They didn't want him. It was that simple.

Oh, they can talk all they want about his lack of experience. They can shower him with praise about his work ethic and his professionalism. They can mourn over how difficult a decision it was to dismiss him.

But the bottom line is, the new owners of the Boston Red Sox didn't want Joe Kerrigan managing their team. They never did, and they would have lowered the boom before spring training began had the previous regime allowed them to start making personnel moves before the sale of the team officially closed.

So why didn't they lower it as soon as they were handed the deed to Fenway Park? Why was this dragged out for a week? Why were we treated to a ``dead man walking'' period in which Kerrigan was hung out to dry?

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't necessary. Each day reporters were compelled to ask Kerrigan about his job status, and each day Kerrigan had to publicly address his own professional mortality. Some days he handled it with more grace than others, but you have to cut him some slack. Imagine being asked, ``Have you been fired yet?'' every day in your own line of work. Sort of wears on you after a while.

And it makes you wonder why ``Fire Joe Kerrigan'' wasn't No. 1A to ``Fire Dan Duquette'' at No. 1 on their to-do list.

A couple things to make clear right off the top:

-- There's no question that the new bosses had every right to dismiss Joe Kerrigan. When they plunked down $660 million for the franchise, one of the things they purchased was the right to put whoever they want in the manager's chair.

-- There's also no question they had reason to be concerned about Kerrigan. He'd never managed any team, anywhere, when he was tabbed to replace Jimy Williams last August. He presided over an ugly collapse that wasn't totally, or maybe even partially, his fault -- with no Pedro Martinez or Nomar Garciaparra or Jason Varitek or Carl Everett, the 2001 Sox were virtually unarmed -- but off-the-field concerns became almost more important than the team's 17-26 stumble to the finish line. The incidents in the public realm (Derek Lowe cussing out Kerrigan to reporters, the bungled John Cumberland firing, the Everett fiasco, the fight on the plane, Manny Ramirez having a minor medical procedure against team wishes and then skipping the final games) were bad enough. The off-the-record whispers (the pitchers didn't like Kerrigan because they thought he took too much credit for their success, the hitters didn't like him because they felt he had no right to dictate offensive philosophy to them, the fact that no one allegedly had much respect for him) were even worse. In that context, canning Joe Kerrigan makes all the sense in the world.

Except . . .

Kerrigan came to Fort Myers this spring and, by all accounts, ran an efficient, productive camp. The players, who seemed to have no use for him last year, publicly praised him this spring (or at least some of them did). He was winning people over to his side, if you believe the on-the-record quotes. And even if you don't -- and some didn't -- who would have thought anyone would be saying kind things about Joe Kerrigan after he'd been so stained by events of last August and September?

If the new owners had made it a two-fer last week and fired Kerrigan on the same day they fired Duquette, there would have been no controversy. They were in charge, they were putting their own personnel in place, and that was that. No one could argue.

But by not firing Kerrigan immediately, it gave the impression they were tying his fate to current events. If the team did well, it seemed, he might save himself. Nothing happened this spring that, logically, should have cost Joe Kerrigan his job. He lost it, anyway, which makes it clear that he was going to lose it no matter what.

So why the delay? It wasn't like they were trying to line up his replacement; they don't have one. It wasn't like they needed some time to make up their minds about his fate; their minds already were made up. (Interim general manager Mike Port yesterday all but said he disagreed with Duquette's decision to promote Kerrigan last August.) Turmoil was going to reign no matter when Kerrigan was dismissed, but waiting a week made the turmoil worse than it had to be.

The new owners can recover from this rather easily. If they make a good hire, people will forget Joe Kerrigan rather quickly. The idea that the 2002 Sox will be permanently scarred by a managerial change on March 5 is ludicrous. And, to be honest, there are still plenty of reasons to think the new owners did the right thing yesterday.

It wasn't what they did, though. It was how -- and when -- they did it.

It was an easy ground ball, and they booted it.

Let's see what they do with the next one