No snakes Bradenton, just Jays

It's a snakeless St. Paddy's Day morning in Bradenton today, despite the presence of most of the regular sporting media. I must be feeling generous.

The Jays are taking their bottom-feeding 7-11 record to face the NL Bucs, who are sporting their traditional green hats in honour of the holiday. Speaking of 7-11, GM J.P. Ricciardi chose to foresake any green in his ensemble, favouring a bright red golf shirt with a wide blue shoulder-to-shoulder stripe looking far less MLB GMish and far more like the guy ringing up your slurpy on the register at the 7-11. He signed autographs for several fans as he headed down the line towards the clubhouse at the end of B.P.

In any case, here are the starting lineups:

JAYS
David Eckstein ss
Alex Rios rf
Vernon Wells cf
Scott Rolen 3b
Frank Thomas dh
Shannon Stewart lf
Lyle Overbay 1b
Aaron Hill 2b
Gregg Zaun c

PIRATES
Nate McLouth cf
Jack Wilson ss
Freddy Sanchez dh
Jason Bay lf
Adam LaRoche 1b
Xavier Nady rf
Ronny Paulino c
Jose Bautista 3b
Luis Rivas 2b

Rolen, who lives in the Bradenton area, called in during the morning to explain that he was in a huge traffic jam and might be late. But, hey, it's spring training.

Facing a lefthanded Zach Duke, this was a pretty representative Jays lineup for the regular season. John Gibbons isn't locked into a set linup either way, but one thing he didn't want to do against righties is to have Overbay and Matt Stairs hitting back-to-back.

Dave LaRoche, pitching coach at Double-A New Hampshire, always makes the trip to Bradenton and is in the dugout in uniform because his son Adam is the Bucs' first baseman.