Romero ‘sick’ of missing playoffs
Lefty sharp in final start of spring training
CLEARWATER, FLA.— Ricky Romero is done with spring training. So antsy to be rid of the exhibition season is the Blue Jays’ ace lefty that after his final Grapefruit League start was cut short by a windy downpour, he was already looking beyond the regular season. “Honestly, I’m sick of going home in October,” Romero said after throwing two perfect innings against the Philadelphia Phillies and Roy Halladay. Romero said he has looked enviously upon baseball’s perennial powerhouses — the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, “and the Phillies, too” — and how players on those teams carry themselves. “They know they’re going to win year-in and year-out,” he said. “. . .I want that to be my team. I think we’re ready.” Romero struck out two in back-toback three-up, three-down innings before the rain delay. The Jays defeated the Phillies 8-5. Romero simulated an additional three innings indoors at Bright House Field to get up to his scheduled five innings of work. His next start is the season opener Thursday in Cleveland. “This is the best I’ve felt all spring and I think it’s a good way to end my spring,” he said. “I was sharp with every pitch, just right where I wanted to finish.” These Jays have already set a club record for spring-training wins and are restless to break camp and get to the games that matter. “Every single one of these guys,” Romero said, referring to his teammates, “You look at them in the face and they’ll tell you this team can do some special things.” Neither Halladay nor Romero returned to the game after the rain interrupted the start of the third inning. Romero leads the rotation, and has emerged as an overall club- house leader trying to take the team to the next level.
“I’m not a rah-rah guy in here,” Romero said. “I just come in and do my work . . . The guy that threw against me today did it the best, he led by example.”
This spring was more about minor tinkering for Romero, refining his curveball, working on a backdoor cut-fastball, trying to improve his overall approach to left-handed batters, and he has had enough of the tinkering. “I can’t wait for opening day.”
Meanwhile, Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista both hit their fourth homers of the spring Saturday while Luis Valbuena added a two-run shot in the eighth.
The win brings the Jays spring record to (23-5-1) and they remain comfortably atop the Grapefruit League standings.
The Jays have three spring games still to play. They take on the Pirates in Dunedin on Sunday, followed by back-to-back games against Detroit.