Goal Oriented : Toronto’s Green Strives for Playoffs, Above-.300 Average

Shawn Green, the Toronto Blue Jays’ all-star right fielder, would be pleased to play baseball no matter what situation his team faced; he enjoys the game that much. It doesn’t hurt, though, to have a carrot dangling in front of him:

The postseason.

The Angels, who begin a three-game series with Toronto tonight at Edison Field, must manufacture motivation as they plod to the season’s conclusion. The Blue Jays don’t have that problem.

Toronto, third in the American League East, has little hope of catching the Yankees for the division title. But the Blue Jays are two games behind Boston and Oakland for the AL wild-card berth.

“Last year was the first year we were in a [wild-card] race,” Green said before a game in Oakland last weekend. “We got ourselves in it about mid-August. And we came up short to Boston.

“But I think last year’s experience helped a lot of the younger players having to go through a race. Hopefully that will get us to the next level this year.”

If the Blue Jays are to be a first-round October opponent for Cleveland or Texas (the wild-card entry cannot play the winner of its division in the first round), Green, 26, will be a key reason.

Numbers Game

Green, a former Tustin High standout who made his major league debut in 1994, made the American League All-Star team this season for the first time. He is tied for fourth in the AL with 33 home runs and is fifth with 103 RBIs. Batting third in the lineup, he is hitting .316, the first time he has been over .300 this late in the season. Batting .300 was the biggest personal goal he set for himself in 1999.

“That’s the one thing I haven’t done and have always wanted to do,” Green said. “I was far up there early in the year but now I’m hanging on. But it would be a great accomplishment.”

Helping Toronto reach the playoffs would be a greater accomplishment, Green said.

The Blue Jays haven’t been in a postseason game since their 1993 World Series championship. And Green and his teammates would love to tweak the prognosticators who said Toronto, following the trade of right-hander Roger Clemens to the Yankees and the season-ending shoulder injury to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, would be hard-pressed to equal the 88 victories of last season.

“I think our team is actually better than it was last year,” Green said. “We have a more complete team. Billy Koch came in as a rookie and gave us a dominant closer, that was something we lacked. In the trade with New York, we not only got David Wells--who’s having as good a season, if not better than Clemens--we also got [reliever] Graeme Lloyd and [second baseman] Homer Bush. Bush (.327) is probably the sleeper of the whole trade.”

Green’s big season was briefly detoured when he suffered a broken bone in his wrist when struck by a pitch from Yankee left-hander Andy Pettitte on May 28. He first thought he might miss four to six weeks, but was out only two weeks before he started throwing.

“We did try to rush him back a little and we ended up having to give him a little more time,” Manager Jim Fregosi said. “But he played with it sore for, I’d say, a week to 10 days. Then after that he got back into a groove.”

It’s understandable that Fregosi wanted Green back as soon as possible. The Blue Jays, a streaky team much of the year, went 3-8 in the games Green missed because of the injury.

Green’s success is no surprise to those who watched him play at Tustin High. By the time he graduated in 1991, he’d established a county and Southern Section record with 147 career hits.

Toronto made Green its first pick (16th overall) in the 1991 draft and, following summer-long negotiations, Green turned down a Stanford scholarship a day before classes started to accept the Blue Jays’ $1.45-million offer.

After spending three years in the minors, Green joined the Blue Jays for good in 1995. Then-Manager Cito Gaston, who didn’t like to use young players unless absolutely necessary, kept Green in a platoon role. When Tim Johnson became manager last year, he made Green the everyday right fielder.

Green blossomed, hitting 35 home runs, driving in 100 runs and batting .278 in 158 games. He also had 35 steals, making him the first 30-30 player in Toronto history and the ninth American Leaguer to reach that level.

Fregosi, who replaced Johnson during spring training, will tell anybody who’ll listen that Green is a complete player whose defense nearly matches his offense. And that he and first baseman Carlos Delgado--who has 35 home runs and 114 RBIs to go with his .270 average--are as good a one-two punch at the plate as there is in baseball.

“If they weren’t on the same team, they’d be in the running for the league MVP,” Fregosi said. “From what I see, the kid from Texas [Ivan Rodriguez] is supposed to be the MVP. But Shawn and Carlos will be right up there in the voting. They’ll both probably hit 40 home runs and drive in 120 runs. What more can you ask?”

In right field, Green’s powerful left arm--he had 14 assists in 1998--has convinced opponents not to take liberties on the base paths. Green also has enough speed to run down most fly balls hit his way.

First base coach Lloyd Moseby, who had a 188-game errorless streak as a Toronto outfielder in the 1980s, said Green has the talent to earn a Gold Glove.

“He has the ability to be one of the best right fielders in the game,” Moseby said. “But today’s game is geared on offense, so he spends a lot of time trying to improve that. His arm is one of the best in baseball now. It’s a matter of getting his footwork down. But I guarantee in another year or so he will be one of the best outfielders in baseball. He just has to put in the time.”

Green said he came into this season with high expectations because he knew, based on his 1998 season, that others would have them, too. And despite losing some games because of injury, he said his expectations are being met.

“I’m real happy with how the year has unfolded,” Green said. “After having the breakthrough season last year you don’t know what to expect. But I had a lot of confidence coming in.

“With the lineup we have--the speed in front of me and other guys like Delgado and Tony Fernandez behind me--it makes my job easier.”

Special Connection

The year has been interesting for Green in other ways. He has been the subject of several magazine and newspaper articles focusing on his status as one of the few Jewish athletes playing in major professional sports. Although Green has grown tired of talking about his faith in relation to baseball, he said he understands people will continue to ask questions.

“I don’t think there have been too many Jewish [professional] athletes in the recent past in any sports,” Green said. “There are a lot of Jewish baseball fans out there and to get a chance to follow a Jewish player is something a lot of people in the U.S.A. and Canada felt gives them a certain bond with me.

“It’s a great feeling for me. When I was a kid I’d watch games, and if I heard a player or an announcer was Jewish I felt a little closer to that person.”