JAYS DROP ANOTHER – Vandenhurk lit up

By Eddie Michels on March 6, 2012

#13 Brett Lawrie (Eddie Michels photo)

DUNEDIN, Fla.—The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their second spring contest in a row on Tuesday 7-0 to

#5 Yunel Escobar keeps his eyes on the ball despite outfield distractions. (Eddie Michels photo)

their neighbors just down the road in Clearwater the Philadelphia Phillies.
Lefty Cliff Lee got the win for his two shutout innings while Rick Vandenhurk took the loss for the Jays with an inning to forget.
To show how bad the Dutchman’s inning was he needed 37-pitches of which he threw 21 for strikes while allowing four runs, three earned on just three hits with two walks. But things were actually worse as only three of the seven hitters he faces got first pitch strikes and two of the seven had eight pitch at bats.
Now if that was not bad enough for Vandenhurk a member of the Dutch media was present taking this all in.
On the Phillies offensive side catcher Carlos Ruiz made his first appearance of the spring going 2-2 as the only visitor with more than one safety.
On the Blue Jays side of the ledger Kelly Johnson and Brett Lawrie each had two hits with Lawrie adding a double and Johnson a triple.

The winner Cliff Lee (Eddie Michels photo)

Wednesday the Jays split squad will host the Red Sox at 1:05 PM in Dunedin as RHP Brandon Morrow faces RHP Justin Germano.
The other Jays squad will travel to Bradenton to face the Pirates for the third time this spring with RHP Kyle Drabek facing the Bucs RHP Jeff Karstens at 1:05 PM.

#2 Kelly Johnson (Eddie Michels photo)

Blue Jays Notes: A Vernon Wells sighting in Dunedin and no it wasn’t the centerfielder, it was his father Vernon Wells II. Vernon II was ask about his son and the Angels not making the playoffs last season. “If Vernon (III) had his normal year last year they (Angels) would have made the playoffs.”