DUNEDIN, Fla. — Vernon Wells had the right take on this puppy.
After the skies opened up and the players scurried for cover inside the clubhouse in the second inning yesterday, the Toronto Blue Jays centre fielder ventured outside and was aghast to see the rain letting up.
"Whyyyyyyy," Wells groaned at the prospect of the game resuming.
Why indeed.
New York's Jason Giambi, left, and Derek Jeter stretch on the field before the game against the Blue Jays. (Keith Srakocic/AP)
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- New York Yankees
- Toronto Blue Jays
- A.J. Burnett
- Melky Cabrera
- Joba Chamberlain
- Johnny Damon
- Shelley Duncan
- Phil Hughes
- Kei Igawa
- Ryan Ketchner
- Jesse Litsch
- B.J. Ryan
- Billy Traber
- Jamie Vermilyea
- David Wells
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the opponents were the New York Yankees and there was a sellout crowd of 5,510 at Knology Park for the Grapefruit League encounter.
Even filmmaker Spike Lee, a voracious Yankees fan, was at the game, sitting in a front-row seat right beside the Yankees' dugout.
But Lee and many others were nowhere to be seen when the game resumed after a one-hour rain delay.
Too bad. They missed a really soggy drama unfolding as four Yankee pitchers — Phil Hughes, Scott Patterson, Kei Igawa and Billy Traber — combined to throw a perfect game at the Jays over five-plus innings.
It started raining again in the third inning and the teams persevered until the top of the sixth when it really started pouring and the call was made to put the game out of its misery.
The Yankees were leading 2-0 at the time.
But, wait a minute. This thing, apparently, still had a faint heartbeat, even through the stands were virtually deserted. Twenty-five minutes after the players were sent off the field for the second time, an announcement was made over the public-address system that the game was not yet officially cancelled.
That must have been news to the half-dozen players that remained in the Jays clubhouse, already changed into their street clothes.
As one media colleague noted, it might be the first game to have been called on account of having no players.
About 10 minutes later, death was finally pronounced.
Jesse Litsch, who is in the running to secure the open fifth spot in the Jays' starting rotation, made his second start of the exhibition schedule.
The red-headed right-hander looked a little sharper than his previous outing, last week against the Detroit Tigers, zeroing-in on the strike zone a little better.
Against an A-list Yankees starting lineup that included Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi, Litsch surrendered one run off three hits with one strikeout and one walk over two innings.
"I went out there using all my pitches today," Litsch said. "It felt a lot better out there today than the last time."
After being called up from Double A last season to help shore up a staff hurt by injuries, Litsch surprised with his poise and went on to fashion a 7-9 record with a 3.81 earned-run average.
Toronto manager John Gibbons said he does not think Litsch needs any more seasoning at the minor-league level.
"That's a pretty full year, especially if you're a young kid," Gibbons said, referring to the 20 starts Litsch made in 2007. "He's proved enough.
"Whether he makes the team or not, we don't know. But he's proved to me enough, anyway."
Six games into the preseason schedule the makeup of the Blue Jays' bullpen also remains murky.
Closer B.J. Ryan remains on the fast track to recovery from elbow surgery that cost him most of last year, but the Jays are uncertain if he will be able to start the season with the team.
"We're not taking Ryan unless we're convinced — we don't want to pitch him on a Monday and then not be able to use him for another week," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said yesterday. "It's just going to be the best way we can break. We'll see. We've got almost 31/2 to four weeks to figure it all out."
If Ryan is good to go from the start of the season, one might assume Jeremy Accardo, who filled in admirably as the closer last year with 30 saves, would revert to the set-up man out of the bullpen.
Maybe not, according to Ricciardi.
"I don't know," the GM said. "I mean, he's definitely in the mix there."
