Yesterday saw the Jays rack up two more wins as the A squad entertained a weak Philadelphia team and the B team travelled back to Ft. Myers (they must simply adore that two-hour bus ride by now) to tangle with the Twins' big leaguers. Both saw some fine individual performances. The boxscores are here and here.

In Ft. Myers, the story is fairly simple to tell. After a rain delay, Scott Downs started and gave up a run; the minor leaguers came in and shut down a Minnesota A team including half of their starting lineup. We'll get to the honour roll later. In the fourth, Alex Rios and (of course) Gabe Gross hit solo home runs off Jesse Crain, to take a 2-1 lead that was never relinquished. The Jays only collected four hits (two by Gross, Rios's homer and a double by Adam Lind). Gross has four home runs this spring and continues to lead the Grapefruit League (Albert Pujols has three) and has more than anyone in the Cactus League as well. Gross also raised his average to .625 but hasn't played enough to figure in the MLB leaderboard yet.

In Dunedin, where I had the pleasure of listening to Box favourite Mike Wilner call the game for MLB.com (along with perennial favorites Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth), the offense had a better time of it. Frank Catalanotto had two hits including a two-run double, Eric Hinske hit a very long homer off Mike Bacsik, and Frank Menechino had three hits. Dave Bush, who according to Jerry Howarth is scheduled to pitch the home opener, pitched reasonably well in his three-inning stint, and the pen pitched very well with the exception of Kerry Ligtenberg, who was tagged for two homers (by Todd Pratt and Shane Victorino). It wasn't a strong Philly squad despite including Bobby Abreu, though the starter was the promising young Brett Myers, who was slightly outpitched by Bush. Bush's first two innings saw him struggle to throw a lot of strikes, but he nevertheless got through with only a single run (on a Ryan Howard double and two productive outs), and he stranded a Kenny Lofton double and Bobby Abreu walk in the third, striking out Howard on a curve that drew raves from Jerry Howarth and getting Jason Michaels on a bizarre play - Koskie speared a liner to third, but the umpire (Dan Iassogna) ruled the catch a trap. But Michaels, thinking Koskie caught the ball, declined to run - so Koskie threw him out at first.

Another play of note followed in the bottom of the third. Russ Adams, with runners at second and third and one out, singled to left. Reed Johnson, given the wave home (presumably), was thrown out by a country mile by the normally weak-armed Jason Michaels, and Todd Pratt made no mistake with the tag. Mike Wilner, following the Adams hit, came up with a great statistic that will warm the hearts of Ricciardi and Gibbons - in eleven chances this spring with a runner on third and less than two out, the Blue Jays have scored the runner nine times. A welcome example of situational hitting, that we missed so much last year!

The bullpen pitched very well, once Ligtenberg's uncomfortable stint was done (Pratt was all over one pitch pulled foul just before his home run, and Ligtenberg gave Myers no chance on a stolen base by Utley, and of course there were two homers, though Pratt's was more of a wind-aided flyball). Justin Speier, Scott Schoeneweis, and Pete Walker each pitched a perfect inning, and Jason Frasor and then Vinnie Chulk kept the Phillies off the scoreboard as well. The Blue Jays' relievers in the B game were equally effective (if a little less efficient). Spike Lundberg got the win after relieving Downs, and he was followed by Jason Arnold - walking one and striking out one - and Francisco Rosario. Jesse Carlson followed Rosario (who allowed two hits) with a perfect inning; first-round picks Zach Jackson and David Purcey followed with scoreless innings. Of particular note was that Purcey's control (which has been the black mark against him) was shaky as he walked two batters (but allowed no hits). Ismael Ramirez pitched the ninth for the save - is it possible that the closer role, instead of a starting job in New Hampshire, is in his future?

There's not much else to say. Gross is raking, the situational hitting is good, the bullpen looks to be in great shape. Question marks are being resolved.