Is Friday, Nov. 18 the day the Toronto Blue Jays will unveil their rumoured new uniforms?

That’s the buzz after a release was sent out by the team inviting recipients to “step up to the plate in style,” during a 12 p.m. “formal announcement” that day on the Rogers Centre field.

The invitation provides no further details, but does include perhaps a hint to the new font (see image above) the team might employ on any potential new digs.

Speculation has been rampant for months that Toronto will sport new uniforms for the 2012 season—perhaps ones closely resembling the team’s popular, original logo.

This past summer,
this image, purported to be a leaked version of the team’s new logo began circulating on the Internet.

A blog on America’s national past-time from a Canadian perspective.

BOSTON (CBS) – With David Ortiz set to hit free agency when the World Series concludes, there is an AL East foe that could pluck him away from the Red Sox.

For now, that team is not the New York Yankees.

A Major League source told the Boston Herald the Toronto Blue Jays will not rule out pursuing Ortiz this offseason, giving their lineup a little more pop.

Ortiz has bode well north of the border, with his 29 career home runs at the Rogers Centre second only to the 151 he has knocked out of Fenway Park.

Read: Sox Free Agency Track Record ‘Not Good Enough’

Ortiz would provide protection for Toronto’s power hitting Jose Bautista, who Ortiz chose to be on the AL Home Run derby team during this season’s All-Star festivities. He is also very familiar with Jays current manager, John Farrell, who was the pitching coach in Boston from 2007-2010.

Ortiz’ options will be limited this offseason, as the 36-year-old full-time DH will have to find a home in the American League if he does not return to Boston.

A seven-time All-Star while with the Red Sox, Ortiz did say recently he would like to return to Boston.

Ortiz hit .309 with 29 home runs and 96 RBI in 2011.

When the late Tom Cheek was properly honoured by the Toronto Blue Jays in a pre-game ceremony on Aug. 29, 2004, New York Yankees starter Mike Mussina complained that the extra 15 minutes he’d been forced to wait had thrown off his pre-game routine. It was vintage whining from a vintage whiner.

More related to this story

Brandon Morrow missed the strike zone on his first five pitches Sunday against the Texas Rangers following pre-game ceremonies honouring the retirement of Roberto Alomar’s uniform No. 12 – ceremonies that went on a tick longer than expected. But Endy Chavez, who drew a lead-off walk on four pitches that were nowhere near the strike zone, was thrown out stealing second, and all Morrow talked about later was how it affected him “a little bit, maybe,” but how “awesome” the Rogers Centre is when it’s filled up.

“Even if you have 20,000 people in here, it can still feel empty because it’s such a large building,” Morrow said, after setting a season high with 11 strikeouts as the Jays won 7-3 in front of a sell-out crowd of 45,629 that was the largest non-Opening Day home crowd for the Jays since April 19, 2003.

Morrow, whose career-high is 17 strikeouts, didn’t allow the Rangers to sit on his fastball.

“It allowed him to slow down their bats,” said manager John Farrell.

Morrow’s modus operandi was clear in the first inning: he struck out Omar Quintanilla and Josh Hamilton on sliders.

Morrow is widely considered to be the next Blue Jays player in line for a multi-year contract. But he said the club has not started negotiations with the Wasserman Group, which represents him.

ALOMAR’S NUMBER

Alomar, who last weekend became the first player to go into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown wearing a Blue Jays cap, was feted in a pre-game ceremony in which his former manager, Cito Gaston, attended along with former teammates Candy Maldonado, Kelly Gruber, Devon White and Duane Ward, as well as his roommate from Puerto Rico, Carlos Baerga.

In addition to a banner over the Rogers Centre video board, a banner with Alomar’s No. 12 was erected above Gate 8. The first 20,000 fans received Roberto Alomar bobbleheads, and based on the empty seats in the second inning it appeared many showed up for the dolls and ceremony and took off.

But after Morrow struck out Hamilton to end the top of the first, Edwin Encarnacion slugged his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot with Jose Bautista on second after a walk and wild pitch.

“That seemed to set everybody off,” said Farrell. Encarnacion is 9-for-24 (.375) in his last seven games with four doubles and a homer and has an OPS more than 1.000 since July 7.

BAUTISTA’S DROUGHT

Jose Bautista has gone 14 games without a home run, his longest dry spell since a 24-game, 77-at-bat gap from July 28-Sept. 5, 2009. Bautista and his teammates have Monday off before opening a three-game series against the meat of the Tampa Bay Rays rotation: David Price, James Shields and Wade Davis. Bautista has hit three career homers in 23 plate appearances against Price and two in 19 plate appearances against Shields. But Bautista has had trouble at Tropicana Field, with one career homer and a .234 average.

