Blue Jays Should Be Green

The teams have never met in a series before, but it can be said the Dodgers are 2-0 against the Toronto Blue Jays in recent trades between the clubs.

Right fielder Shawn Green, the centerpiece of a four-player trade with Toronto in November 1999, is the Dodgers’ most productive hitter, while former Dodger right fielder Raul Mondesi continues to put up solid but unspectacular numbers for the Blue Jays.

Green is batting .289 with 20 home runs and 52 runs batted in after a record-setting home run season last year. Mondesi is batting .218 with 14 homers and 41 RBIs, which puts him on pace to equal or surpass his production of the last two seasons.

The other players involved in the trade, pitcher Pedro Borbon, who was sent to Toronto, and infielder Jorge Nunez, who went to the Dodgers, have since been traded to other teams.

Advantage: Dodgers.

The Dodgers also picked up shortstop Cesar Izturis and reliever Paul Quantrill last December in another four-player trade with Toronto.

Izturis, 22, is batting .250 with 17 RBIs and has made only five errors. Quantrill, 0-2 with a 3.82 earned-run average, has been solid in a setup role.

The Blue Jays received pitchers Luke Prokopec and Chad Ricketts, neither of whom has made an impact at the major league level.

Prokopec, who had a solid season with the Dodgers in 2001, is 2-7 with a 5.86 ERA in 12 starts. Ricketts has spent the season with the Syracuse SkyChiefs, Toronto’s triple-A affiliate.

Advantage: Dodgers. “We got a good shortstop, a shortstop you have to think will be around for several years to come if you continue to see him play at the pace, with the focus and the effort that he plays the game everyday,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “He’s something that Los Angeles hasn’t seen on a day in and day out basis for a while.”

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Green, who spent his first five full major league seasons with the Blue Jays, is thrilled to play his former team for the first time.

“I’m excited to see some of my good friends there,” he said. “At the same time, I’m happy the team has changed personnel a lot since I’ve been there. It would be more difficult to play a team filled with guys that I played with. Now there’s just a few.”

Green is especially close to first baseman Carlos Delgado, who was a member of his wedding party. Izturis said he is looking forward to being reunited with pitcher Kelvim Escobar in addition to Delgado and Mondesi.

“They’re the guys who helped me a lot last year,” said Izturis, who hit .269 in 46 games during his rookie season. “It’s going to be great to see them.”

Green said he is disappointed that his former organization has dropped out of contention only 2 1/2 months into the season.

“They’re basically in more of a rebuilding mode,” Green said.

“They dumped a lot of salary. It’s tough to see because in ‘98, ’99 and 2000, the team was so close and was one piece away. Now it’s got a little ways to go to get back to those situations.”

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Tracy said he couldn’t ask for anything more than the Dodgers have given this season. At 41-27, they are 14 games over .500 and trail the Arizona Diamondbacks by one game in the National League West.

The Dodgers’ early play has been especially impressive, Tracy said, considering the questions that hounded the team coming out of spring training. Dave Roberts has proven to be a solid leadoff man, Izturis has provided steady play at shortstop and the starting rotation has survived an injury to Kevin Brown.

Tracy went so far as to say the Dodgers might be able to get by without Brown, who remains sidelined indefinitely by elbow and back problems.

“I’m not taking anything away from Kevin Brown,” Tracy said. “We’re a lot better with him. But, you know what? I felt like the strength of this team coming out of spring training was our pitching staff and the depth of it.

“If you had asked me [whether the Dodgers could get by without Brown] last year, I would have told you no.”

ON DECK

Opponent--Toronto Blue Jays, three games.

Site--Dodger Stadium.

Tonight--7.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2, all three games.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Records--Dodgers 41-27, Toronto 27-39.

Record vs. Blue Jays--First meeting.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

ANDY ASHBY

(6-5, 2.87 ERA)

vs.

TORONTO’S

ROY HALLADAY

(7-3, 3.40 ERA)

Update--Beleaguered Toronto, 16 games behind Boston in the American League East, brings a five-game losing streak to Dodger Stadium after being swept by Montreal in a three-game series over the weekend. The Blue Jays rank near the bottom in the AL in hitting, pitching and fielding. Two bright spots have been Delgado, who has 15 home runs and has drawn 51 walks, and Halladay, who is among AL leaders with a 3.40 earned-run average, 98 innings and 80 strikeouts. Ashby gave up only one run and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings in his last outing as the Dodgers defeated Tampa Bay, 4-2.

Wednesday, 7 p.m.--Kazuhisa Ishii (10-2, 3.61 ERA) vs. Justin Miller (4-3, 5.81 ERA).

Thursday, 7 p.m.--Odalis Perez (7-3, 2.62 ERA) vs. Esteban Loaiza (3-3, 4.75 ERA).

Tickets--(323) 224-1448.