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Last-place Blue Jays fire Gibbons, coaches

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[June 21, 2008]  PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Toronto Blue Jays dipped back into their past to shake up a last-place team that has looked overmatched at times in the competitive AL East, firing manager John Gibbons on Friday and replacing him with two-time World Series winner Cito Gaston.

The Blue Jays, as the Mets and Mariners did earlier in the week, decided it's far easier to fire the manager than it is to overhaul a disappointing team close to midseason. Despite having five players making $10 million or more on its opening day roster, Toronto is 35-40 with six consecutive losses and is 10 1/2 games behind AL East leader Boston following a 1-0, 12-inning loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

"We've underachieved at this point with a good club," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "There's a lot of the season left and we've got a chance to turn things around."

Gaston said the Blue Jays' season "starts over again tonight - we've got to get to where we should be. There's a good club here."

The new start didn't look much different than the Blue Jays' season until now. The offense-thin Jays were shut out in 12 innings by the Pirates, who were coming off a three-game sweep by the White Sox in which they were outscored 37-15.

"It's a little different. I feel I made some mistakes, but we'll see if it gets better tomorrow," said Gaston, who will manage the rest of the season before being evaluated.

The managerial move was not especially popular in the clubhouse, where Gibbons was respected despite the club's on-field failings.

While Gaston managed the Blue Jays to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, he hasn't managed since being fired by Toronto in 1997 and, as the team's special assistant to the president and chief executive since 2002, had little more than a nodding relationship with most players.

"Obviously, the organization thought it was time to make a change," third baseman Scott Rolen said. "I have nothing but the highest regard and the best things to say about my time with Gibby."

Rolen and several other players are unhappy Gibbons and coaches Marty Pevey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Denbo took the blame for their failings. The Blue Jays are 15-7 against the AL Central, but are 9-14 within their own division, with records of 1-5 against Tampa Bay and 2-4 against the Yankees.

"It's the worst part of the job when the manager gets the blame," first baseman Lyle Overbay said. "It's too bad because it's really the players."

Gibbons, who became manager midway through the 2004 season, had a record of 305-305. His best season was in 2006, when the Blue Jays went 87-75 to finish second in the division - the same season he had well-publicized blowups with players Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly.

"The team just wasn't doing what was expected of it, and maybe changes were needed," Gibbons said during a conference call. "There was a lot expected this year, we came in riding high and speaking high. And that's not the results we're getting now."

Ricciardi roomed with Gibbons when both were prospects in the New York Mets system during the early 1980s. He predicted Gibbons will manage again in the majors.

"I put this team together and I share in the blame," Ricciardi said. "I'm hoping this will spark us, and I think Cito is the right guy."

Gibbons is the third major league manager fired this week, following Willie Randolph of the Mets and John McLaren of the Mariners. Randolph was fired early Tuesday and McLaren on Thursday.

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This is the first time there were three managerial changes in a four-day span within a season since May 1991, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Back then, Jim Essian replaced the Chicago Cubs' Don Zimmer, Johnny Oates took over from Baltimore's Frank Robinson, and Hal McRae succeeded the Kansas City Royals' John Wathan.

Gibbons, in the final year of a contract worth $650,000 this season, appeared to have turned the Blue Jays around from an 11-17 start in April - when they jettisoned the high-priced but unhappy Frank Thomas - with a 20-10 record in May. But the Blue Jays have lost 13 of 17, including a 9-8 loss to the Yankees in June 5 in which Jason Giambi hit a game-ending home run on an 0-2 pitch by B.J. Ryan and a 6-5 loss to Baltimore a night later when they blew a 4-0 lead in the eighth.

Gaston understandably blames the Blue Jays' problems on their hitting - they went into the weekend 10th in the AL with a .258 batting average and next to last with 49 homers in 74 games - but said there is enough talent on the club that, "I get goose bumps when I look at that lineup."

"We tried different things, different batting orders, to see if something clicked, and there just wasn't any real consistency," Gibbons said. "We had our ups and downs, the problem is it was more downs this year."

The 64-year-old Gaston becomes the Blue Jays' first two-time manager and the fourth-oldest manager in the majors. He previously managed the team from 1989 to 1997, going 681-635 following seven seasons as the hitting coach. He returned as the hitting coach in 2000 but was not retained after the 2001 season.

Joining Gaston's staff were first-base coach Dwayne Murphy, third-base coach Nick Leyva and hitting coach Gene Tenace. Leyva and Tenace are holdovers from the 1992-93 World Series staffs.

Gaston, who learned Thursday he would be replacing Gibbons, quickly assembled the staff with phone calls that night. Gibbons wasn't told until Friday.

"I'm going to try to be as I was before, a couple of innings ahead of what I want to do," Gaston said. "I don't think the game has changed."

[Associated Press; By ALAN ROBINSON]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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