When the Jays were at the Y in Calgary, the players were there to play with the children, so there wasn't a lot of time to lob questions at them, but I did get in a couple with Ricky Romero and Jesse Litsch.
First Ricky:
How hard will it be to replace Shawn Marcum? You guys seemed to have a lot of fun together. I feel bad that you guys have been broken up.
(laughs)You know what, you can never replace a Shaun Marcum, just like the year before no one could replace a Roy Halladay. I've always said this, I will continue to say that someone has to step up and create their own identity. I think the last year, each individual in our staff created their own identity and I think we took it upon ourselves to have that atmosphere around the clubhouse. So we are going to miss Shaun, I was kind of sad to see him go, I wish the best. He's in a good organization and hopefully he gets the job done down there and we see him in the playoffs.
The three of you, Marcum, Cecil and you all had great changeups. I'm not sure I've seen three guys in the same staff with great changeups. Did you come into the organization with it or was it something they taught you ?
I think it is something that it's one of those pitches that you every year you continue to develop it and it continues to get better. I think the three of us, it just something that you kind of develop year by year. I knew I always had it, I just didn't know how to use it. I think once you get to this level you just understand the way of pitching and the way you gotta pitch and the way you gotta us your pitches that's what we did.
You've had two great seasons. What do you have to do to keep getting better?
Consistency. Consistency and staying healthy is the biggest thing. Health is the number one thing. I was fortunate enough to be healthy all last year, I didn't miss a start. You just continue to try to be consistent from start to start. You know as a pitcher, that not every time you are going to be perfect. You are going to have those bad outings but it is how quick you rebound from having those bad outings and go from there.
Jesse was great with the kids and they loved him. When I tried to talk to him it was mobbed by kids wanting his autograph. I'm not sure that they understood that he was a baseball player, I think they just saw him as a big kid that played with them. Then when we got talking they had to pull him away to say goodbye to the kids and run off to their next stop.
How is your shoulder and hip?
The latest thing I had was hip surgery, I had Tommy John and hip, every thing is good, I'm ready to go, 100% for spring training.
You've lost a bit of weight, is that from the rehab?
You know it's from working out and getting ready for the season. I've been working hard and the rehab obviously helped. My hip was a weight bearing surgery, so it's a big thing. I wanted to lose weight, it is coming off. I got a little more to go but at this point I feel great.
Have you noticed a change in your pitches since the shoulder surgery?
It is a matter of going out there and fine tuning everything.
You were great with the kids.
Yeah, I love them.