1979 Toronto Blue Jays (est. 1977)

[rpriske]

March 20th, 1979

Both Pete Vuckovich and Tucker Garland pitched very well for Toronto, blanking the Twins over 7 innings, but then Dennis DeBarr couldn't hold the line and Minnesota ended up beating the Jays 3-2.

WP - Danny Darwin (3-0)
Save - Doug Bair (3)
LP - Dennis DeBarr (0-1)

Spring Record - 7-8

[rpriske]

March 21st, 1979

The Blue Jay bats exploded over the Red Sox, destroying them 15-4.

Lloyd Robinson went 3 for 4 with 6 RBI. Steve Bailey had two homers, 3 walks and 5 RBI in 5 plate appearances.

WP - Ed Whitson (2-0)
LP - Larry Gura (0-1)

Spring Record - 8-8

[rpriske]

March 22nd, 1979

This was a great pitched ballgame from all involved as Cleveland beat Toronto 1-0.

WP - Dock Ellis (2-1)
Save - Jim Kern (1)
LP - Jim Clancy (1-1)

Spring Record - 8-9

[rpriske]

Second round of cuts

Sent to AAA: Jeff Byrd, Mike Willis, Gary Hurt, Barry Evans, Lloyd Robinson

[rpriske]

March 23rd, 1979

Mike Parrott is out to prove that he deserves to stay in the Blue Jays rotation, and he did so in fine form today, as Toronto downed Oakland 5-0.

WP - Mike Parrott (1-0)
LP - Larry McWilliams (1-1)

Spring Record - 9-9

[rpriske]

March 24th, 1979

The Yankees only got to Mark Foster once - a two run blast by George Zeber - but the Jays didn't get to Ron Guidry or the Yankees bullpen at all.

The big questions starting to arise... what are the Blue Jays going to do about CF? Neither Ron LeFlore or Matt Robinson are performing well at all. What about pitching? Do they keep Tucker Garland even if it means sending a better pitcher to AAA? Do they send both Valentine and Parrott down and turn John Taylor into a starter?

WP - Ron Guidry (1-1)
Save - Gene Garber (5)
LP - Mark Foster (1-1)

Spring Record - 9-10

[rpriske]

March 25th, 1979

Matt Valentine may not have done enough to save his spot on the rotation, but Tucker Garland may have found a spot in the bullpen.

Biff Pocoroba hit a homer in the losing effort as Toronto fell to Seattle 3-2.

WP - Bob Gallasso (1-0)
Save - Elias Sosa (4)
LP - Matt Valentine (0-3)

Spring Record - 9-11

[rpriske]

March 26th, 1979

When teams are supposed to be gearing up for the season, the Blue Jays are starting to slide. Pete Vuckovich was way off his game and the hot hitters are cooling off.

Even with a 9th inning push, the Angels won 6-4.

WP - Nolan Ryan (1-2)
Save - Mark Lee (5)
LP - Pete Vuckovich (1-1)

Spring Record - 9-12

[rpriske]

March 27th, 1979

Ed Whitson, Domingo Nieto and Dennis DeBarr combined to shut out the Orioles on five hits, giving Toronto the 1-0 victory.

WP - Ed Whitson (3-0)
Save - Dennis DeBarr (2)
LP - Scott McGregor (2-2)

Spring Record - 10-12

[rpriske]

March 28th, 1979

It looked like the Jays had this won but Rick Camp couldn't hold the Rangers in the 9th and Toronto fell 3-2.

Phil Mankowski had a nice 2 for 3 day.

WP - Andy Devine (2-0)
Save - Ron Reed (9)
LP - Rick Camp (0-1)

Spring Record - 10-13

[rpriske]

March 29th, 1979

8th inning homers by Al Woods and Steve Bailey provided all the scoring as the Jays downed the White Sox 3-1.

This may have been the game that won Mike Parrott a spot in the rotation as he pitched well and his potential replacement, John Taylor, had to leave the game with minor back spasms.

WP - Tucker Garland (2-1)
Save - Victor Cruz (1)
LP - Randy Wiles (0-1)

Spring Record - 11-13

[rpriske]

Final cuts

Sent to AAA: Matt Valentine, Rick Camp, Al Woods, Leon Roberts, Dan Meyer

[rpriske]

Opening Day Roster

Rotation

Pete Vuckovich
Mike Parrott
Ed Whitson
Mark Foster
Jim Clancy

Three hold-overs and two converted relievers. I was very happy with Whitson in Spring Training... the rest, not so much. I have faith in Vuckovich and Foster did well for me last year.

Bullpen

Victor Cruz (CL)
Mike Barlow
Tucker Garland
Dennis DeBarr
Rick Baldwin
Domingo Nieto
John Taylor

They all pitched well this Spring. Enough that I decided to keep an extra reliever up this year. We'll see if I like it or whether the first bullpen arm that falters goes down for another infielder.

