UPDATE — 9:38 pm: Ryan Patterson, one of Toronto’s top outfield prospects, broke an arm when hit by a pitch during the game against Boston on Thursday. Last season, the 23-year-old Patterson hit .277 with 25 home runs and 89 RBIs in 133 games between high-Class A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire. He’s Toronto’s fourth-best prospect, according to Baseball America. There will be more details on Friday.

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Wait, there was a game in Fort Myers today? And it counted in the Grapefruit League standings? Huh, that’s funny, because Toronto kept it’s "A" squad back in Dunedin for a "B" game against the Phillies on Thursday. Neither myself, nor the majority of the Toronto press corps, made the trip to City of Palms Park. So, here’s what went down at Knology Park instead:

Philadelphia at Toronto
at Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla.

Today’s lineups:

PHILLIES
Michael Bourn, CF
Danny Sandoval, SS
Gregg Dobbs, LF
Jayson Werth, RF
Ron Calloway, DH
Jason Hill, 1B
Andrew Beattie, 2B
Michael Costanzo, 3B
Ryan Budde, C

PITCHING: Adam Eaton

BLUE JAYS
Reed Johnson, LF
Alex Rios, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Frank Thomas, DH
Troy Glaus, 3B
Matt Stairs, RF
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Royce Clayton, SS

PITCHING: A.J. Burnett

Thomas made his unofficial debut for the Blue Jays, going 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the first inning. Following an eight-pitch at-bat, Johnson led off the first with a single. He then moved to second on a base-hit by Rios, moved to third on a 6-4-3 double play, and then scored when Thomas roped a single up the middle.

"Hopefully it’ll be over 100 [RBIs] for him, and over 100 [runs] for me. That’d be awesome," Johnson said afterward.

Johnson and Rios were also making their debuts in the field this spring. Johnson has been out with a sore lower back, which in turn was causing strain on his right oblique muscle, but he’s been cleared to play. Rios has been bothered by a sore right shoulder, and has been serving as a DH. Now, he’s cleared to play, too.

Burnett gave up three runs in three innings, and admitted to having trouble locating his fastball early on in the outing. He began mixing in a handful of curveballs, but the righty was focussing on his fastball and changeup in the start.

HOW HEAVY IS IT? You’ve probably read somewhere already about the piece of rebar that Thomas uses to warm up before each at-bat. It’s a steel rod that is normally used to reinforce concrete. It’s been estimated to weight anwhere between seven and 60 pounds.

An assistant trainer for the White Sox found it on a construction site in 1991 and brought it to Sarasota, which used to be Chicago’s spring site. Thomas took to swinging it before at-bats and has used it over the last 17 years. When asked today how much the steel rod weighed, Thomas smiled and said, "Man, I don’t know. It’s heavy — real heavy. Maybe 30 or 35 pounds?"

GOOD IMAGE OF THE DAY: Toronto outfielder Adam Lind grew up roughly four hours away from Chicago and he used to make trips to the Windy City to see Thomas play for the White Sox. Now, the 23-year-old rookie gets to share the locker room with the 6-foot-5, 275-pound slugger.

On Thursday, while Thomas signed autographs outside, team trainer George Poulis picked up the Big Hurt’s bag to bring it into the clubhouse (he dropped the rebar in the process, causing Thomas and the crowd to let out a big laugh). Lind scooted over to pick up th rebar and carried it inside.

Later, Thomas sat in front of his locker, getting ready for his workout, and Lind stood nearby, striking up a conversation with the slugger. Lind was fidgeting back and forth, and he couldn’t stop smiling while he talked with Thomas — one of his childhood heroes. It was just a nice moment between a future Hall of Famer and a young up-and-comer.

THAT OTHER GAME: So the Jays did play that game against Boston after all. Tomo Ohka struck out two and gave up just one hit over three shutout innings. Utility man Jason Smith homered in his second straight game.

On deck: John Thomson is scheduled to pitch three innings and Victor Zambrano two against the Astros Friday afternoon in Dunedin. It’ll also be Thomas’ official debut.

The rumors have been flying ever since Phils GM Pat Gillick popped into Toronto’s spring training site before the Grapefruit League schedule began. They picked up momentum when Gillick showed up at Knology Park last week. Now, the rumors have a full head of steam here at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater.

The rumor is that Gillick is extrememly high on Jays right fieleder Alex Rios, who isn’t in attendance at today’s game against the Phils. Possible scenarios being churned are Phils outfielder Aaron Roward and pitcher Jon Lieber for Rios, or for Rios and an unknown reliever. Phils are trying to get some more bullpen help.

