Game #67: Nats at Jats pregame
After a lovely day off, which consisted of a great jog along the lakefront and taking in a movie with my wife, I am back at the Rogers Centre — still exhausted and wondering when my body is going to get off West Coast time. Unlike the Jays fans who came out to the ballpark last night, I got to enjoy the beautiful weather. My wife and I saw the dome was closed around game time last night, and she said, "It must be broken." Sure enough. Well, it’s open again today for Game 2, which is about to get underway. So here’s today’s pregame:
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Washington (29-38) at Toronto (32-34)
at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre
Today’s lineups:
NATIONALS
Ronnie Belliard, SS
Felipe Lopez, 2B
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
Dmitri Young, DH
Austin Kearns, RF
Ryan Church, LF
Robert Fick, 1B
Jesus Flores, C
Ryan Langerhans, LF
PITCHING: RHP Levale Speigner
BLUE JAYS
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Matt Stairs, 1B
Troy Glaus, 3B
Frank Thomas, DH
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
John McDonald, SS
PITCHING: RHP Shaun Marcum
NOTES: Not much. The roof is working again, and there’s no news yet on RHP Tomo Ohka’s status. Toronto has until Monday to sort his situation out, which will likely end in his release. … Zaun was back in the lineup for the second day in a row, even though manager John Gibbons said Friday that he’d probably rest on Saturday. … Jays have gone 12-5 at home since May 11, which is the best home mark over that span in the Majors.
Major League Bastian 
You gotta like the development of Marcum. He is a legit top 3 starter right now. Gives you 6 to 7 every outing and is showing a growing ability to minimzie damage when he scuffles.
This year feels so different than past years when we were waiting for the push to make a real run at the division title or the wild card. The difference: pitching, pitching and pitching.
I think Reid Johnson back in the line up will really help balance the order.
Hoping for a sweep tomorrow!
I am loving the way Marcum is coming into his own – he’s the extra arm that propels Toronto from a three to four-arm rotation (including McGowan). Keep up the good work, Marcum!
Marcum and McGowan are both going well. I can’t remember when we had a better top 4 in the starting rotation. I like Marcum starting between Burnett and McGowan, giving a different look. Now if Chachin and League can make it back strong and healthy, we could have the best pitching in the American League.
Looks like we got lucky with Burnett, and he’ll only miss one start-now that is good news.
Nice to see Wells coming out of his slump. Hopefully the pendulum turns the other for him and he gets super hot for a while.
Does anyone have any idea when Johnson is expected to return?
If this offense gets hot, this team could go on a serious roll and challenge for the wild card-There’s 95 games left
Sounds like Johnson will play Monday for our Class A Florida League team. ETA according to JP earlier this week is optimistically during the west coast road trip following our home stand.
Go Towers go!