Game Thread for Spring Game Jays and Reds

Happy Sunday everyone, or beware the Ides of March....one or the other. Jays play the Reds today and the game is on Gameday Audio if you want to listen in and join us in the thread. I keep hoping Sportsnet will show us the odd spring game, maybe after the WBC is over. Speaking of which....

The USA team got mercied by Puerto Rico last night. I'm sure when they put the mercy rule in they didn't expect the US to be the victim of it. Jake Peavey did not look good and hasn't looked good at all in the tournament. If I was the Padres I'd be worried and/or wishing I had pulled the trigger on a trade this winter. Alex Rios went 0 for 3 but drove in a run with a sac fly. Tonight the US plays the Netherlands, the loser is out of the tournament. Shouldn't be a problem for the US, Holland used their best pitcher yesterday, Sidney Ponson, and aren't exactly deep, but they have been playing good baseball. That one is on Sportsnet at 7:30 Eastern.

In Jay news, there is a story on MLB.com saying that Cito figures to cut down the candidates for the starting rotation in the next week. He said good things about Casey Janssen and mentioned that Scott Richmond is a bit behind because of the WBC. He also said that Clement could start the season in the minors to give him more time to rebah the arm. But what caught my eye was:

If the Blue Jays decide to hand one of the jobs to one of the club's prospects, Mills would probably be the top choice at the moment. Not only did Mills log more innings than Cecil in the Minors last spring, likely giving him a higher innings limit this year, but the left-hander has out-performed Cecil up to this point, in Gaston's mind.

Gaston wouldn't say whether that meant Mills had passed Cecil in the race for a job.

"I would say Mills has pitched better," Gaston said. "As far as passing one or the other, I'm still going to hold that back for a bit, but he has pitched a little better than Cecil."

I still have a hard time believing we'll be using a starter that hasn't pitched above Double A and only had a handful of starts there. But then I'm not Cito.

There was also a story in the Toronto Star by Morgan Campbell with some nice words about Justin Jackson, saying that he has filled out some from last year and he is swinging the bat with more power. That's nice to hear. He'll start the year a A-ball Dunedin but hopefully will take a step or two up this year.

It also mentioned that Cito is trying guys out at short but the line that caught me was:

No, he wasn't necessarily looking to jettison incumbent starter John McDonald. Yes, he's considering using Joe Inglett at short sometimes. Yes, he would use Jose Bautista there even though he has never played the position at the major-league level.

McDonald's the incumbent? Didn't Marco Scutaro take the job last year? Oh well, it is not like I'm always right either, but isn't there an editor at the Star? My feeling is that McDonald doesn't hit enough for even the back up job and that his defense slipped a lot last year, to the point where he was just an average defensive shortstop. With his bat he has to be Ozzie Smith to be worth carrying.I am a bit worried that Inglett will be sent down as he has a option left.

Anyway, today's Jay lineup:

Joe Inglett SS

Russ Adams LF

Jose Bautista CF

Kevin Millar 1B

Scott Rolen 3B

Jason Land DH (come on Jason, a couple of hits) (no pressure)

Travis Snider RF (can't he move up a bit in the order?)

Michael Barrett (C)

Brad Emaus 2B

Brad Mill P

Join us in the Thread, I will be here for the start but the boy has hockey, so will be leaving after the first 2 or 3 innings.