ARENCIBIA ON A ROLL

Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia’s 17 homers are the fourth-most by a Blue Jays rookie, leaving him seven back of Eric Hinske’s club record of 24 set in 2002. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Arencibia’s homer on Friday made him the first player to hit five homers in a six-game span out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order since Dale Sveum of the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. Before Sveum, Don Drysdale of the 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers was the last player to do so. Any day you can get Drysdale’s name in a newspaper is a good day.

Jo-Jo Reyes pitches during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

In his first career outing against the Cleveland Indians in May, Jo-Jo Reyes picked up his first victory in three years. When he faces the Indians this time, the Toronto Blue Jays left-hander goes for his first win in three weeks.

The Blue Jays will try to snap a three-game skid to the AL Central-leading Indians on Friday night at Progressive Field following a stunning defeat in the series opener.

Trying to avoid becoming the first pitcher in major league history to go winless in 29 starts, Reyes (3-7, 4.85 ERA) threw his first career complete game in an 11-1 win over the visiting Indians (47-39) on May 30.

It was the left-hander’s first victory since June 13, 2008, while with Atlanta.

Reyes enters this contest with an 0-2 record and 8.40 ERA in his last three outings after surrendering four runs over six innings of Sunday’s 7-4 win over Philadelphia. Reyes settled down after giving up four runs in the second inning, but he was far from having his best stuff.

“He wasn’t as sharp. Maybe a little bit of dead arm. A little bit of lack of life through the zone. That happens,” manager John Farrell told the Blue Jays’ official website. “But Jo-Jo kept us in the game.”

The Blue Jays (42-47) were two outs from winning Thursday, but Travis Hafner’s walkoff grand slam capped a five-run ninth and sent Toronto to its third straight loss and eighth defeat in 11 games.

“That’s a gut-wrenching loss,” Farrell said.

It was Cleveland’s 20th comeback win.

“That was an amazing comeback,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose team has won nine of 11 in this matchup. “Before that, it was eight of the most boring innings all season.”

Cleveland will go for its sixth straight victory at home against the Blue Jays with Mitch Talbot (2-5, 5.60) on the hill.

The right-hander, 1-5 with a 6.86 ERA in eight starts since returning from a right elbow strain, has struggled early in his outings. Twenty of the 33 runs he’s allowed have come in the first three innings of his starts.

“I’m going to have to go to [Pitching coach Tim Belcher] Belch and see what he’s seeing,” Talbot said after giving up six runs in four innings of Sunday’s 7-5 loss at Cincinnati. “… I don’t know what to do right now.”

Not many pitchers do lately when facing Toronto’s Jose Bautista. The All-Star is batting .407 (11 for 27) while homering in five of seven games this month. His solo shot in the ninth inning Thursday was his major league-best 29th — tying George Bell’s 24-year-old club record for homers before the All-Star break.

Bautista is 2-for-7 with a homer off Talbot, who yielded one run in 6 2-3 innings of a 6-3 victory at Toronto on May 31.

There’s a chance Indians rookie third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall could be out the rest of this series after getting hit by a pitch from Carlos Villanueva on Thursday and suffering a facial contusion.

“He will see a specialist tomorrow,” Acta said of the club’s No. 1 draft pick in 2008.

It was a day of firsts for the Toronto Blue Jays.

There was Aaron Hill’s first-inning grand slam, not only the first bases-loaded homer of his career but his first round-tripper of the season.

Then there was Edwin Encarnacion’s inaugural homer of 2011 in the ensuing at bat. And how about Jayson Nix’s first-inning single, the first hit for him in 22 at bats and the first by a Blue Jays third baseman since May 15?

All were welcome in a lopsided 13-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday before 18,325 fans at the Rogers Centre, but none more so than Hill’s blast.

Not only did it put the Jays ahead to stay and set the stage for an 18-hit Blue Jays attack, it provided some hope that maybe the personable second baseman is coming out of the hitting funk that has bogged him down the past two seasons.

After a banner season at the plate in 2009, Hill hit an embarrassing .205 last year. But at least he was still providing power with 26 homers.

This year, he’s been hitting a little better but has provided nothing in the way of power.

The Jays are hoping Sunday’s blast will turn him around.

Manager John Farrell, for one, is hoping it will help his second baseman at least relax a bit.

