Expectations were high for the Blue Jays for the 1994 season, following back-to-back championships, but they slumped to a 55–60 record and a third-place finish (16 games back of the New York Yankees) before the players' strike. It was their first losing season since 1982. Joe Carter, Paul Molitor and John Olerud enjoyed good years at the plate, but the pitching fell off. Juan Guzmán slumped considerably from his first three years (40–11, 3.28 ERA), finishing 1994 at 12–11 with a 5.68 ERA. Three young players, Alex Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green, did show much promise for the future. At the time of the strike, their fellow Canadian cousins, the Montreal Expos, had the best record in the majors, leading some to consider the possibility of a Canadian three-peat in 1994. On October 31, 1994, Gillick, the longtime Blue Jays general manager, resigned and handed the reins of the team to assistant general manager and Toronto native Gord Ash, who would lead the team in its most tumultuous era yet. Team record 1994: 55 wins–60 losses, W%- 0.478, 16 games behind division leader 1995–2001: The Gord Ash era 1995–2000 In their 1995 season, the Blue Jays showed they had lost their contending swagger of the past 12 years. Although they had most of the World Series teams cast, the Jays dropped dramatically to a dismal 56–88 record, placing last in the AL East, 30 games behind the Boston Red Sox. That year, team owner Labatt Breweries was bought by Belgian-based brewer Interbrew, making the Blue Jays the second major league team owned by interests outside of North America, after their expansion cousins, the Seattle Mariners (then owned by Nintendo). 1996 was another mediocre year for the Jays, despite Pat Hentgen's Cy Young Award (20–10, 3.22 ERA). Ed Sprague had a career year, hitting 36 home runs and driving in 101 runs. And the team's 74 wins did put them in fourth place, improving over 1995's last-place finish. The Blue Jays started their 1997 season with high hopes. Not only did they radically change their uniforms, the team signed former Boston Red Sox ace Roger Clemens to a $24.75 million contract. Clemens had one of the best pitching seasons ever, winning the pitcher's Triple Crown and leading the AL with a record of 21–7, a 2.05 ERA, and 292 strikeouts. This was not enough to lead the Jays to the