Position Players

I decided to let Hartsfield set the line-ups to open the season. We'll see how I like them as the year progresses. He has certainly done some things that I wouldn't have...

C - Joe Nolan & Biff Pocoroba (strict platoon)
1B - Jerome Thomson (I think of him as a 2B first and a back-up 1B)
2B - Rich Dauer
3B - Phil Mankowski
SS - Alfredo Griffin & Kiko Garcia (I was going to play Griffin at 1B)
LF - Skip McBeath
CF - Matt Robinson
RF - Oscar Gamble
DH - Ron LeFlore
Bench - Carlos Hernandez, Steve Bailey

Hartsfield also plays the back-ups a lot less than I do.

[rpriske]

I signed three minor leaguers to fill out my Rookie Ball roster:

Gary Sutherland
Manny Hernandez
Tim Houston

[rpriske]

The Offseason Center has the Blue Jays 14th in the off-season.

The biggest additions were Dan Meyer (now at AAA) and Joe Nolan.

The biggest losses were Fergie Jenkins, Kurt Bevacqua and Dave Lemanczyk.

The top team was Cleveland who added Steve Ontiveros, Larry Bowa, Dock Ellis, Pete LaCock, Dusty Baker & Tom Poquette while only losing Dave Kingman, Johnny Grubb, Larvell Blanks, Buddy Bell & Dave Cash



Uh... I just checked the preseason predictions and they have gone insane.

They are predicting that the Blue Jays go 96-66 and win the AL East.

Pardon? The other division winners predicted are the Royals, Phillies and a tie between the Astros and Reds.

They have George Brett as the best hitter in the AL and Oscar Gamble in 3rd... and Skip McBeath in 9th!

Wait... they are saying that Mike Parrott is going to win 20 games. Mark Foster is going to win 19 and Jim Clancy is going to win 16. (and are the 4th, 5th and 7th best pitchers in the AL... behind Ron Guidry in 1st)

What just happened?

Top NL Hitter: Champ Summers, Reds and Burt Hooton, Astros


The Jays are ranked 13th in Minor League systems. (Texas is first)

Our top prospect rankings are:

Skip McBeath (22)
Tucker Garland (28)
Vincent O'Duane (60)

McBeath and Garland are both in the majors (and have to be or they will go back to their former teams as they are Rule 5 pick-ups). O'Duane is at Single A Stratford.

[rpriske]

Huh... the preseason predictions have been re-worked and a lot of that mess is gone. I no longer have 3 pitchers in the top 10 and am no longer expected to win the division.

It is still a very strong prediction, coming 2nd behind the Yankees with an 87-75 record.

I would be pretty happy with that.

[rpriske]

Phil Niekro of the Red Sox has decided to retire.

[rpriske]

April 5th, 1979

Toronto opened the '79 season against the tough Royals. Pete Vuckovich got banged around early but settled down and pitched the rest of the way. A late insurance run turned out to be the win for K.C. as they beat the Jays 5-4.

Oscar Gamble went 2 for 3 with a solo homer and 2 walks.

Jerome Thomson came up hurt after legging out a double. He has a mild calf strain and will be ginger for about a week. Alfredo Griffin will get the starts at first with Carlos Hernandez sharing time with Kiko Garcia at shortstop.

WP - Dennis Leonard (1-0)
Save - Mark Littell (1)
LP - Pete Vuckovich (0-1)

Record - 0-1

[rpriske]

April 7th, 1979

The good: The bullpen performed well with both Tucker Garland and Dennis DeBarr keeping any earned runs of the board. Matt Robinson picked up three hits.

The bad: The bullpen came into play early because Mike Parrott got shelled by the Royals, lasting only three innings. Garland had to leave the game with forearm stiffness. He should be okay after a few days.

Royals won 7-2.

WP - Mike LaCoss (1-0)
LP - Mike Parrott (0-1)

Record - 0-2

[rpriske]

April 8th, 1979

With Mark Littell on the mound it looked like a sweep for the Royals over the Jays but a lead-off hit by Ron LeFlore was followed by a stolen base so when Oscar Gamble stroked a single, it was a tie game!

Then, in the top of the 10th a hit by Biff Pocoroba turned into a pinch-running appearance by Carlos Hernandez, stolen base, a couple of walks (one intentional, bracketing a strike out) and a sac fly by Ron LeFlore and the Blue Jays had the lead!

Closer Victor Cruz allowed a single to George Brett but that was all and the Jays won 4-3.

WP - Rick Baldwin (1-0)
Save - Victor Cruz (1)
LP - Mark Littell (0-1)

Record - 1-2