SEATTLE -- John McLaren is out as manager of the Seattle Mariners, fired on Thursday as the team lags with the worst record in baseball.

VIDEO BACKSTORY: Sorting Out A Wild Week For The M's

Bench coach Jim Riggleman will run the team for the rest of the Mariners lost season beginning Friday night in Atlanta.

The Mariners made the announcement Thursday morning before the team left for its road trip and just three days after general manager Bill Bavasi was fired.

McLaren, an assistant for 21 1/2 years in the major leagues before he took over as Seattle's manager last July when Mike Hargrove abruptly quit, went 68-88 in less than a full season on the job.

This season, the revamped Mariners expected to reach their first postseason since 2001. Instead, they are on pace to become the first team to lose 100 games with a $100 million player payroll.

"John worked extremely hard, but our team continued to underperform compared to our expectations of them," interim general manager Lee Pelekoudas said in a statement. "With 90 games left on our schedule, we owe it to ourselves and our fans to do everything we can to win as many games as possible."

Players still hadn't been entirely informed of the decision and were expected to hold a team meeting before leaving for Atlanta.

When asked Wednesday night if he was worried about his future before yet another loss, to Florida, the mostly sunny McLaren laughed.

"You know, it's business as usual for me," he said, with a hint of emotion in his voice and eyes. "I come out here with the positive attitude, ready to grind. It's a new day. Not happy with where we are, but I know where we want to go. And I'm here just to work hard."

"I'm here to win this game tonight. That's the attitude I will always have."

Not anymore.

McLaren was thrust into the managerial role when Hargrove suddenly resigned midway through last season and the Mariners making a surprising challenge in the AL West. Under McLaren's lead, the Mariners stayed in the playoff race into late August before a nine-game losing streak finally ended their postseason hopes.

Seattle management armed McLaren this season with a roster most believed was talented enough to make a strong run at the Los Angeles Angels for the top of the AL West. Instead, the Mariners have been a "dysfunctional" unit -- as Bavasi said on his way out earlier this week -- and stumbled from the start.

The acquisition of starting pitcher Erik Bedard has been mostly a bust, with Bedard carrying a 4-4 record into his scheduled start Friday in Atlanta and getting highly criticized for his lack of pitching deep into games. There have been injury problems with the bullpen -- namely closer J.J. Putz -- and an anemic offense with players performing nowhere near their prior benchmarks.

"As we move towards the trade deadline and decisions have to be made on the futures of the players on our ballclub, I wanted to see if a different voice could make a difference in their performance," Pelekoudas said.

Riggleman has over 1,000 games of managerial experience in the majors, including leading the Chicago Cubs to the NL Wild Card in 1998 with a 90-72 record. He managed the Cubs from 1995-99 and spent two full seasons managing the San Diego Padres.

But like Pelekoudas, Riggleman's status is only interim.

"He is intimately familiar with our ballclub and I believe he will do a fine job," Pelekoudas said.

A news conference is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Safeco Field. Watch live video on KIROTV.com.