Vernon

Wells

Wells did take batting practice before last night’s game, but the Blue Jays are not saying if he will play tonight.

He had been the Blue Jay DH the past three games. Wells, who seems to have recovered from the injury, should be active on all fantasy baseball rosters.

''That represents about a 40 percent increase on the payroll in the past year,’' he said. Obviously, the Jays won’t be adding stars left and right. However, they should remain players in free agency in the future.

In the past, a player who showed up at camp looking noticeably slimmer than the year before would receive a nice article about himself in the local paper. In 2004, however, it’s accusations of steroid use that he’ll face instead. “I’ve never ever seen a steroid,” Wells said when asked. “I’ve never taken a steroid.” Blue Jays hitting coach Mike Barnett backed him up. “From a physical standpoint, he’s leaner,” Barnett said. “He has lost weight around his middle. To me, his upper body and his legs are the same size as a year ago.”

This is a huge blow to Toronto’s struggling offense. Without their two best hitters (Carlos Delgado remains out of action with an oblique muscle strain) the Jays batted the mighty Frank Menechino third against the Giants last night. No wonder they scored only two runs.

It was a solid run while it lasted.

Reed Johnson started in center. Wells is day-to-day.

Wells didn’t play Saturday because of flu-like symptoms.

Wells isn’t hurt. Manager Carlos Tosca doesn’t believe in giving much rest to his best players, but he might schedule a couple of more off days for Wells in the second half.

All those home runs last night wore him out. “I did something to my shoulder,” Wells told Sportsnet. “I can’t really figure out when I aggravated it. It’s definitely got some pain in it and hopefully it will be better after tonight. Then we got an off-day tomorrow (Thursday) and hopefully I’ll be back in the lineup on Friday.” The Jays have Alex Rios in center and Eric Hinske in right field tonight.