He's a good catch

PAUL STANCYA/AP

If Reed Johnson has to leave Toronto (with the arrival of Shannon Stewart) it's scenes like this that the Blue Jays will miss most.

Jays vs. Pirates - Rolen homecoming Pt. II

12:08 - Call off the B.J. Ryan watch. The closer will not be pitching in a Grapefruit League game Saturday, as was originally planned.

Ryan will now pitch in at least two more simulated games (or maybe one sim game and one minor league game) before he faces major league hitters. This about-face apparently comes after the team had another consultation with Ryan's surgeon, Dr. Tim Kremcheck. Kremchek wants the team to go slower with Ryan.

Manager John Gibbons said Ryan isn't experiencing any unusual arm soreness after yesterday's sim game. He said the club is afraid that Ryan might feel a little too much 'adrenaline' in a Grapefruit League game. So we're back to the original timeline - mid-March at the earliest - for Ryan's debut.

Interestingly, Gibbons said there is no plan to pitch Ryan in back-to-back games here in Florida. In fact, there's no plan to do that for the first month of the season at least, assuming Ryan breaks camp with the Jays. That means that one way or the other, Jeremy Accardo will get his chances as the closer early in the year.

1:00 - In anthem news today, the bass tenor on hand got through O Canada in about 40 seconds. I wasn't paying close attention, but I think he may have skipped a verse. Or six.

Cloudy skies here and cool. But no wind. Marco Scutaro, who's been getting some special stretching attention in the outfield, comes in. We're almost ready. Eckstein-Johnson-Stewart due up first for the Jays.

1:04 - Shi Davidi of CP wonders why I haven't used his Song of the Day pick yet - Safety Dance. Because B.J. Ryan hasn't pitched yet, that's why, Shi.

1:05 - My seatmate who, as far as I can tell, is one of the PA announcer's cronies, doesn't have that switch in his mind that allows him to filter what he thinks and what he says. 'Here he comes' 'Oh yeah, that's Murphy.' 'Where's that sun at?'. Anger. Rising. Musn't. Lose. Control.

1:07 - First pitch - Gorzelanny to Eckstein. It's a ball.

1:08 - Eckstein grounds out to first. Johnson up.

1:09 - Johnson cracks his bat grounding to short. Stewart's turn.

1:10 - There's no spot here for the Pirates' bullpen to watch the game. So they're all sitting on lawn chairs on the right-field warning track inside the foul line. Ten bucks for the first guy who scatters them.

1:11 - Stewart grounds out to third. McGowan's the first man on the field. Morgan-Sanchez-Nady due for the Pirates.

1:13 - Nyjer Morgan is wearing old fashioned stirrup socks - black over white. He immediately becomes my favourite Pittsburgh Pirate. Replacing the old one - nobody.

1:14 - McGowan runs one in a little too close and grazes Morgan on the hands. He takes his base.

1:15 - Catchers' streak is over. Morgan is off and running on the first pitch. Fasano's throw is high. Morgan is safe. Then Sanchez knocks the ball past Scutaro, who's playing at first. Morgan scampers home. 1-0 Pirates. Sanchez in with a single.

1:16 - First pressbox 'Head's Up!' of the season as Nady almost kills a Pittsburgh writer with a foul ball. I'm not loving these digs.

1:17 - Then Nady flies out to deep right.

1:18 - Streak's really over. Fasano misses high again as Sanchez is in with the second Pittsburgh steal of the inning.

1:19 - My annoying seatmate is now digging at his finger with a nail clippers. Click. Click. Click. He has a hangnail. How do I know that? Because he announced it to no one in particular.

1:20 - With the count full, McGowan blazes one past Doumit for the swinging strikeout. Two outs, man on second.

1:21 - Steve Pearce takes the first pitch and launches it to left. Stewart backs up to the wall, but its over. That's Pearce's third homer of the spring. 3-0 Pittsburgh. McGowan versus Bautista now.

1:22 - Bautista grounds out to third. Wells-Rolen-Hill due up for Toronto.

1:25 - Wells hits one a tonne off the wall in dead centre. That's a double. Rolen up.

1:27 - Gorzelanny works Rolen inside over and over. The big 3B just keeps arching back. Rolen walks. Men on first and second, none out. Hill up.

1:28 - Double steal. Wells slides in ahead of the tag. Make that men on second and third. It's almost like the Jays want to win this one.

1:30 - Hill walks. Bases loaded. A well-stretched out Scutaro steps in. Pittsburgh pitching coach out for a conference. Mound conference! This is spring. Let him solve his own problems.

