BY SHI DAVIDI
sportsnet.ca
TORONTO – Adam Lind’s back injury will keep him out at least another 10 days and Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell says Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Rivera will share the duties at first base until he returns from his longer than projected absence.
Encarnacion wasn’t in the lineup for Thursday’s contest with the Tampa Bay Rays after a dismal defensive performance a night earlier, when he was charged with two errors and was fortunate to avoid the tab on three other plays.
Farrell said the insertion of Rivera in his place was simply part of the rotation he plans to use with rookie outfielder Eric Thames now on the roster, and had nothing to do with Encarnacion’s performance Wednesday.
Still, Farrell did speak with Encarnacion, who repeatedly threw his head back and slumped his shoulders after his miscues in Wednesday’s 6-5 loss.
Encarnacion has a team-high 10 errors this season.
"He takes his performances and he takes his work personally," said Farrell. "More than anything, it shows he cares. He wasn’t pleased with some of the things that unfolded over the course of the game, those are some of the things we talked about today, and the thing we have to do is continue to encourage and continue to keep putting him in positions where he can have success, whether that’s in the DH spot or at first."
Encarnacion’s errors were among the five the Blue Jays committed, their most since making five in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox on May 21, 2000.
In that game, third basemen Tony Batista made two errors bringing his season total to nine, but he was batting .275 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs at the time, helping negate his poor glove work.
Encarnacion, on the other hand, is finding no respite at the plate with a .244 average, no homers and just nine RBIs, although he does have 12 doubles.
"He recognizes he has gone a long stretch here without a home run and admittedly has tried to overpower the bat and overswing," said Farrell. "He’s always been a guy who’s hit the ball from right-centre to down the left-field line, and when we see foul balls off to the right side of the infield or fly balls to right, he’s overswinging, he’s getting long, the bat is late through the zone."
Rivera played in 13 games at first base last year for the Angels and needs a spot to play with Corey Patterson continuing to see action in left field, sharing duties there with Thames, who will also DH.
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LIND LAYOFF: Adam Lind is working to address the stability and strength of his core while receiving treatment for the inflammation in his lower back at the team’s facilities in Dunedin, Fla., and won’t be ready to be activated from the disabled list when he’s eligible May 23 in New York.
Instead, manager John Farrell revealed it will be a week before he gets into any game action.
"What we anticipate, at least today, is that while he’s in Florida he’ll get some game activity, whether that’s first in extended spring training games and then possibly Florida State League games," said Farrell. "The approach we’re taking now gives him a chance to see live pitching, to answer some of those questions at game-speed (so) that he’s not reluctant to swing the bat."
Farrell said the injury was not caused by one single incident, but rather struck him in "a gradual onset."
The increased core work is meant to compensate for the extra strain playing the field is taking on Lind’s body after he spent the past few seasons primarily at DH.
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WALK THIS WAY: Jose Bautista was walked intentionally for just the third time this season in Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay, but it was Rays manager Joe Maddon’s thought process that caught John Farrell’s attention.
Bautista was walked with two out and one on in a 6-4 game, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Corey Patterson struck out in the previous at-bat, but Maddon said he would have walked Bautista even if the speedy outfielder had reached, just to keep the slugger from beating him.
If other managers follow suit in their thinking, Bautista’s intentional walk count is sure to rise quickly.
"As well as he’s swinging the bat, sometimes you go against the book to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, you go with the matchups and what you see unfolding inside the game," said Farrell.
Maddon’s machinations underline how important having a productive hitter behind Bautista is for the Blue Jays. Adam Lind was that player but with him on the DL, Aaron Hill is the latest hitter inserted into the role.
Without a presence behind Bautista, the Blue Jays can do nothing but watch the slugger get walked.
"I don’t know that we have any other choices, unless we call timeout and do something completely different," Farrell quipped. "The guy in the four-hole is going to find opportunities. We know that and we’ll continue to find the best guy suited for that spot. Right now, it’s Aaron Hill."
