Hi everyone. Hope your weekends are going splendidly. I must say, we are getting some incredible weather over here. Warm, breezy, and sunny.
The Jays take on the Tigers this afternoon and look to build on some successful spring outings thusfar. The Jays' starting lineup, courtesy of Jordan Bastian:
Jose Bautista, 3b
Aaron Hill, 2b
Adam Lind, dh
Vernon Wells, cf
Randy Ruiz, 1b
Jeremy Reed,rf
John Buck, c
Alex Gonzalez, ss
Travis Snider, lf
I know it's spring training but it seems to me that someone is giving Snider some seriously tough love. Or, you know, tough something else.
Brian Tallet makes the start today and Bastian notes that he's a "favourite" for a rotation job right now. I like Tallet, but not as a starter this season. So far Romero, Zep, Marcum, and Morrow have all done a nice job, with Cecil still to go, and Mills pitched quite well in his "B" game, so at least there should be some full and open competition for the spots. According to mlb.com, there will be audio of the game from the FAN available on their website (and of course I'd assume on the radio for those in the GTA).
I thought this bit on Marcum from Bastian's blog was interesting:
Marcum focused on his fastball command on Saturday, mixing in a few changeups and one curve. He said he is also working on lengthening his stride during his delivery. "I felt like I was using too much upper body when I was pitching in the past,"
I couldn't agree more that Marcum could work on using his lower body more. His old delivery looked very much like he was slinging the ball in there, which gave his pitches plenty of movement but looked like it'd be hell on his arm (which it was).
If anyone is listening to the game, first sunday afternoon game thread of the season! Today's title from a song by the Guillemots, a great band.
Update: JohnnyG helpfully points out that Frasor, Gregg, Downs, Camp, Roenicke, Farquhar, and Luis Perez are scheduled to follow Tallet. Looks like a bullpen day.