“I think more than anything, he’s been a little more relaxed the last couple, three weeks,” Farrell said. “I think he himself is starting to feel it come a little bit more routinely for him.”

Hill was obviously happy with the homer, but isn’t sure it will provide the push he needs to get back to the form he showed two seasons ago.

“Obviously, it’s still not there,” he said. “I’m trying not to look at results because obviously you want results quick and fast because you want to get going.”

Hill said that his ultimate goal isn’t hitting homers, but simply feeling good at the plate and getting his bat through the hitting zone with authority. He’s still struggling with that.

“It’s frustrating for me just because I know I’m a better player,” he said.

Hill feels he’s getting closer to that goal, but needs to be more consistent.

He said in order to get back to where he was in 2009, when he hit 36 homers and drove in 108 runs, he has to concentrate on hitting line drives.

“I never viewed myself as a home run hitter and I’m still not going to,” he said.

One guy who has been viewed as a home run hitter is Encarnacion, so getting that monkey off his back should help add another hot bat to the Jays lineup.

Nix’s monumental hit, his first of two on the day, should at least relieve some of the pressure the team’s collection of third basemen have been facing. Farrell says he wasn’t losing sleep over it.

“For me, it was just a matter of time,” he said. “Before Jayson went on the DL he was having good at bats, he was contributing offensively and it’s taken a little time to get going since his return.”

The Jays got another solid outing from ace Ricky Romero, who held the White Sox to two runs and six hits in seven innings despite being “as bad as I could be” in the bullpen.

Considering the way the Jays hit, he didn’t need to be that good.

Corey Patterson completed a nine-hit weekend with four hits including his second homer in two days. He also drove in three runs.

Encarnacion, who came into the game hitting .236, added three hits.

On a day when slugger Jose Bautista managed only one hit, the explosion from the rest of the lineup was more than welcome.

TORONTO — “E5” has become a popular refrain in the Toronto Blue Jays’ universe. On Thursday night, it popped up again in unexpected fashion.

It was not Edwin Encarnacion, who has made eight errors at third base in 18 games at the position, costing the Blue Jays. It was the reliable John McDonald.

The Blue Jays’ ace fielder started the top of the ninth inning by committing a two-base throwing error, and that runner eventually cashed in the winning run in a 3-1 Chicago White Sox win, wasting a superb start from Brandon Morrow.

“I made an error. I didn’t make the play,” McDonald said of his first error of the year. “It’s disappointing.”

The Blue Jays, including McDonald, came apart in the ninth inning, blowing a winnable situation. McDonald’s error, which put Alex Rios at second base, started the inning. Reliever Marc Rzepczynski proceeded to throw a wild pitch and hit a batter. Still, with two strikeouts, the left-hander almost got out of the inning. But Rzepczynski could not get to the bag before the speedy Juan Pierre got there on a hit to first baseman Juan Rivera, and those two runners came around to score.

(The Blue Jays’ lowly six hits did not help, either.)

“(It is frustrating 3/8 especially when you just give it a way like that,’’ McDonald said. “Our guys were throwing the ball really well. You can’t make mistakes behind them.”

Morrow, who did a swell job of demolishing the notion of the personal catcher, was stellar. In his first start this year with J.P. Arencibia catching instead of Jose Molina, Morrow delivered what he called the best start of his season.

With Arencibia behind the plate, Morrow lasted seven full innings, his longest outing of the year. He surrendered just four hits, with four three-up, three-down innings mixed into his evening.

Morrow was pretty steady throughout, especially after a wild start to the game that included a four-pitch walk and a hit batsman among the first three hitters. Morrow mowed down 11 straight batters spanning the first to fourth innings, with only a three-hit fifth inning marring his effort.

Even in that inning, though, Morrow remained composed. With the bases loaded, Morrow got the dangerous Carlos Quentin to ground out to third base.

Yunel Escobar tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run to centre field.

After a bumpy start, the battery operated smoothly.

“I threw two pitches on (called pickoffs from Arencibia) in the first inning. After that we were fine. Those are just mistakes, not seeing a sign, not being used to the way his fingers work. That was really it.”

Molina started behind the plate in each of Morrow’s first six outings this year, and was essentially Morrow’s personal catcher last year, as well.

Molina started this season as the designated catcher for both Morrow and Kyle Drabek.

However, Arencibia has caught for Drabek four times now. On Thursday, he took the first step toward the final step of becoming the Blue Jays’ starting catcher, without asterisks. Farrell said after the game that the schedule, not the pitcher, would determine who is behind the plate.

