Jays 4 Yankees 7
The first game we actually got to see and there was some bad and some good. The bad included Casey Janssen leaving the game, after 4 batters, with 'tightness in his shoulder'. The Jays are saying it isn't anything serious but it will definitely slow Janssen down a bit and he was a little behind anyway. I think that means odds are a little better for Clement and Mills to make the rotation out of spring training, with Richmond having to catch up a bit too. I have a hard time believing Mills is making the team having not pitched higher than Double A and just 6 games there but things seem to be moving that way.
Brian Burres came in to replace Janssen and did nothing to made you think he ought to be a major league pitcher giving up 6 hits and 4 runs in 2.2 innings. David Purcey looked better in his 4.1 innings but he did tire at the end of his stint giving up a 2 run homer. Nathan Starner came in and got the last two outs.
Offensively there were few bright moments; Joe Inglett went 2 for 3, Jason Lane hit a 2 run double to give him 10 RBI on the spring, Brad Emaus hit his 3rd homer of the spring, he has 8 RBI and is looking like he has a future with the team, though likely not this year, Scott Campbell drove in his 9th run (does it bother anyone else that the guys leading the team in RBI this spring are likely not to make the team?) and John McDonald singled off AJ Burnett's left arm. As AJ said:
"Thank God it was Johnny Mac," Burnett quipped of the direct hit.
Defensively, McDonald made a bad error at short, the guy can't hit at all so he better field and Jose Bautista looked very awkward in the outfield. I hope we don't see much of him out there, unless it is in an Astro uniform. Apparently he is on the Astro's radar to fill their third base hole. I don't think any of us would be all that sad to see him go.
In other news Roy Halladay had some interesting things to say about AJ Burnett in a Richard Griffin story in the Globe:
"They label you as the No.1 guy and you have a guy here who has more talent than you that you know, as soon as he figures it out, you're not going to be there any more. It's a different feeling than in the past where it's just kind of handed to you. You have to embrace that and work with it."
and
"He wanted to go out and strike everyone out," Halladay recalled of Burnett after his arrival as a free agent. "He wanted to go hard all the time. It's hard to do that at that intensity level, not only for a whole game, but for an entire year. I think he learned to use his breaking ball and other pitches more and not always blow them away right from the get-go."
Tomorrow the Jays play the Rays but the game isn't on MLB.TV or gameday audio so we will likely skip the game thread. Brad Mills is to pitch for the Jays and Jay killer Matt Garza is to start for the Rays. Vernon Wells is to DH and Alex Rios and Rod Barajas, back from the WBC are both to play.