LONG TIME COMIN'
Shaun Marcum isn't big on personal accomplishments, so he wasn't much impressed that he had earned his first pitching victory in 598 days.
"Maybe I'll go grab some sushi later and maybe it'll hit me then," said Marcum after collecting his first win since Sept. 11, 2008.
"Other than that, it was just a game. We won and that's all I'm worried about. Personal wins don't mean a lot to me. Maybe they will four years from now when I go to free agency or whatever. But right now it doesn't mean a whole lot to me."
Manager Cito Gaston was less critical.
"I know he has pitched better but finally we got him some runs, something we haven't done for him. I think we've averaged about two runs a game for him."
BOOMING BATS
The victory was the third in four games against the A's and sends Toronto off on a 10-day road trip to Cleveland, Chicago and Boston back at .500 with 13 wins and 13 losses.
Shortstop Alex Gonzalez helped set the tone for the day, hammering his eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning. In the fourth inning, Fred Lewis and Aaron Hill belted back-to-back long balls to put the game out of reach. The Jays have now hit a major-league-leading 38 homers.
John Buck, with three doubles and Hill with a double and single to go with his homer paced the Toronto attack which featured 13 hits, 10 of them for extra bases. They now lead the majors with 113 extra-base hits.
JUST SAYIN' ...
With the Philadelphia Phillies' primary setup man, Ryan Madson, on the disabled list with a broken toe for perhaps the next two months, the Phils are left without an eighth-inning bridge to closer Brad Lidge in a surprisingly competitive NL East division. With the Jays in possession of a variety of veteran relievers -- Scott Downs, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen or even Kevin Gregg -- could GMs Ruben Amaro and Alex Anthopoulos be able to hook up on another deal involving a Blue Jay pitcher?
UNDER THE WEATHER
Right fielder Travis Snider was a late scratch from yesterday's Blue Jay lineup. Snider left batting practice in the company of trainer George Poulis and was removed from the lineup suffering from "flu-like symptoms." To compensate, Jose Bautista was moved from third base to right field and John McDonald was inserted into Snider's No. 9 spot in the lineup and played third base.
McDonald responded with a RBI triple and a double.
ON DECK
Monday: Blue Jays (Brett Cecil 1-1, 3.55) at Cleveland Indians (Mitch Talbot 3-1, 2.05), 7:05 p.m., Sportsnet
Tuesday: Blue Jays (Ricky Romero 2-1, 2.25) at Cleveland Indians (Jake Westbrook 0-2, 5.53), 7:05 p.m., Sportsnet
Wednesday: Blue Jays (Brandon Morrow 2-2, 5.46) at Cleveland Indians (Fausto Carmona 4-1, 3.05), 7:05 p.m., Sportsnet
Thursday: Blue Jays (Dana Eveland 2-1, 4.76) at Chicago White Sox (John Danks 3-0, 1.85), 8:10 p.m., Sportsnet