Rios is under contract for $2.535 million this year and isn’t eligible to be a free agent until after the 2010 season. Lieber and Roward are under contract for $7.5 million and $4.35 million, respectively, and both are free agents after this season.

Keep in mind, these are merely rumors at this point. Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi has said that he’s not interested in dealing Rios, so it’d take a significant package to change his mind. But, when writers from both teams are saying they’ve heard things about the rumor, it makes you wonder how much validity there is to it.

Stay tuned for more…

Toronto at Philadelphia
at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Fla.

Today’s lineups:

BLUE JAYS
Royce Clayton, SS
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Vernon Wells, CF
Troy Glaus, 3B
Matt Stairs, RF
Gregg Zaun, DH
Jason Phillips, C
Russ Adams, 2B
Jeff Duncan, LF

PITCHING: LHP Gustavo Chacin

PHILLIES
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Shane Victorino, RF
Chase Utley, 2B
Ryan Howard, 1B
Pat Burrell, LF
Wes Helms, 3B
Aaron Rowand, CF
Randall Simon, DH
Carlos Ruisz, C

PITCHING: RHP Brett Myers

NOTE: DH Frank Thomas will likely make his first spring appearance in Thursday’s 10 a.m. B game (A.J. Burnett is pitching) against the Phils at Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla. Thomas will make his first Grapefruit League start on Friday at home against the Astros.

Toronto at Detroit
at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla.

Today’s lineups:

BLUE JAYS
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Vernon Wells, CF
Alex Rios, DH
Adam Lind, LF
John Hattig, 3B
Michael Vento, RF
Kevin Barker, 1B
John McDonald, SS

PITCHING: Roy Halladay

TIGERS
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Placido Polanco, 2B
Gary Sheffield, DH
Carlos Guillen, SS
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Craig Monroe, LF
Brandon Inge, 3B
Chris Shelton, 1B
Brandon Watson, CF

PITCHING: Mike Maroth

Blue Jays tie! Blue Jays tie! Blue Jays tie! Ah, the sweet sound of the P.A. blaring from the speakers at a Spring Training game, telling the crowd that the game will end in a tie. Only in March. Toronto and Pittsburgh played to an 8-8, 10-inning deadlock on Monday afternoon.

No wins or losses, but Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells did smack his first homer of the spring and Jays starter Josh Towers looked solid in his spring debut as well. Towers went two innings, giving up one run on one hit with two strikeouts. The one hit? A solo homer by Pirates 1B Brad Eldred.

"We had an idea of what we wanted to do and I kind of got ahead of myself a little bit," said Towers, referring to the errant pitch to Eldred. "My left shoulder opened up, my right hand stayed behind, and it just went right down the middle."

Other than that, though, Towers looked like a pitcher in control — much different that the guy who "was pitching scared" last season with Toronto. Against Pitt, Towers threw 27 pitches, including 19 strikes. Three of his outs came via grounders.

Last season, when Towers went 1-9 with a 9.11 ERA in his 12 starts, he said he was overthinking all the time. He was worrying too much on his mechanics and his mind raced at an increasingly rapid rate before every pitch as the losses began to pile up. Also, Towers said that he was trying to impress the new players on Toronto’s roster at the time.

"Looking back on it a little bit, I wanted to impress the new guys. I wanted to impress Troy [Glaus] and Lyle [Overbay]. I wanted to throw with Bengie [Molina]," Towers said. "Maybe [my contract] was in the back of my mind, but I didn’t think that. I wanted to look good for those guys I had played against — that’s so stupid."

LEAGUE UPDATE: Brandon League threw fastballs off a mound for about five minutes at Knology Park on Monday. It was the right-hander’s first time on a mound in 10 days, and he said afterwards that the right lat injury that’s sidelined him so far this spring wasn’t an issue. In fact, League said he has no doubts that he can be ready by Opening Day.

League — the leading candidate for Toronto’s setup man role — will play catch again on Tuesday and said he’d back on a mound in a couple days. League estimated that he’d throw two or three more bullpen sessions before throwing to hitters.

ON DECK: Roy Halladay will head to Lakeland, Fla., to start against the Tigers in a 1:05 p.m. ET tilt at Joker Marchant Stadium. Until then, stay tuned for more…

Pirates vs. Blue Jays
at Knology Park in Dunedin, Fla.