1:32 - Scutaro flies to right. Wells scores. Rolen advances to third. Men on the corners, one out, 3-1 Pittsburgh. Barajas now up.

1:34 - Barajas knocks one up the middle. Shortstop gets to it, but can't drag himself to his feet in time. Infield single for Barajas. Rolen scores. 3-2 Pittsburgh. Men on first and second, one out, Fasano up.

1:36 - Gorzelanny runs three straight balls on Fasano. The fourth pitch looks outside to the crowd. They pipe up. 'All them Dunedin people' my seatmate sneers.

1:38 - No matter. Gorzelanny hits Fasano. Bases loaded, still one out. The Pittsburgh left-hander is yanked. Eckstein up next.

1:40 - ECK! ECK! He takes the first pitch over the wall in left. Eckstein Grand Slam. "Number one for Ecky?" the official scorer asks the Jays PR guy. Um. Yeah. 6-3 Jays. Johnson up.

1:42 - Johnson grounds out to second.

1:42 - Stewart knocks one off the pitchers' glove, but the second baseman scoops it up. Neither of the Jays' left-field hopefuls is exactly grabbing that brass ring right now. Thompson-Josh Wilson-Velandia up for the Pirates.

1:46 - McGowan walks Thompson. He's not as sharp today as he was in his first start.

1:48 - Check swing. Scutaro up quickly from first to start the double play. Toronto just misses catching Wilson on the 3-4-1 DP. Man on first, one out. Velandia up.

1:50 - Velandia lines the ball into left for a single. Men on first and second, one out. My friend Morgan back up.

1:51 - Morgan strikes out swinging. Two out. Sanchez, who singled in the first, is up.

1:52 - McGowan is throwing a lot of pitches. I doubt he goes his scheduled three.

1:53 - Wild pitch. Runners advance. Men on second and third, two outs.

1:54 - McGowan gives him the high heat with a full count. Sanchez can't catch up to it. Third out. Once again, Wells-Rolen-Hill due up for the Jays. 6-3 Toronto.

1:57 - Wells strikes out on a called third strike. He doesn't look happy. Rolen steps up.

1:59 - Rolen flies out to centre. Hill's turn.

2:01 - Hill grounds out to short. As expected, McGowan's out after two. Casey Janssen comes in. He's also due to pitch three. After two-and-a-half, it's still 6-3 Jays.

2:06 - Finally. After seven or eight pitches, Janssen strikes out Nady.

2:09 - Doumit flies out to centre. Pearce, who homered in the first, is up.

2:09 - Doumit grounds to third. Rolen's bouncing throw draws Scutaro off the bag, but he recovers to tag Doumit out. Good save. Scutaro-Barajas-Fasano up next. 6-3 Jays after three.

2:13 - Scutaro hits one back to the pitcher, Zach Duke. He's out. Barajas up.

2:14 - He hits one down the left-field line that Pirate 3B Bautista gives up on. It's fair. Barajas in with a stand-up double. He's 2-for-2 today and 4-for-8 this spring with a pair of doubles. Fasano up.

2:17 - Fasano strikes out. Sal, if you don't start hitting, we will all be robbed of the pleasure of your company. We're serious when we say we don't want that to happen.

2:18 - Eckstein hits another one hard, but the left-fielder tracks it down before it can fall into the gap. Bautista-Thompson-Wilson up for the Pirates.

2:20 - Janssen draws Bautista into chasing a bad one. Strikeout.

2:22 - Two in a row. Thompson swings at the air. Two out.

2:24 - Josh Wilson flies out to right. Feels like some rain's on the way. I'm off to the clubhouse to find McGowan. See you in a bit.

4:13 - Was this the longest spring training game in history? Possibly. Davidi described it as 'Chinese water torture'. Jays pitcher Jean Machi, throwing two instead of his planned one inning, gave up a three run lead in the ninth. The Pirates win 8-7. All in all, a decent day with the bat, especially for Eckstein. But McGowan and Janssen didn't look their sharpest. Nonetheless, manager John Gibbons said afterward that the Jays will continue to stretch Janssen out. He'll throw four innings in his next outing.

This is it for me for a bit. I'm heading back to Toronto, and into the teeth of another snowstorm apparently, tomorrow. I'll be back in Florida on the 22nd. Until then, Al Ryan and Rich Griffin, respectively, will be your blog hosts. Thanks for your notes and emails. We'll see you soon.

