Halladay knocked around by old mates

It was a sight never seen before in the history of mankind; Roy Halladay pitching against the Toronto Blue Jays. And boy oh boy he looked legitimately awful in the early going. And who could blame him? He spent 12 years in the Jays organization before being shipped out to Philly in the off-season and had never faced his old pals before.

Halladay gave up a lead off double to Jose Bautista, served up a 2 run shot to Aaron Hill on the next pitch, then allowed two more runs on a double by Edwin "E5" Encarnacion and a base rap by Alex Gonzalez. Halladay being Halladay, however, meant he bounced back as he struck out the next four batters, retiring the final seven batters he faced. I don't know who had more ants in their pants for their opening act though, Halladay, or this kid.

Halladay returns to Toronto when the games actually count for a series beginning June 25th, assuming the G-20 summit doesn't screw everything up. Somehow I get a feeling Doc will be just a tad bit better in that contest.

Rzepczynski to miss 6 weeks with broken finger

Just one day after taking a screaming come backer off his finger Jays starting pitcher hopeful Marc Rzepczynski will miss up to six weeks with a broken middle finger. File that one under the "that was obvious" category. Immediately after Zep took the scorching ball off his digit, the 24 year maintained the injury was nothing serious. Ya right. Clearly, he was toast.

The unfortunate injury dramatically changes the face of Toronto's starting rotation to begin the season. Rzepczynski shouldn't have even headed north with the big club even before this occurred after a horrendous 6.10 ERA in the spring. So that essentially leaves Dana Eveland and Brett Cecil to duke it out amongst themselves for a starting rotation berth.

Eveland, acquired in the off-season from Oakland, has been brilliant in the Grapefruit League with a 1.23 ERA over 22 innings (2 starts) to go along with 19 strikeouts. He's also out of options so a spot on the staff appears likely. Cecil, who showed great promise last season, showed his penchant for injuring his finger a couple of weeks ago while in his kitchen, causing him to miss some time. That hasn't deterred him from pitching quite well in his two starts, fashioning a 3.38 ERA. The obvious way to settle the score? Perform this highly scientific task to determine who gets the starting nod.