Times wires
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
BRADENTON — Blue Jays RHP Kyle Drabek has the stuff to pitch in the majors. It's his demeanor that needs fine-tuning.
"One of the main things I'm working on in spring training is trying to stay calm on the mound and not show anything to the hitters," Drabek said Wednesday after Toronto beat the Pirates 5-3.
"I'm real competitive," Drabek said. "When I was younger, it showed on the mound. People were saying I needed to slow down a little bit. Even my dad told me that. It's something that's got to happen."
Drabek's father, Doug Drabek, was the NL Cy Young winner in 1990 with the Pirates.
Drabek, 23, pitched five innings and gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two.
Neil Walker hit a solo homer off Drabek in the first inning. Garrett Jones had a two-out, RBI single in the fourth.
"My arm has felt great this spring," Drabek said. "It's a success so far. Hopefully, it continues." Drabek, a former first-round draft pick, made his big league debut last season. In three starts, he went 0-3 with a 4.76 ERA. This spring, he is in position to lock up a spot in the rotation.
"I knew what I was coming into," Drabek said. "When I got out there, it's just me and the catcher. It's baseball. That's what I try to think about, no off-field things or anything like that when I'm on the mound."
Offense: David Cooper hit a two-run home run and Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo shot. Cooper's homer capped a three-run fourth inning, when Toronto took a 4-1 lead.
Yanks: Joba to toss
TAMPA — Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain is set to test a strained muscle on his upper left side today.
Manager Joe Girardi said the right-hander will play catch for the first time in four days today. An MRI this week found that Chamberlain has a mild strain.
"First step is let him feel good playing catch and go from there," Girardi said before Wednesday night's game against Baltimore.
"I feel fine," said Chamberlain, who has been undergoing treatment. "I have no soreness."
Thumbs up: Sergio Mitre, who was scratched from his start Monday due to muscle soreness on the left side of his upper body, threw 26 pitches off a bullpen mound and afterward said the session went "perfect."
He hopes to pitch in a game Friday or Saturday.
Phils: Halladay works
CLEARWATER — Even though the Phillies' big club had the day off, RHP Roy Halladay, who was scheduled for his fourth spring start, faced a squad of Pirates minor-leaguers.
The numbers were not great, but progress was made, he told MLB.com.
"You want to stay as close to routine as you can," said Halladay, who allowed four runs, three earned, and seven hits over five innings. "As long as you get your work in, I don't mind at all. It's different, but there's ways it can be good."
He worked on his curve.
"I was happy with it today for the most part," he said. "We threw some good ones and the ones that weren't good, we came back with a good one."
The Phillies host the Blue Jays at 1:05 p.m. today.
Obituary: J. Mahlon Buck Jr., who purchased a minority stake in the team along with two brothers in 1981, died late Tuesday. He was 86.