5:10 PM Eastern
So the Jays are now 0-1 on the spring, having amassed just four hits in the opener. But then again, no one who will be in the lineup on Opening Day in the Bronx was in the line-up here in Lakeland today, so don’t get too caught up in Grapefruit wins and losses.
I hope you enjoyed the live blogging, that’s what it’ll be like most games – all over the first four innings or so, and then goodbye for a while. Please let me know what you thought, and whether I should keep doing it throughout the spring.
Tomorrow, it’s the Tigers again, but this time in Dunedin. Jerry, Alan and I will have it live for you on mlb.com (I’m pretty sure it’s free during the spring), and I’m hoping to incorporate an e-mail element into our webcasts, if for nothing else than to see where the heck all of you are who are listening to us. Roy Halladay will start for the Jays, followed by Jason Frasor, Brian Wolfe, Jeremy Accardo, Brian Tallet, Scott Downs, Brandon League and Kane Davis. For the Tigers, it’s scheduled to be Justin Verlander, Nate Robertson, Preston Larrison, Rick Porcello, Francis Beltran and Freddy Dolsi. John Gibbons said to expect the Opening Day line-up (but not necessarily the Opening Day batting order), so it’ll be interesting to see how he fits the pieces together.
And by the way, I saw Rob MacLeod’s note on the Globe and Mail blog, and just want to offer my side of the story. It wasn’t a “tub” of french fries, it was the remainder of my lunch. As I mentioned in the live blog, I had to hit the concessions, and I got the chicken fingers and fries (would have gotten the panda, but damnit, it wasn’t real panda). It’s served in a cone-shaped apparatus that looks nothing like a tub, and I only ate about a third of the fries. See, the healthy eating part is all about portion size, and out of the sheer generosity of my heart, I offered the rest of it to MacLeod, Cathal Kelly and Jeremy Sandler, all of whom were sitting comfortably side by side on press row. And no, I’m no longer on Herbal Magic – they taught me enough that I’m able to maintain a healthy weight on my own, which is the whole idea, right?
No fries for lunch tomorrow – the Blue Jays’ press meal at Knology Park is catered by Boston Market.
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We liked the game blog Mike. Thanks as always!
- Kevin from AvonleaMike – thank you so much for the “live” blog. It was great to read your recaps every half inning while watching the game day box scores on auto refresh. It was the best baseball I’ve “watched” in a couple of months! Keep up the great work!
Unfortunately I checked out the mlb site to see if we could get the ST games in audio for free and it appears to me you have to buy a package (but then you get all the ST games for FREE). So we won’t be able to hear Alan and Jerry. Do you know if the FAN 590 is playing the game… and if so… will it be a live transmission through the web?
- DanielGreat to hear that the radio coverage is getting underway (I had Gameday Audio last year and it was genuinely addictive, important given that I’m a few thousand miles away for all but a tiny handful of regular season games).
Is there a list somewhere of which ST games are going to be available in audio? I can’t drag it out of the FAN site or mlb.com for some reason.
- DaithíThanks for the live blogs – keep up the good work… especially for games that aren’t on the radio. Kinda lame to get updated by refreshing a box score page at the mlb website.
- ErikThanks for the coverage Mike. Keep it up.
- Chris NIn all fairness, the Tigers had all their big guns out their (as we will have ours out tomorrow). They basically had their starting lineup, most of them with three at bats. The Jays, on the other hand, had a slim lineup, with Reed Johnson only likely opening day starter playing today. So today’s loss shouldn’t be anything to panic about. Remember, it is only preseason.
Still, watching the pitching tomorrow will be very interesting. I am interested in seeing where Jerry Accardo will fall in the lineup come opening day. While B.J. Ryan is a great player, I hate to see Accardo relegated. He did a great job last year and put up numbers nobody expected in his backup role.
I am also interested in seeing what Brandon League will bring. I have been waiting for this kid to break in, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this year will be his year.
Finally, will Scott Rolen bring a spark to the team? Honestly, I think Rolen is nearly the same player as Troy Glaus. I don’t know if picking up Rolen will hurt or help. I really don’t think we will see anything either positive or negative from that trade.
- Dave TrotterI really wish my job was to go to spring training and eat chicken fingers. Thanks for answering my question regarding free radio. And finally, I listen at home, because after 3 years at a private Jewish high school where we got a bunch of extra credits, I have transferred to public school and end at 11:20 this semester. It’s pretty awesome and let’s me catch every ST game.
- Eric HartmanWho are you? Griffin? You don’t need our approval to know you’re nailing it.
- stoetenLove the live blogs…. updates on pitcher strength and any potential health problems they have will be key information heading into the season…thanks for all the great work Mike!
- Jon RyanIn answer to my own question, http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/schedule/broadcast.jsp?c_id=tor has the list. Glad to see FAN doing lots of spring training games.
- Daithí