2:20PM Eastern

There’s no better way to spend an off-day than hanging out in the media workroom at the FAES, waiting three and a half hours for an injured player to finish getting treatment in order to talk to him.

Spring training problems, though.  Truth remains I’m well aware I have one of the best jobs in the world.

When Dustin McGowan finally emerged from the trainers’ room, he did so with no wraps or ice or anything on his right foot, just a regular running shoe, and he walked out of the clubhouse without so much as the hint of a limp.

McGowan said that he felt much better today than he did Sunday afternoon, when he removed himself from a scheduled five-inning minor-league start a couple of batters into his second inning of work, having to be taken off the field on a golf cart.  The plantar fascia in his right foot was really bothering him, and he was concerned that the pain in his foot might affect his mechanics on the mound, so he figured the right move to make was to shut it down for the day, and he was right.

The plantar fasciitis is mild, and the fascia itself is not torn, which is wonderful news.  McGowan hoped that he would be able to throw (not from a mound) in the next day or two, and that he might not need to miss more than a week before getting back on the mound.  How optimistic a scenario that is, we don’t know.  What we do know, though, is that McGowan had the same problem with his left foot earlier in the spring, and it resolved itself within a couple of weeks.  Left foot problems aren’t nearly as bad for a right-handed pitcher though, because while the left foot is the one on which he lands, the right foot is used to push off and generate power.

McGowan doesn’t think this is a huge setback, though.  He was already stretched out to 68 pitches in his previous outing, and says he won’t have too hard a time getting back there.  If he does have to miss a major-league start or two getting stretched back out at extended Spring Training, such is life.  As he said, better to take a week off than a career off – and he’s well acquainted with potential career-ending injuries.

Here’s our discussion with McGowan, for your listening pleasure:

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While Dustin is optimistic, the injury likely means that he won’t be able to be on the major-league roster for Opening Day, swinging the door open for either Aaron Laffey (who’s not on the 40-man roster) or Kyle Drabek (who is).  Laffey was having a terrific spring until the Red Sox beat him up for five runs on nine hits Sunday afternoon. Drabek is having a terrific spring, and will be on the mound on Tuesday night against the Yankees.  We’ll have that game for you all across the Blue Jays Radio Network, beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern, and expect to have a full edition of The JaysTalk for you afterwards.  Join us, won’t you?

Drabek is scheduled to pitch five innings, and be followed by the big guns – Sergio Santos, Casey Janssen and Francisco Cordero.  Here’s the rest of the Jays’ travel squad for the game:  Drew Carpenter, Jesse Chavez, Robert Coello, J.P. Arencibia, Jeff Mathis, Edwin Encarnacion, Yunel Escobar, Kelly Johnson, Brett Lawrie, Adam Lind, Mike McCoy, Luis Valbuena, Omar Vizquel, Jose Bautista, Rajai Davis, Ben Francisco, Colby Rasmus, Eric Thames, Jonathan Diaz, Yan Gomes, Brian Jeroloman, Ricardo Nanita, John Tolisano, Chris Woodward.

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, if you’re not doing so already – you can find me @wilnerness590.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.