In a neat twist to just another one of 81 home games, the sound system at the Rogers Centre went on the fritz in between the end of the top of the first inning and the end of the top of the third. That meant no public-address announcer, no comical sound effects to indicate a foul ball and no at-bat songs. It was eerie, bizarre and kind of nice all at the same time.

You had to admire the fans, who provided proof that you do not have to bombard a crowd with audio cues in order to elicit a response. The Rogers Centre was sparsely attended, but while the sound was out, the fans knew exactly what to do: despite the absence of the thumping bass of Usher’s ubiquitous OMG, Jose Bautista was cheered forcefully when he came up to bat in the first inning; former Blue Jay Alexis Rios did not require a formal introduction to elicit boos in the second inning.

A small packet of fans in right field even opted for soccer-style chants in between innings, as the Blue Jays continued to apologize for the audio problems on the video monitor.

There were no such apologies for the failing offence or the wonky ninth inning, however.

National Post

ekoreen@nationalpost.com

© Copyright (c) National Post

TORONTO — “E5” has become a popular refrain in the Toronto Blue Jays’ universe. On Thursday night, it popped up again in unexpected fashion.

It was not Edwin Encarnacion, who has made eight errors at third base in 18 games at the position, costing the Blue Jays. It was the reliable John McDonald.

The Blue Jays’ ace fielder started the top of the ninth inning by committing a two-base throwing error, and that runner eventually cashed in the winning run in a 3-1 Chicago White Sox win, wasting a superb start from Brandon Morrow.

“I made an error. I didn’t make the play,” McDonald said of his first error of the year. “It’s disappointing.”

The Blue Jays, including McDonald, came apart in the ninth inning, blowing a winnable situation. McDonald’s error, which put Alex Rios at second base, started the inning. Reliever Marc Rzepczynski proceeded to throw a wild pitch and hit a batter. Still, with two strikeouts, the left-hander almost got out of the inning. But Rzepczynski could not get to the bag before the speedy Juan Pierre got there on a hit to first baseman Juan Rivera, and those two runners came around to score.

(The Blue Jays’ lowly six hits did not help, either.)

“(It is frustrating 3/8 especially when you just give it a way like that,’’ McDonald said. “Our guys were throwing the ball really well. You can’t make mistakes behind them.”

Morrow, who did a swell job of demolishing the notion of the personal catcher, was stellar. In his first start this year with J.P. Arencibia catching instead of Jose Molina, Morrow delivered what he called the best start of his season.

With Arencibia behind the plate, Morrow lasted seven full innings, his longest outing of the year. He surrendered just four hits, with four three-up, three-down innings mixed into his evening.

Morrow was pretty steady throughout, especially after a wild start to the game that included a four-pitch walk and a hit batsman among the first three hitters. Morrow mowed down 11 straight batters spanning the first to fourth innings, with only a three-hit fifth inning marring his effort.

Even in that inning, though, Morrow remained composed. With the bases loaded, Morrow got the dangerous Carlos Quentin to ground out to third base.

Yunel Escobar tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run to centre field.

After a bumpy start, the battery operated smoothly.

“I threw two pitches on (called pickoffs from Arencibia) in the first inning. After that we were fine. Those are just mistakes, not seeing a sign, not being used to the way his fingers work. That was really it.”

Molina started behind the plate in each of Morrow’s first six outings this year, and was essentially Morrow’s personal catcher last year, as well.

Molina started this season as the designated catcher for both Morrow and Kyle Drabek.

However, Arencibia has caught for Drabek four times now. On Thursday, he took the first step toward the final step of becoming the Blue Jays’ starting catcher, without asterisks. Farrell said after the game that the schedule, not the pitcher, would determine who is behind the plate.

In a neat twist to just another one of 81 home games, the sound system at the Rogers Centre went on the fritz in between the end of the top of the first inning and the end of the top of the third. That meant no public-address announcer, no comical sound effects to indicate a foul ball and no at-bat songs. It was eerie, bizarre and kind of nice all at the same time.

You had to admire the fans, who provided proof that you do not have to bombard a crowd with audio cues in order to elicit a response. The Rogers Centre was sparsely attended, but while the sound was out, the fans knew exactly what to do: despite the absence of the thumping bass of Usher’s ubiquitous OMG, Jose Bautista was cheered forcefully when he came up to bat in the first inning; former Blue Jay Alexis Rios did not require a formal introduction to elicit boos in the second inning.

