National Post (National Edition)
Donaldson has way of energizing Jays
TORONTO • The Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse was certainly a livelier place during last weekend in Tampa, even factoring in the exhaustion factor from a gruelling eight-games-in-seven-days road trip.
Of course it is often that way when Josh Donaldson is working the room, especially after a prolonged absence.
As manager John Gibbons often says, you always know when the Bringer of Rain is around. Whether it’s pumping up the Tampa Bay Lightning (sorry Leafs fans, Donaldson is a Bolts backer) or just his everyday energy when he’s feeling healthy, the man is a presence.
The most important development, however, is that Donaldson is back in the lineup and ready to help the team he had left for an 18-game hiatus on the disabled list due to shoulder inflammation.
“It’s starting to get a little better, I’m getting there,” Donaldson said of his arm issues after the Jays avoided a sweep to the Rays on Sunday. “Every day I feel like I’m getting more and more into game shape and that’s the main thing.”
Over the course of the five games Donaldson played (two in Cleveland and three in St. Petersburg) since rejoining the team after a rehab stint in Florida, the “dead arm” affliction that dogged him in training camp and the first week of the season would appear to be almost gone.
Back at his hot corner home at third base, Donaldson made a selection of solid defensive plays including one that triggered a slick 5-4-3 double-play on Sunday. He’s been swinging decently at the plate — with homers in each of the doubleheader games in Cleveland.
Donaldson is anxious to get back to peak efficiency on a number of counts. His pending free-agent status is part of it, but last season was the first time in Donaldson’s big-league career that he wasn’t involved in a playoff race.
By this weekend, the season will be one-quarter done and things will have to change if the Jays are to be in the hunt for a post-season spot. The 19-16 record to date flatters them given the struggles of the starting rotation, the absence of Donaldson for half of those games and the void at the DH position.
Looking at the standings doesn’t help either. The Jays are 6 1/2 games behind the AL East leading Red Sox. And then there are the Yankees, who are on a crazy 15-1 run and are just one game behind Boston.
To stay in the same area code as those two or at the least challenge for a wild-card spot, the Jays will need peak Donaldson and a strong supporting cast. That said, Donaldson likes what he’s seen from the team. He appreciates the resiliency they’ve shown, including a ninth-inning win on Sunday after blowing a lead in the bottom of the eighth.
“We grind it out,” said Donaldson, who has five home runs in his limited 67 at bats. “Every game, we’re in it. We do a fairly good job of scoring late in games. We’re doing a good job of that and it’s important to win games regularly.”
POWER OUTAGE
The struggles of Kendrys Morales in the Jays designated hitter spot has turned into a serious liability, one more painful when viewed in light of the daily exploits of Vlad Guerrero Jr. down in double A New Hampshire.
Foundering in an 0-for-22 string at the plate (and 4-for-57) Morales has made the DH slot a dead zone for the offence for much of the season.
The big Cuban has swatted just three homers this season — two in one game in Minneapolis last week — after hitting 28 in 2017, his first season in town as Edwin Encarnacion’s replacement. His batting average is a near-invisible .152.
For the most part, Morales has managed to keep his chin up, even as he chases too many of the steady diet of breaking pitches he’s being fed by opposition pitchers.
“I’ve never lost my confidence, to be honest,” Morales said through interpreter Josue Peley. “I’ve been feeling pretty good. Things just haven’t been going the I way I want, but the confidence has always been there.”
As for any imminent threat of Guerrero being promoted, best to be exhaling on that. Even though he’s destroying Double-A pitching for the Fisher Cats and is in the shadow of hitting .400, Guerrero’s next stop will be Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo rather than the Rogers Centre.