Toronto's Wells digs deeper

TORONTO -- Johnny Damon is due back in Boston in eight days, and the folks planning the actual Second Coming can only wish they'll get the same advance buzz.

The congregation of believers in Coco Crisp, meanwhile, awaits its hero's return from a fractured knuckle, already convinced by Crisp's early showing that Theo Epstein's bloodless, bottom-line decision to let Damon walk is a boon for the Red Sox, even if sales of Coolatas at Dunkin' Donuts have taken a hit.

But for anyone paying attention in these first three weeks, there is mounting evidence that the best center fielder in the American League in 2006 resides neither in Boston nor New York but in Toronto, where Vernon Wells appears bent on delivering on the enormous promise he showed three years ago.

Wells had three hits against the Sox in yesterday's 8-1 Blue Jays laugher, after hitting two home runs Friday night. In five games against the Sox this season, four of them Toronto wins, Wells is batting .417 (10 for 24) with 4 home runs and 11 RBIs. Overall this season, he's hitting .397, and already has a four-hit game, three three-hit games, two two-homer games, and a four-RBI game. That's a lot of noise being generated by one bat. Not to mention from a notoriously slow starter who brought a .191 April average into this season.

''That was my goal in the offseason, just to basically come out and prove myself again, that my best years aren't behind me," said the 27-year-old Wells, who should be entering the prime of a career that got off to a sensational start in 2003, his second full season in the big leagues, when he led the majors with 215 hits, was fourth in the AL in batting with a .317 average, hit 33 home runs, and knocked in 117 runs, all at the age of 24.

But after two straight disappointing seasons in which his numbers fell off drastically, Wells said he had an epiphany of sorts.

''I think I allowed myself to get comfortable after the '03 season," he said yesterday, wearing a T-shirt that bore the word ''Evolution" on the front, as good a description of what might be happening underneath as anything else. ''I thought that the game was just going to come to me, instead of having to go out and work harder.

''It's something that hit me hard at the end of last year. I was sitting in my chair in the clubhouse at the end of the last game, thinking I basically wasted two years. It's frustrating. My job was to go out and do what I could to be ready for this year."

The change was noticeable, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said, almost from the day Wells reported to camp this spring.

''We've tried to tell him how good he can be if he maximizes his ability, doesn't give at-bats away, treats every game like it's important," Ricciardi said. ''Maybe he realized that, when he sat down and him saying, 'I can do better than this.' His attitude in spring training -- I just told him now -- he came in very determined. He decided he was going to play hard and not let anything bother him. He's been great, absolutely great."

Wells is the son of ''V." Wells, who started out as Vernon Wells, a wide receiver good enough to go to camp with the Kansas City Chiefs, but shortened his name after launching a successful career as a sports artist in Arlington, Texas, where his son was all-state in baseball and football. He has been far from a bust the last two seasons, winning a Gold Glove each year and performing well enough overall to be invited to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He made the last out when the US was eliminated by Mexico, but still termed it an experience he'll never forget.

But it's one thing to rub shoulders on a one-time basis with A-Rod and Junior Griffey and Derek Jeter and Derrek Lee. It's another to prove you permanently belong in that company.

''Honestly, I think it's up to him, I really do," said Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, who was an easy winner yesterday and already has achieved that exalted status. ''He's one of those guys who could do whatever he wants to do in the game of baseball. I think he's going to be around for a long time. If he keeps going the way he is now, working the way he is now, there's a lot there for a long time, I think."

A big change for Wells, Halladay said, is that he no longer has to carry the Jays' offense, not with Ricciardi adding veterans such as slugger Troy Glaus, catcher Bengie Molina, and line drive-hitting Lyle Overbay to the mix.

''The biggest thing," Ricciardi said, ''is we've got guys in this clubhouse now for whom winning is the most important thing. That's not taking anything from anybody who was here before, but we have guys now who will speak up to other guys, who will say things like, 'Hey, you didn't get that guy over.'

''This group is maturing a lot. I think Glaus has helped us a ton, Molina has helped us a ton, Overbay has helped us a lot. Doc [Halladay] is a big leader on the staff. We have underrated veteran guys in the bullpen, like [Scott] Schoeneweis, [Justin] Speier, [Pete] Walker. It's just a good group.

''Vernon's really grown up a lot. He's grown up as a person and as a player. That doesn't mean he was immature, but for him, being in the big leagues and winning is more important than ever."

If he keeps this up, the Yankees and Sox just may have company at the top of the AL East.

''From top to bottom, we have a chance to score runs," Wells said. ''Everyone can swing the bat. As long as we can keep the injury bug away in our starting rotation, we've got a chance.

''If we continue to do this, we can make it a fun race in September."