A small packet of fans in right field even opted for soccer-style chants in between innings, as the Blue Jays continued to apologize for the audio problems on the video monitor.

There were no such apologies for the failing offence or the wonky ninth inning, however.

National Post

ekoreen@nationalpost.com

© Copyright (c) National Post

TORONTO — “E5” has become a popular refrain in the Toronto Blue Jays’ universe. On Thursday night, it popped up again in unexpected fashion.

It was not Edwin Encarnacion, who has made eight errors at third base in 18 games at the position, costing the Blue Jays. It was the reliable John McDonald.

The Blue Jays’ ace fielder started the top of the ninth inning by committing a two-base throwing error, and that runner eventually cashed in the winning run in a 3-1 Chicago White Sox win, wasting a superb start from Brandon Morrow.

“I made an error. I didn’t make the play,” McDonald said of his first error of the year. “It’s disappointing.”

The Blue Jays, including McDonald, came apart in the ninth inning, blowing a winnable situation. McDonald’s error, which put Alex Rios at second base, started the inning. Reliever Marc Rzepczynski proceeded to throw a wild pitch and hit a batter. Still, with two strikeouts, the left-hander almost got out of the inning. But Rzepczynski could not get to the bag before the speedy Juan Pierre got there on a hit to first baseman Juan Rivera, and those two runners came around to score.

(The Blue Jays’ lowly six hits did not help, either.)

“[It is frustrating] especially when you just give it a way like that,” McDonald said. “Our guys were throwing the ball really well. You can’t make mistakes behind them.”

Morrow, who did a swell job of demolishing the notion of the personal catcher, was stellar. In his first start this year with J.P. Arencibia catching instead of Jose Molina, Morrow delivered what he called the best start of his season.

With Arencibia behind the plate, Morrow lasted seven full innings, his longest outing of the year. He surrendered just four hits, with four three-up, three-down innings mixed into his evening.

Morrow was pretty steady throughout, especially after a wild start to the game that included a four-pitch walk and a hit batsman among the first three hitters. Morrow mowed down 11 straight batters spanning the first to fourth innings, with only a three-hit fifth inning marring his effort.

Even in that inning, though, Morrow remained composed. With the bases loaded, Morrow got the dangerous Carlos Quentin to ground out to third base. Yunel Escobar tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run to centre field.

After a bumpy start, the battery operated smoothly.

“I threw two pitches on [called pick-offs from Arencibia] in the first inning. After that we were fine. Those are just mistakes, not seeing a sign, not being used to the way his fingers work. That was really it.”

Molina started behind the plate in each of Morrow’s first six outings this year, and was essentially Morrow’s personal catcher last year, as well. Molina started this season as the designated catcher for both Morrow and Kyle Drabek.

However, Arencibia has caught for Drabek four times now. On Thursday, he took the first step toward the final step of becoming the Blue Jays’ starting catcher, without asterisks. Farrell said after the game that the schedule, not the pitcher, would determine who is behind the plate.

In a neat twist to just another one of 81 home games, the sound system at the Rogers Centre went on the fritz in between the end of the top of the first inning and the end of the top of the third. That meant no public-address announcer, no comical sound effects to indicate a foul ball and no at-bat songs. It was eerie, bizarre and kind of nice all at the same time.

You had to admire the fans, who provided proof that you do not have to bombard a crowd with audio cues in order to elicit a response. The Rogers Centre was sparsely attended, but while the sound was out, the fans knew exactly what to do: despite the absence of the thumping bass of Usher’s ubiquitous “OMG”, Jose Bautista was cheered forcefully when he came up to bat in the first inning; former Blue Jay Alexis Rios did not require a formal introduction to elicit boos in the second inning.

A small packet of fans in right field even opted for soccer-style chants in between innings, as the Blue Jays continued to apologize for the audio problems on the video monitor.

There were no such apologies for the failing offence or the wonky ninth inning, however.

• Email: ekoreen@nationalpost.com | Twitter: @ekoreen

When the Toronto Blue Jays kick off the 2011 season April 1 against the Minnesota Twins, it will be before a full house.

The Blue Jays announced Wednesday they’ve sold out the Rogers Centre for opening night against the Twins.

Toronto will begin the season with a three-game series against Minnesota with the Jays giving away Jose Bautista bobbleheads to the first 10,000 fans attending the April 3 contest. The Jays will then host the Oakland A’s for three games starting April 5.

Toronto will embark on a 10-game road trip before returning to Rogers Centre to host the New York Yankees starting April 19.