Today’s lineups:

PIRATES
Chris Duffy, CF
Andrew McCutchen, LF
Michael Ryan, DH
Brad Eldred, 1B
Chris Aguila, RF
Ronny Paulino, C
Jose Bautista, 3B
Jose Hernandez, SS
Eddie Garabito, 2B

PITCHING: Zach Duke, Brian Rogers, Josh Sharpless, Salomon Torres, Dave Davidson (born in Richmond Hill, Ontario), and Franquelis Osaria

BLUE JAYS
Royce Clayton, SS
Gregg Zaun, DH
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Vernon Wells, CF
Troy Glaus, 3B
Matt Stairs, RF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
Jason Phillips, C

PITCHING: Josh Towers, B.J. Ryan, Jason Frasor, Pete Walker, Jeremy Accardo, Matt Roney, Jean Machi (subject to change with the rainout the other day)

Toronto played a B game against the Phillies this morning at Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater, Fla. The game doesn’t count in terms of the Grapefruit League standings or statistics.

Dustin McGowan started for the Jays and allowed no runs on two hits in two innings. McGowan threw 49 pitches — 29 for strikes — and he walked three, struck out two and hit one batter. The two hits he gave up were an infield single and a single through the hole between first and second that came on a hit-and-run.

Casey Janssen also pitched two innings for the Jays and looked very sharp. He threw 26 pitches, including 20 for strikes. Janssen gave up two hits and struck out four, including Phil’s Aaron Roward and Pat Burrell. Toronto second baseman Russ Adams belted a two-run homer off Philadelphia starter Freddy Garcia in the third.

It’s game time at Knology. Stay tuned for more…

Well, Jo Matumoto finally made his debut with the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, the ol’ fairytale ending to his story is going to have to be postponed. Matumoto — the Brazilian pitcher of Japanese descent Toronto signed recently — entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and wound up giving up two runs on one hits in 1/3 of an inning. The 36-year-old lefty walked three and hit another batter.

Nerves were likely a factor. Could you blame him for being nervous? The guy toiled away in the industrial leagues in Japan and then on teams in Brazil before FINALLY getting a shot at making a big-league team. He won’t make Toronto’s roster, but simply a call-up to The Show at some point would make his a tremendous success story.

Seeing Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg head out to the mound for a visit with Matumoto was interesting in itself. Toronto had infielder Ray Olmedo, who speaks Spanish and English, translate Arnsberg’s words for Matumoto, who speaks Portugese, Spanish and Japanese. Quite a sight.

John Thomson, Shaun Marcum and Victor Zambrano all looked good. After his outing, Zambrano actually said he believes he could leave Spring Training as a starter. That forced smiles from Arnsberg and Jays manager John Gibbons, who know it’s probably not realistic, but who like hearing the pitcher has that kind of attitude. He’s a little over nine months removed from reconstructive elbow surgery.

Blue Jays beat Tampa Bay, 7-4, but we all know wins and losses in the spring don’t carry much weight. Before the game, Gibbons was meeting with reporters in the dugout and pointed at Adam Lind as he walked by: "There’s boy wonder," Gibbons said with a chuckle. Well, Boy Wonder added another triple in Sunday’s game. Catcher Curtis Thigpen chipped in a two-run homer in the ninth.

All right, that’s all for now. I’m sitting outside in the open-air "pressbox" at Progress Energy Park in St. Pete, where I can see sailboats drifting along in the bay as the sun sets behind me. Time to call it a day…

Blue Jays vs. Devil Rays
at Progress Energy Park in St. Petersburg

Today’s Lineups:

BLUE JAYS
John McDonald, SS
Adam Lind, LF
Russ Adams, 2B
John-Ford Griffin, RF
Jason Phillips, C
John Hattig, 1B
Jason Smith, 3B
Robinzon Diaz, DH
Jeff Duncan, CF

PITCHING: John Thomson starting; Shaun Marcum and Victor Zambrano also scheduled to pitch; and maybe the first pro appearance by Jo Matumoto.

DEVIL RAYS
Rocco Baldelli, CF
Delmon Young, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Ty Wigginton, DH
Jorge Cantu, 2B
Greg Norton, 1B
Akinori Iwamura, 3B
Dioner Navarro, C
Ben Zobrist, SS

PITCHING: Jae Kuk Ryu — most famous for killing an osprey while pitching for the Daytona Cubs a few years ago.

