JAYS-DODGERS: JOHN McDONALD LIVES FREE, AND EVERYWHERE HE IS IN STATISTICAL CHAINS

Sunday, Jays 11, Dodgers 5: Shortstop John McDonald's great weekend will likely spark some debate about making him the everyday shortstop and cancelling the remaining tour dates for The Royce Clayton Experience.

McDonald (pictured), who gives off that underdog, he's-just-folks vibe that plays well in Toronto (witness ex-Raptor Matt Bonner and too many Leafs third-line forwards to name) since it's a nice diversion from the lack of post-1993 championship parades for teams in major pro sports, is hitting an even .300 after today's laugher. He was on base four times out of five times up with two runs scored and two RBI in today's laugher, a nice follow-up effort after being the fielding star in Saturday's 1-0 squeaker. He has a better hitting line than Royce Clayton, although that's not saying much.

McDonald: .300/.324/.410 in 100 at-bats
Clayton: .244/.294/.344 in 131 at-bats

Before this weekend, Hardball Times rated McDonald as the more effective of the two. However, there's no history of 32-year-old career backups with McDonald's kind of numbers suddenly figuring out how to hit well enough to hold down an everyday job. It just doesn't happen -- most guys with the kind of numbers McDonald has typically produced aren't even in the majors by the time they blow out 16 candles times two, let alone being looked at as a starter.
Is there some inexorable truth in those statistical chains or is just a self-fulfilling prophesy by front-office types who say, "John McDonald can't hit well enough to play every day" and then never let him get a chance to prove otherwise? It's probably the former. Does anyone really believe McDonald could ever be a league-average hitter, even for a shortstop? The Jays should stick to splitting the starts about 60-40 between Clayton and McDonald and pinch-hit for each player in late-inning situations.

As for the game, Troy Glaus had two homers, including one that knocked out Jason Schmidt in the fifthi inning. Schmidt, like Roy Halladay vs. the Rays last week, had nothing on his pitches in his second start since coming off the DL. It's commonplace to see a pitcher come back with flying colours in his first start back, but how often does he get jocked in his second start?
Doc, meantime, had one three-inning stretch where he got nine outs on only 24 pitches. He even had two hits (first Jays pitcher to do so since David Cone in the '92 Series), which temporarily defeats writing a post about how National League rules are bad for the Jays (33-55 all-time in interleague away games).

Last but not least: Last Sept. 19 (you'd have to pay for the content, but trust us, it's there), L.A. Times baseball writer Bill Shaikin suggested the Dodgers were going to take a hit at the box office since since they were to get the Jays in for an interleague series instead of the Red Sox and Yankees. The Dodgers drew at least 50,000 fans for each game, which is probably close to what they would have had for the Evil Empires. This again suggests that there's little cause-and-effect between interleague and higher attendance.

Saturday -- Jays 1, Dodgers 0: What was that after Friday's game about entrusting Scott Downs and Casey Janssen to protect a slim lead? Janssen might even be available for Sunday's game after throwing a 26-pitch, two-inning save.

Shaun Marcum coming back with six-plus shutout innings, yes, we'll take that.The hitting is what is it is considering the Jays' inauspicious history with the Dodgers' Derek Lowe, who threw a complete-game four-hitter and was beaten by Matt Stairs' second dinger in as many games.

Friday -- Dodgers 4, Jays 3 (10 innings): Jeremy Accardo should not be blamed for spoiling a hard-earned win, even though he blew the save by walking rookie Tony Abreu before coughing up a game-winning, two-run homer to pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz.

Not to sound know-it-allish, but when the Jays got the lead in the top of the 10th on a John McDonald two-out bloop double and a scratch single by Gregg Zaun (welcome back, by the way), the assumption was that Downs and/or Janssen would come in to protect the one-run lead. Accardo threw 30 pitches -- a lot for a one-inning closer who throws mostly fastballs -- in Thursday's game vs. the Rays, so a one-run lead wasn't all that safe. Downs could have come in to turn around the switch-hitting Abreu (who's less dangerous vs. left-handers) and Janssen could have come in. Instead, John Gibbons fell back on his dance-with-the-one-that-brung-ya Texas wisdom, and Rudy Seanez ended up with a cheap W.

(Here's a walk-off that was much more enjoyable to watch, although we're not so mad that we would wish anyone get killed in a freak gasoline fight accident.)




In fairness, this is another game the Jays win with remotely competent and patient hitting. Six shutout innings from Dustin McGowan (two runs over seven after giving up a homer to Luis Gonzalez in his final inning) should be enough to win.

In case you're wondering, Hardball Times does see Aaron Hill as the best second baseman in the American League, so Rance Mulliniks isn't whistling past the graveyard when he talks about him being a Gold Glove candidate. Hill's main competition is the A's Mark Ellis, whose OPS is about 115 points lower, so Aaron could secure the Gold Glove with his bat.

Did you see when Brad Penny hit a grounder to first base in the sixth inning and didn't even make a pretense of running it out? Yes, National League baseball without the DH is so much more exciting.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.