Another big-league skipper axed

Blue Jays' Gibbons third manager fired this week

Toronto's new manager, Cito Gaston, returns to the clubhouse after talking to the media. Gaston spoke Friday in Pittsburgh after being named to replace John Gibbons.

? John Gibbons was fired by the last-place Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and replaced by Cito Gaston, who led the team to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993 before being fired himself in 1997.

The Blue Jays began the day 35-39, having lost five straight and 13 of their last 17 games to fall 101â2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

“We’ve underachieved at this point with a good club,” general manager J.P. Ricciardi said before the Jays began a weekend series in Pittsburgh. “There’s a lot of the season left and we’ve got a chance to turn things around. … We needed someone to spark us.”

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.”

Ricciardi said Gaston would manage the rest of the season and then be evaluated.

Gibbons’ $650,000, one-year contract was to expire at the end of the year. He is the third major league manager fired this week, following Willie Randolph of the New York Mets and John McLaren of the Seattle Mariners. Randolph was fired early Tuesday and McLaren on Thursday.

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.

The Jays also fired three of Gibbons’ coaches – Marty Pevey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Denbo.