “They want continuity all the way through.

“My five-year plan didn’t get us to where we wanted to go. To me that’s more realistic than just saying we’re just making a change.”

Bando told the Milwaukee Journal he fired Trebelhorn because he thought the Brewers needed a tougher presence. Critics say Trebelhorn wasn’t tough enough over the last three seasons when he has had to deal with outspoken players like third baseman Gary Sheffield and pitcher Chris Bosio.

Trebelhorn was named manager for the final nine games of the 1986 season. He won and managed more games than anyone in team history, with a 422-397 record that included three winning seasons, one loser and one at .500.

“They’re making a mistake,” he said. “But who wouldn’t say that in my role? I really enjoyed being here. We did some great things. Probably the greatest thing we did was the last two months. No one did better than we did. Unfortunately that’s not translatable into anything other than ‘Nice finish.’ ”

Seventeen games under .500 on Aug. 4, the Brewers finished 83-79.

Gene Tenace, Bando’s former roommate with the Oakland Athletics during their run of three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74, is being mentioned as a possible replacement.