Sunday evening, coming down

There's a lot of dudes keeping a close eye on Armando Benitez in this picture, including J.P. Ricciardi in shorts and someone so short that it can't be anyone but David Eckstein.

Benitez committed six balks in his initial spring training bullpen session.

(Actually, the Jays' brain trust told the NatPost's John Lott that they liked what they saw. And they've never been known to be anything but forthright when discussing the state of the pitching staff. Right?)

The Old Grey Lady likes the Jays
The New York Times says that the Jays have a shot at the AL East. So it must be true.

Wonders of Spring Trainings past
Wilner drops the name of Canadian and former Blue Jays Spring Training phenom Simon Pond into today's blog post. Now there's a name that we'd managed to completely suppress from memory, and he serves as a helpful reminder that a good performance in a handful of fake games does not a star make.

Fake Game Stats: What Are They Good For?
Frank Thomas has generally sucked ass (2 of 28) in the spring, but says that he's still working on getting his timing down and not to worry. Of course, the Big Giner Bruiser said the same thing last year, and proceeded to be profoundly meh in the first three weeks. The Jays can't afford to carry that much dead wood from the DH in the early stages of the season if they are really, truly, honest to god for reals this time going to actually compete.