Jordan Bastian has a great story in his game preview about life as a rookie (hence the above picture of Litsch, today's starter) that I can't help but co-opt :
Roy Halladay headed over to the snack cart and reached into the bucket of gum to grab a few pieces. As he walked away, Doc accidentally dumped the entire bucket and its hundreds of Double Bubble pieces all over the ground. Without as much as a flinch, Doc kept walking and left the mess in front of the clubhouse exit.Not 10 seconds later, rook Travis Snider heads over and gets on hands and knees and begins picking up all the gum, completely knowing his role. As he was reaching under the cart to retrieve every last piece, Doc walked by and had the biggest grin you've ever seen the guy have.
"You're all over it, Snider," Halladay said with a laugh as he headed out to the field.
"It's a good start to the day," said Snider to the group of us reporters standing there enjoying the whole scene. "I got Doc on my side."
Between that and forcing Brett Cecil to wake up earlier, Doc is on a hazing roll this week. What I find most hilarious is that in neither story does Doc have to say a word to have his will done.
Anyway, Rod Barajas is back in camp after Mexico's elimination from the WBC, just in time for Arencibia and Jeroloman to be sent down. Scott Downs threw for the first time today, in a minor-league intersquad game, great news, and Wells is hoping to get into a Grapefruit League game this weekend. Here are lineups for today:
BLUE JAYS
Russ Adams, LF
Jose Bautista, SS
Jason Lane, CF
Kevin Millar, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Travis Snider, RF
Michael Barrett, C
Brad Emaus, 2B
Jesse Litsch, P
PHILLIES
Chase Utley, 2B
Miguel Cairo, SS
Greg Dobbs, RF
Jayson Werth, CF
Matt Stairs, LF
Pedro Feliz, 3B
Chris Coste, 1B
Ronny Paulino, C
J.A. Happ, P
If you're around, why not join us in the game thread?