Cathal Kelly

Jays vs. Pirates - Rolen homecoming

I'm off shortly to try and beat the Jays bus to Bradenton, about an hour and fifteen minutes from Clearwater. No such problem for Scott Rolen. He's been commuting to Dunedin every day from Bradenton, where he owns a home. He should feel nice and rested for once.

Jays take on the Pirates and Canadian Jason Bay at 1:05. Dustin McGowan will get the first three innings, Casey Janssen to follow with three of his own.

Song of the Day: Well, trying to combine a small tip of the hat to the Pirates and another to my colleagues in the press box (I'm heading back to Toronto tomorrow). I've come up with Pittsburgh's favourite anti-establishment Cali-style punk rockers, Anti-Flag and their 'get up, get up and jump around' standard 'The Press Corpse'. Doubters will call these guys a thinking man's Simple Plan. And that's plain cruel. I just dig anyone with self-consciously stupid hair.

Back later with today's live blog of the game.

Today's Line-Ups:

Toronto

1 - Eckstein

2 - Johnson - RF

3 - Stewart - LF

4 - Wells

5 - Rolen

6 - Hill

7 - Scutaro

8 - Barajas - DH

9 - Fasano - C

SP: McGowan

Pittsburgh:

1 - Nyjer Morgan

2 - Freddy Sanchez

3 - Xavier Nady

4 - Ryan Doumit

5 - Steve Pearce

6 - Jose Bautista

7 - Kevin Thompson

8 - Josh Wilson

9 - Jorge Velandia

SP: Tom Gorzelanny

I also offer you this, a sort of outtake from my interview with Adam Lind that ran in today's Star.

Lind's one of my favourite Jays. He’s soft-spoken, but he’s deadly honest and he doesn’t speak in clichés. Once he gets going, he’s got a lot to say about the game. As a guy covering this beat, you love a player who’s going to teach you something, who’ll talk down to you (and I mean that in a good way).

The Jays are stacked with character young guys – Lind, Curtis Thigpen, Casey Janssen, David Purcey, Aaron Hill, Travis Snider, Brian Wolfe and the list does go on. The ones I've named here stand out to me on a purely subjective basis. Some of them are starting, some of them are waiting in the wings, but the fact that so many of them have old heads on their shoulders bodes, I think, really well for this team going forward.

Back to Lind. As you might expect, most of what we discussed concerned his hitting. He pointed out that, quite rightly, he had a rough year, but it translated into some decent numbers. In 290 at-bats, he managed 11 home runs and 46 RBIs. Double that and you have a pro-rated season with 20+ homers and 90+ RBIs.

“Enough to keep a guy around (the big leagues),” Lind said. Point taken.

Lind’s not making excuses. He’s pointing out that the early reviews aren’t off. He is a guy who will have a big league career. The jury’s still out on whether it will be in Toronto. If the Jays are serious about giving Alex Rios a long-term deal and Travis Snider keeps up his headlong run to the Show, Lind may end up as a bargaining chip.

What I couldn’t fit in the paper was Lind talking about his defence. And this is something Lind really wants to talk about.

“Coaches have spent a lot of time with me. Whoever doubts me, I assume it’s the reporters. Nothing against you,” Lind said. I guess they grow them super-polite in Indiana.

“You could probably play outfield for a week and get by. But when you play every day, you get a lot of weird balls hit to you.”

So he’s worked at it, long hours over four years in the Florida sun spent fielding balls knocked off a tee.

“(My coaches) said, ‘Don’t even worry about the game. Worry about this’,” Lind remembered. “When you get called up, they can deal with you not hitting. But if you don’t play good defence, you’re done. That’s what happened last year. I didn’t hit real well, but the defence was what allowed me to stay up there as long as I did.”

Cathal Kelly

Jays vs. Phillies - The Tampa derby

No sign of rain on the Gulf Coast, but my lovely wife tells me that she's been out all morning shovelling on your side of world. My sympathies. To her. Not you. I'm not married to you.

The Phillies make the short drive from Clearwater to visit Dunedin today. Brett Myers versus Roy Halladay, who will still be working on the change. No cutters for some time yet, Halladay assures us. We have faith, Roy. We believe you could underhand it up the plate and still eke it out. Halladay due to pitch three.

Casey Janssen will continue his attempt to nudge his way into the starting rotation. He'll get innings four through six. Janssen says he's not bothered about where he ends up, but that getting stretched out for a starting job will give him a chance to work on all his pitches. From that point, he can just pull back a bit for the bullpen if that's where he lands.

CORRECTION - The Fan's Mike Wilner points out that Janssen goes for three after Dustin McGowan tomorrow, not today. My bad. Jason Frasor - who's been out sick with the flu - follows Halladay today.

