Bluejays.com's Jordan Bastian says Jays lefty Marc Rzepczynski suffered a injury to his pitching hand thanks to a comebacker off the bat of Yankees second baseman Ramiro Pena Monday night. Even though the injury does not appear to be serious, the 24 year-old hurler may have seen his chance to make the big club out of spring training go down the drain as he surrendered five runs in 4 2/3 innings during a 5-3 loss to the Bronx Bombers in Tampa.
Rzepczynski has had a tough go of it this spring training with an earned run average of 6.10. He gave up five runs on eight hits and two walks but he whiffed four Yankee batters and got eight groundball outs. Zep was picked up by Bubbie Buzachero, Shawn Camp and "The Fugitive" Casey Janssen with a combined 3 1/3 of shutout relief with Buzachero giving up two hits and Camp striking out a pair. Janssen's ERA is still goose eggs as he has allowed just one hit and one walk over 7 2/3 innings. With two ground outs Monday, his groundout/flyout ratio is 3.5. As Robert Plant would say, that's good rockin' at midnight. Yeah, I know the game didn't go until midnight but that's beside the point.
The Jays were held down by the immortal Sergio Mitre, whose only mistake was allowing a two-run bomb off the bat of Aaron Hill in the fourth inning. Travis Snider's sac fly in the seventh to score Darin Mastroianni provided the other Jays marker. Adam Lind had a double while Jose Bautista and Lyle Overbay had singles to account for the four measly hits from the Toronto offence. Of the four Jays players who got hits in this one, guess which one is not batting over .400? If you guessed Adam Lind, you're right as he is just five points over the Mendoza Line at .205. Bautista leads the way at .442, Hill is hitting at a .424 clip and Overbay is just one point behind at .423. On defence, Hill and Edwin Encarnacion made errors but they did not figure into the scoring.
In other Jays notes, lefties Jesse Carlson and David Purcey are going down to Sin City to play in Triple-A Las Vegas. Carlson missed most of the spring with a knee injury and logged just two appearances while giving up three earned runs. Purcey will continue his conversion from starting to relieving as he posted an ERA of 4.91 with a 6-3 K-BB total in 7.1 innings. Joining Carlson and Purcey in Vegas will be outfielder Jeremy Reed, despite hitting .431. However, Mike McCoy has done even better by batting .455 and it looks like he is on his way to Baseball North.
Also, you cannot blame catcher John Buck for not having his mind on baseball right now. His wife, his 22-month old twin boys and his mother-in-law were involved in a car accident in Florida but there were no fatalities, thankfully. All the best to the Buck family.
Around the majors....
* Former Jay Kevin Millar has been let go by the Cubs.
* The Rangers Ian Kinsler may be heading to the DL with a sore ankle but the Mets Jose Reyes returns to action.
* The Reds may be sending Cuban fireballer Aroldis Chapman to the minors.
* The Ancient Mariner, er, Phillie Jamie Moyer , Twins lefty Francisco Liriano and Tigers southpaw Dontrelle Willis have all won starting jobs. The Tigers also dealt lefty Nate Robertson to the Marlins for a minor leaguer.
* Brewers righty Jeff Suppan will begin the year on the disabled list because of a neck injury.
A reminder that the Jays take on the Phillies as lefty Brett Cecil goes up against Doc Halladay today in Clearwater. The first pitch is expected in the post meridian at about 1:05 Eastern.
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