NOTES FROM PREGAME:

• A.J. Burnett will not travel to Fort Myers to take on Boston on Thursday. Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong. The Jays have a B game against the Phillies at 10 a.m. in Dunedin that day, too. Burnett is scheduled to pitch three innings in that non-Grapefruit League contest.
• Right-handers Dustin McGowan and Casey Janssen are scheduled to pitch in the B game against the Phils at 10 a.m. on Monday in Clearwater.
• Jason Smith — Toronto’s Rule 5 Draft pick up — started at third base, but Jays manager John Gibbons plans on moving him to the outfield later in the game. Smith is trying to make Toronto’s roster as the super utility player.
• Left fielder Reed Johnson received a cortisone shot in his back to help alleviate the stiffness. He played catch on Saturday and will begin taking BP soon. There’s no need to rush him into games when his back is tight this early in spring.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more postgame…

On Wednesday, it could’ve just been a coincidence. Phils GM Pat Gillick showed up at the Bobby mattick Training Center and chatted for a little while with Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi (left).

Gillick still has ties to people within Toronto’s organization from his time as the Jays GM, and he’s made many trips over to Bobby Mattick over the years. The fact that he showed up wasn’t a huge surprise.

Then there was Saturday. Us scribes were busy typing away and taking in the Toronto-Tampa Bay game and there was Gillick again, watching the action from the back corner of the pressbox. Now, it’s starting to seem a little fishy.

It could mean nothing. It could mean something. Believe what you want about the two visits. What it seems like, though, is that there could be something behind it. Philadelphia is looking for bullpen help and Toronto has some arms that it could make available. The Jays and Phils have also scheduled a pair of B games — 10 a.m. each on March 5 and 8 in Clearwater and Dunedin, respectively — and Toronto will likely have some of its younger pitchers throwing in those games.

There’s also the fact that the Phils seem willing to deal starter Jon Lieber, and various reports have them also interested in Jays right fielder Alex Rios. A Rios-for-Lieber seems like a stretch, though. It makes sense in this way: If Phils got Rios (or Reed Johnson for that matter), they could try to breathe life into the Aaron Roward-to-Padres-for-Scott Linebrink deal.

Dealing Rios in that situation seems unlikely, especially now that Toronto has added pitching depth with John Thomson, Tomo Ohka and Victor Zambrano. But the visits have been made, the games are scheduled, and the rumors and reports are there. So I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.

POSTGAME: Toronto is no longer undefeated and you can blame the rain. The Jays and Rays ended their Saturday contest after six innings when it began pouring harder. Tampa Bay was ahead, 5-4, at the time and that’s all she wrote.

A.J. Burnett looked solid, sticking to fastballs and changeups over two innings. He gave up a solo homer to Jonny Gomes in the first, but Gomes also went deep in the third. It happens.

Burnett’s line: 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 K.

Tomo Ohka didn’t look so good. He was throwing strikes, but leaving the ball up. It’s way too early to make a formal judgement on his performance, but it wasn’t a good start.

Ohka’s line: 2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 BB.

Troy Glaus nearly had two homers. He sent one pitch from lefty Scott Kazmir well over the wall in left center for a two-run shot in the first. Glaus then went off the wall in center in the third for a double. Don’t forget about the ball that sailed just foul in the spring opener. Glaus is locked in right now.

Rios also continued his hot hitting, sending a double to the right-center gap in the second. Toronto manager John Gibbons said Rios (sore shoulder) has been throwing and could be back in right field by the beginning of next week. DH Frank Thomas should be in the lineup on March 9, and Reed Johnson (sore lower back) will be out "a little longer."

As for Brandon League and his strained lat? There’s isn’t a clearcut answer right now. He’s been throwing off flat ground, but Gibbons isn’t sure when he’ll be back on a mound:

"He’s got to get off the mound pretty soon in the bullpen, because sooner or later we have to find out what’s going on. That way we can go to Plan B if we have to."

So, when does Plan B come into play? One week? Two?

"You tell me. I mean, it won’t be long."