12: 33 - RE-CORRECTION - These people are playing with me. Frasor has now been bumped to the minor-league game. Jays braintrust on hand there this morning to watch B.J. Ryan throw.

Jays Line-Up versus the right-hander Myers.

1 - David Eckstein
2 - Scott Rolen
3 - Alex Rios
4 - Vernon Wells
5 - Frank Thomas
6 - Lyle Overbay
7 - Aaron Hill
8 - Reed Johnson
9 - Gregg Zaun

For the second day running, Scott Rolen bats second. Hmm.

Phillies Line-Up (and its a good one owing to the inconsiderable travel distance):

1 - Jimmy Rollins
2 - Eric Bruntlett
3 - Chase Utley
4 - Ryan Howard
5 - Jayson Werth
6 - Geoff Jenkins
7 - Wes Helms
8 - So Taguchi
9 - Carlos Ruiz

Song of the Day: This is for the moron who pulled in below my bedroom window at four in the morning blaring bad R'n'B out of what I can only assume was a convertible, given the painful volume. He almost rolled me out of bed with the bass. He's lucky I'm only too aware of Florida's wafer-thin gun-control laws.

As a result, I am down on bass this morning. So let's try something acoustic - the marvellous, heart-breaking and low-volume 'Flying Shoes', a Townes Van Zandt classic reinterpreted by the desperately underrated Lyle Lovett. This song takes me to my happy place, except that it's about suicide.

Courtesy of Tao of Stieb, by way of Neate Sager, we learn this morning that famed Canadian nutbar and neocon poster child Rachel Marsden is selling her ex-boyfriend's clothing on eBay. The ex-boyfriend is Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The Post's Jeremy Sandler quickly determines that Wales lives in nearby St. Petersburg. MacLeod, you ready for a roadtrip? I'll bring the fatally flawed Google map.

1:02 - Canned anthems. Hey, at least they got the words right.

1:03 - Jimy Williams assumes the managing duties for the Phillies today. Jimy looks, er, well fed.

1:05 - Rollins-Bruntlett-Utley due up for Philly. First pitch. Halladay vs. Rollins. He drives one over the head of a leaping David Eckstein. Single.

1:08 - Bruntlett knocks it hard straight at Hill. He and Eckstein turn the 4-6-3 double play nicely.

1:09 - Utley flies out to right field. Eckstein-Rolen-Rios due up for Jays.

Jeter already turned down the part

KEITH SRAKOCIC/AP

"You play an angry New York City cop who goes undercover as shortstop for the New York ...."

Jays vs. Yankees - ALCS Preview Part II

Apologies to the Yankees - they brought the A-Team. Here's the line-up:

1 - Johnny Damon - LF
2 - Derek Jeter - SS
3 - Bobby Abreu - RF
4 - Alex Rodriguez - 3B
5 - Jason Giambi - 1B
6 - Jorge Posada - C
7 - Shelley Duncan - DH
8 - Melky Cabrera - CF
9 - Juan Castro - 2B
SP: Phil Hughes

11:59 - Yankees taking BP right now. Wind really starting to blow in. First drops of rain falling. Game in serious doubt here. Good Lord, what does the Doppler 9000 say?

12:04 - The Doppler 9000 says we should begin gripping our ankles.

12:06 - Politics, people. That's what really matters. Big Democratic primaries today.

Left-hander Mike Gosling has a picture of Barrack Obama taped over the nameplate on his locker. This was not his doing. Apparently, he wore an Obama T-shirt into the clubhouse the other day. So someone thought this was the next logical step. And they've started calling him 'Obama'

"They thought it would embarrass me," Gosling said. "It doesn't."

I said to him, "Man, you must be the only Democrat in baseball."

"No," Gosling, who has a great deadpan, said. "There's another one. He's at the Dodgers camp."

Big day for the personable Californian all around. Primaries. Brett Favre is retiring (he wore a Packers t-shirt today) and he might be pitching later.

Mike Gosling. He's one of the good ones.

12:14 - Idiot of the day. PA announcer looking for the owner of a car parked across the street. "Your car is running and the doors are locked." Maybe he crawled out the trunk.

12:31 - Spike Lee is apparently in the house. My hip hop theme is taking on a life of its own.

12:50 - Rain holding off after a few sprinkles. I think we're going to have some baseball. But I wouldn't count on a full game.

1:02 - The Sun's Ken Fidlin, after closely examining the National Weather Service website, predicts rain in 20 minutes. We know only the Doppler 9000 can be trusted.

