1984 Toronto Blue Jays (est. 1977)

[rpriske]

Expansion Jays! 63-99 - WS - New York Mets over Minnesota Twins

1978 69-93 - WS - Cincinnati Reds over Detroit Tigers

1979 94-68 - WS - Texas Rangers over Cincinnati Reds

1980 97-66 (Lost a tiebreaker game to Detroit) - WS - Detroit Tigers over Cincinnati Reds

1981 89-73 - WS - Pittsburgh Pirates over Detroit Tigers

1982 98-64 - WS - Detroit Tigers over Pittsburgh Pirates

1983 104-58 (Lost ALCS to Oakland 3-1) - WS - Oakland Athletics over St.Louis Cardinals

[rpriske]

MAJOR ADDITIONS

Keith Hernandez (Trade with LAD)
Nolan Ryan (Trade with TEX)
Gary Ward (Trade with DET)
Lee Lacy (FA)
Juan Beniquez (FA)
Alan Wiggins (Trade with DET)



NOTABLE LOSSES

George Brett (Trade with TEX)
Skip McBeath (Trade with TEX)
Ben Oglivie (Trade with LAD)
Steve Bailey (Trade with DET)
Mike Norris (FA)
Edwin Benton (Trade with LAD)

[rpriske]

February 27th, 1984

Spring Training is here!

Nolan Ryan looked pretty sharp right out of the gate as he led the Jays to a 5-1 win over the Twins.

Carney Lansford hit the first Toronto home run of the Spring.

WP - Nolan Ryan (1-0)
LP - Jack Morris (0-1)

Spring Record - 1-0

[rpriske]

February 28th, 1984

The Jays bullpen squandered a nice performance by Steve Carlton but the Toronto hitters won the game back, beating Cleveland 5-4 in 10 innings.

Mario Parra hit a home run.

WP - Kuniaki Sakamoto (1-0)
Save - Dave Rozema (1)
LP - Don Welchel (0-1)

Spring Record - 2-0

[rpriske]

February 29th, 1984

Third straight strong start in three games this spring. Today it was Dave Stieb who did the job as the Jays beat the Rangers 6-2.

WP - Dave Stieb (1-0)
LP - Danny Jackson (0-1)

Spring Record - 3-0

[rpriske]

March 1st, 1984

For the first time this spring, the pitching staff was not on the ball for the Jays. The hitters made up for it as Toronto beat the Angels 12-8.

Paul Molitor went 2 for 2 with a triple, 2 walks and 3 RBI.

Lance Parrish hit his first home run of the spring.

WP - Joe Niekro (1-0)
LP - Ken Clay (0-1)

Spring Record - 4-0

[rpriske]

March 2nd, 1984

The Blue Jays remained perfect as they beat the Tigers 6-2. Toronto is the only undefeated team remaining in other league.

Keith Mylne hit his first home run of the spring.

WP - Chris Cook (1-0)
LP - Vern Ruhle (0-1)

Spring Record - 5-0

[rpriske]

March 3rd, 1984

The Blue Jays finally drop a game and this one came from poor pitching performances at either end of an 11 inning ever as the Brewers prevailed 7-5.

Bill Krueger was unlikely to win a starting spot and this game showed why but it is also looking like Terry Leach might be losing his grasp on a bullpen spot.

WP - Darryl Jackson (1-0)
LP - Terry Leach (0-1)

Spring Record - 5-1

[rpriske]

March 4th, 1984

Nolan Ryan had a bad start but the Toronto hitters bailed him out... until a Robin Yount error let the Yankees tie it up and a walk-off walk by Jesse Conley gave up the game.

New York win 7-6.

Lee Lacy and Hugo Gonzalez hit home runs.

WP - Jon Montefusco (2-1)
LP - Jesse Conley (1-0)

Spring Record - 5-2

[rpriske]

March 5th, 1984

Steve Carlton had a good start but the bullpen couldn't hold it as the Jays fell to the White Sox 5-4 in 10 innings.

Doug DeCinces left the game late with an oblique strain but it is expected he will just take it easy for a few days.


WP - Floyd Chiffer (1-0)
LP - Dave Rozema (0-1)

Spring Record - 5-3

[rpriske]

March 6th, 1984

An RBI double by Francisco Rosario in the 11th was the catalyst as the Jays beat the Mariners 5-2.

Dave Stieb only gave up two hits in five scoreless innings.

WP - Terry Leach (1-1)
LP - Dave Gumpert (1-1)

Spring Record - 6-3

[rpriske]

TRADE

To RED SOX

Alan Wiggins
Bill Krueger

To BLUE JAYS

Bert Blyleven
Michael Klinger
Dewey Stewart
Aurelio Romero


Followed by...

To BRAVES

Juan Beniquez
Arthur Mendez

To BLUE JAYS

Desiderio Holbeche
Jim Wilson
$375,000


Blyleven joins camp while the rest report to minor league camp.

Joining them there: Terry Leach, Jesse Conley, Juan Reyna

[rpriske]

March 7th, 1984

This high-offense day was capped off by a John Godwin Grand Slam (Part of a 3 for 4, 5 RBI day for him), as the Jays beat the Royals 12-7.

Gary Ward also hit a home run.

WP - Rade Grol (1-0)
LP - Lee Guetterman (0-2)

Spring Record - 7-3

[rpriske]

March 8th, 1984

Spring training is a long way from the ALCS, but it was still good to beat Oakland.

The Jays won 8-4 behind home runs by Hugo Gonzalez and Carney Lansford.

WP - Chris Cook (2-0)
Save - Kuniaki Sakamoto (1)
LP - Bruce Robbins (0-2)

Spring Record - 8-3

[rpriske]

March 9th, 1984

Bert Blyleven made his first appearance in a Blue Jays uniform and he got the job done as Toronto beat Baltimore 6-2.

WP - Bert Blyleven (1-1)
Save - Tom Niedenfuer (1)
LP - Steve Farr (0-1)

Spring Record - 9-3

[rpriske]

March 11th, 1984

Nolan Ryan led the Jays to another Spring win, beating the Red Sox 6-4.

Paul Molitor and Doug DeCinces hit back-to-back homers.

WP - Bob Lacey (1-0)
Save - Rade Grol (1)
LP - Len Whitehouse (0-1)

Spring Record - 10-3

[rpriske]

March 12th, 1984

The Jays may have beaten the Twins 4-1 and Lance Parrish may have hit his second homer of the spring, but the real story is Steve Carlton leaving the game with an unreported injury.

Toronto has built an amazing rotation... but only if they can stay healthy.

WP - Steve Carlton (1-0)
Save - Dave Rozema (2)
LP - Danny Darwin (1-2)

Spring Record - 11-3

[rpriske]

The active career leaders in strikeouts...

Nolan Ryan (TOR), 3782
Steve Carlton (TOR), 3542
Tom Seaver (FA), 3359
Bert Blyleven (TOR), 2889
Jerry Koosman (PHI), 2393

Maybe I should sign Seaver. He is only asking under $200,000...

[rpriske]

March 13th, 1984

Maybe the team is a little stunned about the prospect of losing Carlton because they got thumped today. 11-3 Cleveland.

WP - Chuck Rainey (1-1)
LP - Dave Stieb (1-1)

Spring Record - 11-4

[rpriske]

March 14th, 1984

Joe Niekro and the Jays bounced back, beating the Rangers 3-0.

Doug DeCinces hit his 2nd homer of the spring.

WP - Joe Niekro (2-0)
Save - Ed Vande Berg (1)
LP - Ron Robinson (2-1)

Spring Record - 12-4