Dustin McGowan Throws 15 Pitches For Minor League Blue Jays, Feelin' Fine.

This morning, the Blue Jays' oft-injured pitcher Dustin McGowan threw in a minor league spring training game against the baby Phillies. Yesterday on Prime Time Sports, Alex Anthopoulos commented on how important this outing would be for McGowan and how he still believes that, with all the arms in the organization, McGowan still has the best "stuff."

Blue Jays fans must have been comforted when it was reported that he recorded a five-out inning on just 15 pitches, and that his shoulder "felt fine" and had a "big smile" on his face after the game. (In minor league spring games, rules can be tweaked to allow rehabbing pitchers to hit a certain pitch count without having to sit down between innings and warm up again.) It was not reported what his mix of pitches were, but Anthopoulos did mention that McGowan was to throw a bunch of breaking balls today to see how he does and feels tomorrow.

McGowan, who will celebrate his 31st birthday tomorrow, is out of options and will need to be placed on a rehab assignment in order to begin the season in the minor leagues.

So if everything goes well, McGowan will be returning to big league--albeit spring training--action on Tuesday when the Jays face the Pirates in Dunedin. I know that many of us will be close to the radio to listen to that game. It is still not too late to order this "No-Run DMc" t-shirt.