Toronto Blue Jays Vernon Wells heads toward home plate after hitting his second home run of the game against the Texas Rangers in the ninth inning of their MLB baseball game in Arlington, Texas, April 7, 2010. REUTERS/Tim SharpTIM SHARP/Reuters
With his body finally sound and his mind obviously at ease Vernon Wells has been able to respond with the bat as the Toronto Blue Jays could only hope during the infancy of the 2010 Major League Baseball season.
Through two games of the regular season Wells has already clubbed three home runs - two more coming on Wednesday night that helped propel the Blue Jays into the win column for the first time this year with a sloppy 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.
"So far so good," said Wells in typical understated fashion about his fast start at the plate. "The great thing about this game, you've got to come out again and do it tomorrow."
Newly acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez also stroked a home run for the Blue Jays, who were able to take advantage of some shoddy Texas pitching, including a shaky start by Victoria, B.C., native Rich Harden.
An off-season free-agent acquisition by the Rangers, Harden struck out eight over the 3.2-innings he worked but also walked a total of five Toronto batters and hit another with a pitch.
Two of Harden's walks occurred with the bases loaded in the Toronto fourth that forced in two of the Blue Jays runs.
Toronto scored all of their runs off just five hits as Ranger pitchers combined for a total of 10 walks
Brian Tallet got the win for Toronto, surrendering four runs (two earned) over 6.2-innings of work while striking out eight.
Two of the hits he gave up were back to back solo home run shots by Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz in the fourth inning that knotted the score at 3-3. But after that the rangy left hander gathered himself to set down the next eight Ranger hitters.
"It's one of those things, it's a moment of reckoning," Tallet said of his rough patch. "And you can fold and let things slip away or you buckle down and figure out a way to get them out and get deep into the game."
Jason Frasor, who was charged with both a blown save and the loss in Monday's game when he gave up two runs in the ninth in a 5-4 walk-off Texas win, redeemed himself by recording the save on Wednesday.
But the early season story for the Blue Jays continues to be the resurgence of Wells at the plate.
In Monday's season opener, Wells went 3-for-4 with a home run while driving in three.
On Wednesday, Wells had two hits in three official at-bats, his first a two-run blast to left field in the fifth inning that moved Toronto in front 5-3.
His second of the night was also a homer in the ninth inning, a solo shot also to left that concluded the Toronto scoring.
"I guess you could call it Vernon Wells night tonight along with Tallet, who pitched great," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said.
Wells now has three home runs and six runs driven in over the two Toronto games. Last season Wells stroked just 16 home runs and didn't record his third until the 17th game of the season.
"It's tremendous," Tallet said of Wells' performance so far. "We need to lean on him. He's our big pay guy and he's been hurt the last couple of years and hopefully he's healthy this year and continues his hot streak."
Wells has endured three lackluster seasons ever since he signed a huge 7-year, $126-million (U.S.) contract extension after a monster season in 2006.
He has struggled through a series of injuries, most recently to his left wrist which required surgery following last season to repair some cartilage damage.
Wells, who has been subjected to more than his share of rough treatment by the home town fans in Toronto for his inconsistent play, said it is a good way to start the season.
"It's better than not getting hits," he said with a smirk.
Wells said he has been diligently working on his swing with hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, who tweaked his mechanics just toward the end of spring training.
"He just pulled me aside and said let's go to the cage, I want to try something," Wells said. "Our relationship is, when he tells you something we go and work on it and take as many swings as possible until I can't swing the bat anymore and start over again the next day."
Wells said he is now concentrating on cocking his hands a bit further back and shifting his weight to his back foot so he can deliver a faster, more powerful swing.
So far he is happy with the results.