Music: {allcanada} Show stopper

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BOSTON - Still just a pup at 23, Travis Snider has already endured several stops and starts to his big-league career.

This season, and in each of the two before it, he broke camp with the Toronto Blue Jays only to find himself back in the minors soon after, eventually coming back full of hope that a corner had been turned in his development.

Returning to The Show on Monday afternoon with a career-high three doubles in a 9-7 win over the Boston Red Sox, having spent two months in triple-A Las Vegas reconstructing his swing with 51s hitting coach Chad Mottola, Snider believes this time is going to be different.

"I would never have wished this happen in my career where you have some periods of success and then some periods of failure," he said during a mid-morning chat with reporters in the visitor's dugout at Fenway Park. "I think to be consistent at this level is the most important thing in the sense you're helping your team win ballgames day in and day out.

"You're going to have some times where it doesn't feel right but I feel confident now with the routine that I've established and the mechanics that I've come to learn, understand and re-learn over the past couple of months. It's something that's going to benefit me moving forward."

The Blue Jays (42-44) got a first-hand reminder of the difference Snider can make in their lineup Monday, as he doubled and scored on a John McDonald single in the second to make it 3-0, and then ripped a two-run double in the third to make it 7-0 against John Lackey and the Red Sox (49-35) before a stunned Independence Day crowd of 38,072.

It was a glimpse of the player he's been projected to be ever since being taken 14th overall in the 2006 draft.

"The swings he took, he got to some good velocity," said a pleased manager John Farrell. "It's good to see him back in a position where he was previous, really giving himself a chance to use the whole field and take what the pitcher is giving him."

Snider finished 3-for-5, the first double going to left-centre on a fastball, to second down the right-field line on a breaking ball, the third a cutter hooked to right.

"I like what I felt at the plate in my first three at-bats," he said.

The main thing preventing him from reaching his potential in the past has been a self-described "glaring problem" in his swing that left him pulling off the ball, creating holes in his plate coverage.

Toward the end of last season and early this year, he stood more square to the pitcher in the batter's box before opening up to swing. That led to what Farrell described as a bat path that "was in and out of the strike zone, almost a dead pull approach."

"It was basically making 91, 92 (m.p.h. fastballs) look almost 95, 96," said Farrell. "So he was getting beat on a lot of fastballs and wasn't covering the breaking ball away."

As he struggled in April, the Blue Jays decided he needed to make fundamental changes to his swing and after 25 games, he was sent to Las Vegas to make them.

Going down with a positive attitude - "In 2009 where I did feel sorry for myself and that is not the attitude that makes for an enjoyable lifestyle," he said - Snider and Mottola immediately went to work on adjusting things in his stance and with his hands.

Sportsnet.ca Video: Snider talks new approach

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It took a long time for progress to come.

"Me and Chad would joke that if someone would have told me I would have been there for two months, I probably would have tried to fight him," Snider said with a grin.

Eventually they settled on a stance similar to the one he began 2010 with, standing slightly open before closing to a position more square with the pitcher. Right away he started hitting the ball with more authority and even after he missed nearly two weeks with a concussion, the changes held.

That's when the Blue Jays knew he was ready to return.

"It's a matter of getting in a good power position before I start my swing and when I'm swinging it's more with my hands and allowing me to get the head of the bat to the baseball more consistently than taking a swing that's typically on one plane and not being able to cover more of the strike zone," said Snider.

"I'm starting open to create the rhythm to get square. … I don't think the stance is much different than what I've done from periods in the past, but it's definitely a different result once I get to that position and the hands start to move. That's where I feel more comfortable with what I've been working on."

Now that he's back, and with the addition of fellow outfielder Eric Thames last week, the Blue Jays are beginning to look more like the team they are striving to become.

Snider, however, must first prove that he's ready to stick this time.

"Sometimes the timelines or the arrival dates don't always match your initial plan," said Farrell. "I think any time you can infuse the youthful talent, and Brett Lawrie is soon to arrive as well whenever that date comes … the injection of that energy and athleticism, that's what you build for.

"At the same time those talents allow you to have a more diverse approach and (Sunday) was a little bit of a glimpse where you've got the ability to steal some bases, you've got some power built into the lineup, that's all part of what I would consider a vision for this team."

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MORROW REBOUNDS: Thumped by the Red Sox for a career-high nine runs and 10 hits when he last faced them June 11, Brandon Morrow (5-4) rebounded with a much better performance.

He allowed four runs in five-plus innings of work, all the damage coming in a messy fifth. To that point he had been in total control on a miserably muggy afternoon, striking out five.

Over his past four starts, Morrow has allowed eight runs in 25.2 innings, going 3-0 over that span to push his record over the .500 mark for the first time this year.

The Blue Jays were swept by the Red Sox in their last series when Morrow was thumped, outscored by a combined 35-6 score.

This game went the other way, as seven of the nine Toronto starters scored at least once.

Jason Frasor allowed three runs in the eighth to make it a 9-7 game but Frank Francisco closed things out for his 10th save.

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ESCOBAR ON MEND: Shortstop Yunel Escobar, hit in the left hand Friday night, is getting better and did some early work under the watchful eyes of coach Luis Rivera and trainer George Poulis, but still missed his third straight game.

"He's improved, took some swings off the tee, he's not going to hit live (Monday), that will hopefully be the case tomorrow as a successive progression, and then projecting that, he'll be in the lineup on Wednesday," said manager John Farrell. "Everything is moving in the right direction."

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MINING LATIN AMERICA: The Blue Jays signed a pair of international free agents Monday, handing a reported US$1.3 million to Dominican shortstop Dawel Lugo, and an undisclosed sum to another 16-year-old, Nicaraguan right-hander Osman Gutierrez.

Both Lugo, 6-1, 180 pounds, and Gutierrez, 6-4, 200 pounds, will begin play with the Blue Jays' Dominican Summer League team.

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NOTES: Blue Jays prospect Brett Lawrie said in a Twitter post that he hit off a tee Monday, an important milestone in his recovery from a broken left hand. He had been having trouble holding a bat two weeks ago. … A power outage Sunday postponed Jesse Litsch's scheduled rehab start at triple-A Las Vegas to Monday. Jays manager John Farrell said the current plan is for Litsch to make another start with Vegas on Saturday before the all-star break. … Rajai Davis batted in the leadoff spot for the first time since a 7-3 win over the Yankees on May 23. He opened the game with a double, stole third and scored when Kevin Youkilis couldn't come up with the throw. … In Snider's previous 87 big-league at-bats this season, he had just four doubles.