With that, stay tuned for more…

The Devil Rays have just finished batting practice and we’re gearing up for Game 3 of Toronto’s exhibition season. Sorry for no entries the last couple days, but I’m back. Here are the lineups for today’s game:

TAMPA BAY:
B.J. Upton, 2B
Brendan Harris, SS
Jonny Gomes, LF
Elijah Dukes, CF
Carlos Pena, 1B
Hee-Soep Choi, DH
Dustan Mohr, RF
Joel Guzman, 3B
Josh Paul, C

PITCHING: Scott Kazmir, Al Reyes, Seth McClung, among others

TORONTO:
Royce Clayton, SS
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Vernon Wells, CF
Troy Glaus, 3B
Gregg Zaun, C
Aaron Hill, 2B
Alex Rios, DH
Chad Mottola, RF
Rob Cosby, LF

PITCHING: A.J. Burnett, Tomo Ohka, Blaine Neal, Ismael Ramirez, Francisco Rosario, Pete Walker, and maybe Josh Banks

As you can see, Rios is still in as the DH. I didn’t make the trip to Fort Myers for the game against Boston yesterday, but Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said it could be a week or two before Rios is back in the outfield. There’s definitely no reason to play him in right with a tender shoulder at this point, especially with Frank Thomas sitting the first week, too. It would make sense to transition Rios back into right field when Thomas is back in as the DH.

I did make it to Toronto’s workout at Knology Park yesterday morning. I spoke with Reed Johnson about his stiff back. He said he began feeling it when he played in one of the intrasquad games earlier in the week, but it wasn’t a big deal. He expected to be back in the mix in a few days. Again, this early in spring, there’s no need to risk anything — might as well rest him for a few days.

The Jays aren’t sending many regulars over to St. Pete for Sunday’s tilt against the D-Rays. Hill, Jason Phillips and Jason Smith are the only position players on the projected Opening Day roster who are making the trip. The pitchers that are going include John Thomson, Shaun Marcum, Victor Zambrano, Brian Tallet, Jo Matumoto, Ryan Houston and maybe Banks. Josh Towers is scheduled to start on Monday.

That’s all for now. It’s been drizzling here on and off, so hopefully we can et this game in. Right now it’s just cloudy and cold enough to make the sportswriters moan about not bringing their jackets. Poor us, huh.

Stay tuned for more…

This was the sight before noon on Wednesday, when the Blue Jays gathered one last time at the Bobby Mattick Training Center for a spring workout. After some rounds of catch, a few swings during batting practice and some conditioning drills, Toronto pulled up the stakes and moved south to Knology Park.

On Thursday, the Jays host their first Grapefruit League game of Spring Training. Roy Halladay is slated to take the hill for two innings against the Red Sox, who aren’t likely to send many of their regulars. As for the Jays, projected starters Reed Johnson (stiff back), Alex Rios (tender shoulder) and Frank Thomas (taking things slowly this first week) aren’t expected to be in the lineup.

Here’s who are tentatively penciled in: first baseman Lyle Overbay, second baseman Aaron Hill, shortstop Royce Clayton, third baseman Troy Glaus, catcher Gregg Zaun, center fielder Vernon Wells, Adam Lind (left field), Matt Stairs (right field and possibly Curtis Thigpen (designated hitter). As with every spring, the starters will probably play a handful of innings before hitting the showers.

Scheduled to pitch: Halladay (two innings), and one inning each from B.J. Ryan, Jason Frasor, Scott Downs, Brian Tallet, Jeremy Accardo, Ty Taubenheim and Ryan Houston. Boston is sending lefty Kason Gabbard to the mound as its starter.

LEAGUE UPDATE: The alarms aren’t blaring yet in regards to the health of right-hander Brandon League, but manager John Gibbons didn’t sound too optimistic when he discussed the situation on Wednesday. League, who entered camp as the leading candidate for the setup job, has been dealing with tightness near his throwing shoulder.

"Everything pretty much right now is revolving around League," Gibbons said. "Hopefully, he’ll be ready. If not, it shouldn’t be too long after the start of the season. That’s the biggest concern right now."

That’s all for now. There are some new photos (Halladay, Gibbons, GM J.P. Ricciardi and Phils GM Pat Gillick chatting today, Tomo Ohka, and Pat Hentgen, among others) in the Spring Training Photo Album. I probably won’t be able to take as many pics now that games are starting.

More to come tomorrow from Knology Park. Stay tuned…

IN CLOSING:

The photo below, taken by Mike Cassese (Reuters), was the subject of some debate today:

We were trying to decipher what exactly Gibbons was discussing with Japanese pitcher Tomo Ohka.

Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star: "He’s describing Godzilla."

Jeremy Sandler of the National Post: "He’s asking, ‘Which one smells better?’"

When Gibbons showed up in the media work room for today’s sit down with the press, I asked him if he remembered what was going on during the exchange. He looked at the photo, laughed, and shrugged his shoulders.

"Man, I don’t know. Maybe I was saying, ‘I thought you’d be taller,’" Gibbons said with a chuckle.

What are some captions that you would put with that photo?