I believe the 4:30 start time is a new experiment for the Blue Jays.  Day games are usually 7pm unless it is a getaway day when the game is 12:35.

Mark Buehrle takes the hill for the Jays.  Buehrle has pitched better over the last few starts, can he sustain that today?

"And so, the Blue Jays must go forwards, not backwards! Upwards, not forwards! And always twirling, twirling towards freedom!"

While I was in Dunedin I saw parts of six extended spring games. On the first two days there were intra-squad games at the Jays minor league facility. On day 3 the Jays played two games at the Yankee complex in Tampa. While there were six extended spring games played while I was there they were all doubled up.  As I could only watch one game at a time I saw some of all six games. Call it the equivalent of three games seen by me.

Here are my notes on what I saw and remember I only saw a pitcher throw once, it might have been a good day for him or a bad day.

The affiliates went 2-2 Tuesday night. One of the wins came in extra innings and in walk-off fashion.

Game 2.  Can Ramon Ortiz continue to pitch like the ace of the staff?  When will the bubble burst?  The Jays trot out the usual lineup as of late.  No Izturis, Bonifacio is at second base.

There has been a lot of talk about the Dickey effect, meaning the pitcher who pitches the day after Dickey has a benefit.  I could possibly see a benefit if the following pitcher was Brandon Morrow or Josh Johnson, both of whom are very different pitchers to Dickey.  I am not confident that Ortiz will have a Dickey effect.

I was recently in Dunedin to watch four Dunedin Blue Jays games.  Here are my impressions of the players I saw.

The affiliates took three out of four on Monday, one of them in extra innings.

Will the Jays reverse course? Tampa are 8-2 over their last ten games. Will home cooking work for the Jays? Can Dickey do it?

The answers to these, and many other questions, will be revealed over the next 3 hours.

Tonight was the long awaited debut of Jays Pitcher Marcus Stroman, and he did not disappoint in his first outing of the year.  As well, today was a good day for the farm going 4-0.

Honestly, honestly, unless it hurts why do it?

Control was the story on Saturday. Aaron Sanchez didn't have much, Daniel Norris had a little more. Combined they pitched seven innings. Sean Nolin was excellent, Claudio Vargas was not. Dustin McGowan made his first AAA appearance of the season, Danny Barnes made his first appearance for Dunedin. Both went well.

Kevin Patterson had 6 RBI's for Lansing. Lansing won, as did New Hampshire. The other two teams did not do that well.

Morrow's long-awaited return.

Andy Burns hit a solo home run and that was all the Jays needed in a 1-0 win. Kevin Pillar had four hits and scored the winning run in the ninth. Dalton Pompey scored two of Lansing's three runs. The Bisons had only 3 hits and lost.

The Jays made a number of roster moves yesterday. Dustin McGowan was sent to AAA. Dustin Antolin was promoted to AA. Austin Bibens-Dirkx was sent down to Dunedin. Danny Barnes was added to the Dunedin roster. Efrain Nieves was sent to Lansing.

Never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death.

Ricky Romero continued his impressive decline into the annals of baseball trivia, which his team shrugged off (as most of us wish we could) his performance to win 6-4. New Hampshire was blown out, Dunedin lost a low scoring affair, and Lansing topped an Indians’ affiliate. The bookends won tonight.