"He could probably run for mayor of Toronto," the Toronto Blue Jays' manager said the other day about his shortstop. "I get guys in the stands yelling at me about playing him."

Gaston would love to play McDonald more except for one thing. When it comes to hitting, McDonald and the bat have always been estranged, his 10-year Major League Baseball career a testament to his adept fielding ability more than anything else.

McDonald knows it and realizes that even at 34 and heading into his contract season, it is never too late to try to improve on a career batting average resting at .238. He hit only .210 last season.

"I want to have a job next year," said McDonald, who is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $3.8-million (U.S.). "I don't look at numbers as much as other people might. I need to do things right with the bat. I need to get bunts down, I need to get runners over, and I need to catch the ball.

"I need to keep doing the things that have made me successful to this point, and keep working on my hitting. That's a never-ending struggle to keep continuing to become a better hitter."

Mixing in hits wouldn't hurt either, and they're slowly starting to come for McDonald in Florida, where spring training is in its final week.

McDonald went 0-for-3 last night against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the game, Jays left-handed starter Brad Mills did not do himself any favours trying to secure the fifth and final spot in the rotation, getting torched for seven runs (five earned) off 10 hits through 5 1/3-innings of work during a 9-1 Philadelphia win.

Jays rookie Travis Snider hit a home run, his fourth of the spring.

McDonald, who has five hits in his last 17 at-bats

will start the season in a familiar spot, as the backup shortstop to Marco Scutaro, who does not have as much range defensively but wields a slightly better bat.

McDonald, a right-handed hitter, will be used as a defensive substitution and as a spot starter.

For most of his career, the slightly built McDonald - 5 foot 10, 177 pounds - has been encouraged to try to hit the ball to the opposite field in right.

The belief is McDonald is susceptible to the outside pitch because he is not strong enough to pull the ball to the left side of the field. It would be easier for him to try to guide the ball through the right side, or so the reasoning went.

When Gaston took over for the fired John Gibbons in June last year, both he and new hitting coach Gene Tenace advocated a different approach for McDonald.

The first thing McDonald needs to do consistently, according to Tenace, is to relax more in the batting box.

"When John gets in there, he gets really tense," Tenace said. "It's kind of human nature. He wants to compete, he wants to do well. He just needs to find a way to relax a little bit more and let his ability come out."

The Jays would also like to see McDonald try not to focus so much on hitting the ball to the right side all the time and use the entire field.

"I'd like to see him hit the ball where it's pitched," Tenace said. "But he seems to be better when he does try to pull the ball. I think the reason why he's had trouble going the other way is because he gets more tense when he tries to do that."