Alright, y'all take a deep breath now and don't get too excited. Five-and-oh in the spring and $2.25 will get you a latte with legs and not much more. The Cincinnatti Reds lineup that Toronto bombed 10-3 today was missing names like Griffey, Kearns, Dunn, Larkin and Casey, while the Jays trotted out most of their regulars and Roy Halladay to boot. All that said, this is still awfully nice to see, so long as it doesn't get our expectations too high.
A few highlights: Josh Phelps made his spring training debut by mashing a pitch from Calgary's Chris Reitsma 400 feet; Rule 5 pickup Jason Dubois contributed a three-run bomb against Carlos Almanzar (a shiny new no-prize for the first person to name the player the Jays once traded Almanzar to get, and with whom); Dewayne Wise and Shannon Stewart chipped in with a couple of hits each; Halladay went three scoreless with 3 Ks; and Pete Walker allowed just one HR is three solid innings of his own.
Other musings: Eric Hinske is off to a very slow start; Rob Ryan continues to make a solid bid for playing time as an extra outfielder; Felipe Lopez went 0-for-3 against his former mates; Kelvim Escobar was rusty in his first outing (3 H, 2 R in 1 IP); and stop the presses, Dave Berg swiped a base.
Bring on the Tribe!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030305053722999