1:08 - Litsch on the mound. Wind tearing all over the place. Fielding will be an adventure. Damon quickly grounds out to second.

Jays vs. Yankees - ALCS Preview

Well, hope springs eternal.

Early morning in Dunedin - 8:50 right now. Press box quiet. Flags whipping in right-centre. Storms predicted for later today (thanks to the awesome computing power of the Channel 9's Doppler 9000), but hopefully we'll get a game in.

Phil Hughes versus Jesse Litsch today and what's sure to be an understrength Yankees batting order (does such a thing really exist?). Line-ups to come.

Song of the Day: Let's do a shoutout to the Bombers with the Bronx's greatest hip hop export, Grandmaster Flash. Any day that starts with The Message is bound to be a good one. By the by, the fact that Rolling Stone only saw fit to make this song #51 on the top 500 of all time is a musical crime.

For now, let's just enjoy a Gulf Coast morning. See you soon.

Toronto line-up:
1 - Eckstein
2 - Rolen
3 - Johnson
4 - Wells
5 - Thomas
6 - Overbay
7 - Hill
8 - Stewart
9 - Zaun

Also, pitchers Jamie Vermilyea, Ryan Ketchner and Jeremy Cummings have been reassigned to minor-league camp.

Cathal Kelly

Jays vs. Indians - The telltale nail

Lovely day in Dunedin. Does it hurt to read that? That's why I said it. Cleveland-Toronto just under way.

*****

In A.J. Burnett fingernail news, it seems the infamous meeting between his index finger and his car door happened more than three months ago - November. And he lost quite a bit of it - "three quarters" of the nail, according to him.
Burnett's taking 'hair and nail' vitamins - Biotin. He's becoming a regular at the local nail salons. He's got his mom and wife consulting on growth promotion.
The nail - or lack of it - prevents him from throwing the spike curve, the yin to the yang of Burnett's high-quality fastball.
But it isn't panic time yet.
"Right now, it’s not bothering me," Burnett said. "But, like I said, if in month and a half, two months it ain’t there, we might have a problem."
Er, yeah.

Song of the Day: I polled Spencer, the sports web master, for his pick this morning. Spencer is much crueller man than I, prone to wallowing in the misfortune of others. It's a misanthropic tilt that tends to affect all editors.

He suggests anything by Nine Inch Nails. There isn't enough Biotin in the world. I'm going to narrow that to 'Head Like A Hole', which I would argue is the only NIN song. They've just spent the last 20 or so years rerecording it to different lyrics.

1:14 - I'm late. Top of the first in the books. Shaun Marcum enjoyed a three-up, three-down start. A strikeout of Josh Barfield to start and then a pair of 4-3 groundouts.

Shannon Stewart kicks it off for the Jays with a groundout to second. The Jays line-up:

1 - Stewart
2 - Scutaro
3 - Rios
4 - Overbay
5 - Barajas
6 - Snider
7 - Coats
8 - Santos
9 - Inglett

Maybe they're saving the heavy powder for the Yankees tomorrow.

1:18 - Scutaro steps in against Fausto Carmona and doubles down the left-field line. A couple of pitches later, he moves to third on a passed ball.

1:19 - Rios knocks one back up the middle. 1-0 Jays.

1:20 - Rios steals second. Man, he looks quick this year. He always looked fast once he got going, but he has a much quicker first step this spring.

Gotcha!

KEITH SRAKOCIC/AP

Out at second: But history tells us David Eckstein shouldn't expect many of those in Toronto.

The key digit in Burnett's line

The first wrinkle of spring. After all the feel good stuff about B.J. Ryan's quicker than anticipated recovery and the addition of character and class through Scott Rolen and David Eckstein, we have some clouds gathering, well, over there.

After today's game, A.J. Burnett was a little too surly for this time of year. They keep telling us this stuff doesn't matter yet, right? Then he up and left before the post-game picnic for season ticket holders. Can't tell if he came back.

The first word out of his mouth after his two-inning, two-run appearance was 'Healthy'. You know what that means.

Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg revealed that Burnett hasn't thrown a single curveball this spring because of a fingernail issue. Apparently, Burnett lopped the top off the nail on his index finger by catching it in a closing car door. "Can't they get this guy keyless entry?" the Globe's MacLeod quips. Heeeey-O!

Even a manicurist couldn't fix what fifty pounds of steel broke.

That means no spike curves for at least two more weeks. Plus the change-up is thusfar a 'non-factor' Arnsberg judged.

Cathal Kelly