Well, the World Baseball Classic is down to Japan, Korea, Venezuela, and the U.S., with the U.S., having lost 10-6 to Venezuela yesterrday, to play the winner of tonight's Japan-Korea re-re-re-match in the semifinals. I have to admit, I'm enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would.
In Jays' news, Vernon Wells hit in a minor league intrasquad game yesterday and felt good swinging the bat and running the bases. He's looking forward to getting back on the field and then into Grapefruit League games as soon as this weekend. Also, he's still funny with a dark and self-deprecating sense of humor I really like. One thing I thought was interesting, and different from how I remembered it, was that despite Wells' fine hitting when in the lineup, and Rios' struggling at the plate when playing centrefield, not to mention the parade of horribles playing right in his absence, Wells' presence in the lineup actually didn't correlate strongly with the Jays' winning games last season. Of course, if correlation doesn't imply causation, then non-correlation definitely doesn't imply anything at all.
In other good news, Scott Downs pitched for the first time yesterday and things reportedly went fine.
Cito also sounds unconcerned about Rolen's "stiff back," which really doesn't sound bad at all, and Snider's sore knee, which was examined but doesn't seem to be troubling anyone, at least, yet. Apparently Snider's injury occurred when running out a groundball in the second inning.
Richard Griffin thinks that Scott Richmond wasted his time in the WBC and has put himself more-or-less out of the running for the Jays' starting rotation. Jordan Bastian disagrees.
The Jays take on old friend Allan James Burnett and the New York Yankees this evening. Casey Janssen will make the start for the bluebirds.
Today's post from the great song "Busted Afternoon" by the Old 97s, one of the better named bands in the universe. And yes, yet another picture of Dunedin. New Zealand, that is. Those are the Moeraki Boulders.