The roster is slowly taking shape as the Toronto Blue Jays are almost ready to fly north for the sum

As the Blue Jays assembled on St. Patrick’s Day 2011, they had played 18 Grapefruit League games so far this spring, sitting right at .500, nine up, nine down. There have been some noteworthy performances to date: Rajai Davis with three home runs after hitting just five in 143 games last season with the Athletics and the emergence of young Eric Thames tied for the club lead with eight RBI. Travis Snider leading the regulars with a .478 average despite missing the start of camp with a rib cage muscle injury as well as Jo-Jo Reyes pitching his way into rotation consideration.

But there have also been some concerns, mostly involving injuries. With just 13 games remaining on the exhibition schedule, second baseman Aaron Hill has yet to appear in an ‘A’ game due to a nagging right quadriceps muscle. He finally appeared in an intra-squad game on Wednesday but the clock is ticking on him being ready for Opening Night on April 1st at the Rogers Centre.

Injuries have also caused the Jays to shut down potential closers Frank Francisco (shoulder) and Octavio Dotel (hamstring) for the short-term.

Eyebrows were raised on Rogers Sportsnet’s telecast last Sunday when No. 1 starter Ricky Romero came down with a sore middle finger on his pitching hand and the Jays were forced to scratch him from his Thursday assignment.

And finally, Scott Podsednik, expected to compete for one of the spots on the bench, has only appeared in one game before his case of plantar fasciitis flared up for a second time and his left foot had to be placed in a cast. Of those injuries, only Podsednik’s appears to be long-term and has seriously hurt his chances of making the Blue Jays.

With the final 25-man roster to start the season still a work in progress, it has allowed several other players and pitchers to move up on the depth chart.

David Cooper

Chosen 17th overall in the 2008 draft, Cooper’s minor-league career seemingly hit a plateau over the last two seasons spent with New Hampshire (AA). This spring he has been given a good, long look, appearing to date in a team-high 17 games with some success (.393 AVG, .938 OPS) and is ticketed to start the season at Triple-A. This gives the team a fallback option should Adam Lind and/or Edwin Encarnacion falter at first base. After not being mentioned among the franchise’s top prospects, Cooper has also shown to be a capable defender this spring.

Brett Lawrie

Lawrie has been front and centre all spring long, getting regular work as he makes the transition from second to third base. Manager John Farrell has raved since the start of camp about Lawrie’s hustle and intensity. He has certainly shown enough to date break camp with the team, but his long-term development is being debated by the decision makers on a daily basis. But management are also deciding what is best and most comfortable for Jose Bautista, coming off his Major League-leading 54 home-run season in 2010. If third is where Bautista is most comfortable then Lawrie will start the season in Las Vegas. But if a return to right field makes the most sense for Bautista and the franchise then Lawrie will be introduced to the Rogers Centre crowd on Opening Night as the third baseman.

J.P. Arencibia

It’s been an up-and-down spring for the Blue Jays anointed everyday catcher. Having done about all he could at Triple-A, Arencibia has concentrated on his pitch calling and defensive side of the game with mixed results so far this spring. His big problem, right now, is at the plate where in 13 games Arencibia’s hitting just .114 (4 for 35) with only one double, one RBI and 11 strikeouts. Arencibia is still the No. 1 catcher, but unless his performance starts picking up the final two weeks expect Jose Molina to play more than just once a week, which was the original plan, once the regular season begins. Word has it that Molina will begin the season as Kyle Drabek’s personal catcher, much like he did in 2010 when Molina caught Brandon Morrow in 20 of his 27 starts. While the decision-makers are saying all the proper things about J.P. publicly, there have to be some concern over Arencibia behind closed doors.

Jesse Litsch

With Kyle Drabek solidifying his spot in the rotation despite missing a start due to a stiff neck, it appears to be down to Litsch and Jo-Jo Reyes for the final starting spot. Farrell and pitching coach Bruce Walton have been impressed with Reyes, acquired last June from the Braves in the Alex Gonzalez for Yunel Escobar trade, since the lefty arrived in camp. Litsch has been solid, save for the nine hits allowed in 3.1 innings on Tuesday vs. the Phillies, and appears to have recovered from the arm and hip injuries that limited him to just 11 starts over the last two seasons. Reyes has allowed just three base runners in three appearances this spring over eight innings. What ultimately may help Reyes is the fact that he is out of options and would have to be cleared waivers to be sent to Triple-A while Litsch does have options. Based solely on performance, Reyes seems to have a slight edge to date.