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Jose Bautista hits a two run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the third inning Friday night.Dan Hamilton

His wise words may be the reason the Toronto Blue Jays keep Paul Beeston around.

The team is struggling, off to one of its worst starts in years, and everybody from manager John Gibbons to the players – even the clubhouse attendants – are walking around with that "my dog just got run over" expression.

Trust Beeston, the retired executive gatekeeper from the franchise's glory days, who still carries around a President Emeritus title, to weigh in with some calming words of wisdom.

The way Gibbons recounts the story, Beeston recently dropped in on him with the aim to lift the manager's deflated spirits.

The wizened baseball lifer hearkened back to the start of the 1989 season when things were equally dreary, when the Blue Jays were off to a 12-24 start with manager Jimy Williams directing traffic.

The Blue Jays, who have played in the American League Championship Series the past two years, have experienced a similar slide to begin the 2017 campaign. Heading into Friday night's game against the Seattle Mariners the Blue Jays had won just 14 of their first 35 games.

Beeston pointed out to Gibbons that the Blue Jays rebounded after that abhorrent start in '89 to win the AL East by two games, playing .611 ball the rest of the way to finish with a record of 89-73.

"The only problem," Beeston was so kind to point out to Gibbons at the end of his tale, "we had to fire Jimy Williams."

Cito Gaston called the shots during the stirring comeback, hired after Williams was dismissed after the opening 36-game debacle. "Thanks Beest," Gibbons said he told the former president and chief executive officer at the conclusion of the pep talk.

It is unlikely the same fate awaits Gibbons – at least this season, anyway.

It was just back in March during spring training that Gibbons was rewarded with a contract extension for two more seasons, plus a club option for 2020.

The manager can hardly be blamed for the team's tepid start with a roster chock-full of Triple-A wannabes thanks to a horrific array of injuries to key regulars, including Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki.

And who knows, depleted lineup and all, things just might be turning around for this 2017 outfit.

With Joe Biagini making his second start, after injuries to 3/5 of the starting staff meant he had to relinquish his secure role in the bullpen, the Blue Jays responded with a 4-0 win over the Mariners at Rogers Centre.

The win was Toronto's third in a row – a season high – and the team has now won five of its past six to improve to 15-21.

That's just six games under the .500 level, a far sight better than the 11 games under the break-even mark, where the Blue Jays were April 28.

And don't look now but Jose Bautista, who has struggled mightily at the plate, appears to be finally hitting his stride, cranking his second home run in three games to pace the attack.

All eyes on the start of the game were on Biagini, the whimsical right-hander who turned more than a few heads in his first major-league start on Sunday with a solid outing against Tampa Bay in a four-inning, one-run, 52-pitch, two-hit effort.

Biagini was credited with a no-decision in a 2-1 Toronto victory.

Friday night, as he made his way to the mound to begin warming up, his "walk-out" song, One by Three Dog Night, blasted over the public-address system.

Biagini was anything but lonely in the early going with teammate Justin Smoak making a nice stab of a line drive off by Ben Gamel down at first base in the first inning to lend a helping hand.

Biagini retired the side in order over the first two innings and pitched a solid five-plus, holding the Mariners off the scoreboard with just four hits during his 68-pitch performance. He earned his first major-league-starting victory.

He turned the game over to the bullpen in the sixth inning with Toronto leading 3-0.

The Blue Jays offence got rolling in the second inning when Devon Travis stroked his first of two sacrifice flies, this one scoring Steve Pearce from third base.

Then it was Bautista who added some ballast in the third, smoking a line drive off Seattle starter Christian Bergman that careened off the left-field foul pole for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season.

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