Jose Bautista leads Jays past Phillies in spring training

Jose Bautista kept up his torrid start to the spring, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs Thursday that sent the Toronto Blue Jays over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5.

A day after hitting a long home run against the Phillies in his first at-bat of exhibition play, Bautista had an RBI double in the first inning off Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee.

Bautista finished 2 for 2 with a walk. The former two-time major league homer champion missed the final six weeks last year because of a hip injury.

Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie and Melky Cabrera also drove in runs for Toronto.

"I thought we swung the bats pretty good," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Gibbons liked how many of Toronto's hits were up the middle or to the opposite field.

"Against a lot of lefties and things like that, you have to be able to do that and I think it was progress for us," he said.

Lee allowed two hits and a run in two innings. He struck out three and walked none.

"Obviously I'm trying to throw strikes," Lee said. "I made a couple mistakes. The first double was, for sure, a mistake. I tried to throw a backdoor cutter and it ended up right down the middle."

"And then Bautista, I just missed on the pitch before and tried to throw the same pitch. It wasn't a bad one, it's just you get into a 2-2 count with him in that situation is not where you want to be. He put a good swing on it."

Philadelphia's offence was powered by a pair of home runs from bench hopefuls: Darin Ruf hit a two-run shot in the third and John Mayberry Jr. had a solo drive in the sixth.

Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey allowed one unearned run in two innings. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out two.

Lee gave up doubles to two of the first three batters he faced, then stopped the Blue Jays. He is the odds-on favourite to start on opening day March 31 at Texas.

Dickey got through an uneasy first inning to feel good about his spring debut. The knuckleballer walked back-to-back batters with one out in his opening inning.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I was at this point last year, so I'm hoping that will carry out through the rest of spring and opening day," Dickey said.

Dickey worked with new battery partner Erik Kratz for the first time this spring. Kratz, a catcher acquired from the Phillies in a trade this winter, wore a first baseman's glove in an attempt to have a better chance at catching Dickey's arsenal of knuckleballs. Kratz allowed one passed ball in the game's first inning.

"It's a hard thing to do," Dickey said. "The game speed, and runners on — it's just going to take some time. But I felt like he looked real comfortable back there. Outside of the one passed ball, I felt like he handled it pretty well."

Philadelphia right-handed reliever Mike Adams threw off the mound for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery on July 31. He was limited to 28 games in his first season after signing a two-year, $12 million free agent deal with the Phillies. The veteran setup reliever hopes to join the Phillies bullpen at some point in April.

"It went good — really good," he said. "It was probably an 85 per cent bullpen or so. I wasn't trying to let loose right off the bat. I was trying to get a good feel for throwing off the slope again."

Philadelphia right-hander Ethan Martin, who entered camp competing for the fifth starter's job, left after facing four batters in the fifth inning with shoulder discomfort. He'll be examined by the team medical staff on Friday morning.

"He was pain-free pitching, but the ball just wasn't coming out, throwing 85 miles per hour," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "That was a sign for me to go out and see what was going on."

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Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey ahead of last year's spring pace

R.A. Dickey is getting up to speed this spring.

Dickey made his exhibition debut Thursday, starting for the Toronto Blue Jays and giving up one unearned run in two innings during a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Dunedin, Fla.

For the first time out, Dickey said his floater was fine. He walked back-to-back batters in the opening inning, but said there was a reason for that.

"It was moving quite a bit. It was tough to find the zone for a bit because it had such depth late," he said. "It was a good sign all around, really. They only hit pieces of it. The two hits I gave up were little flares."

The 39-year-old Dickey is still hoping to duplicate the success he found in 2012 when he won the National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets. He went 20-6 for a team that finished 74-88, with a 2.73 earned-run average.

Dickey led the NL with 230 strikeouts and 233 2/3 innings that season, then was traded to Toronto.

In his first year with the Blue Jays, Dickey went 14-13 with a 4.21 ERA. He also pitched for the U.S. team in the World Baseball Classic.

"Last year was a challenge," he said.

Dickey got off to a slow start last season, hampered by problems with his back and neck. That prevented him from throwing his knuckler as hard as he wanted.

Unlike many knuckleballers over the years who have tossed the ball to the plate, Dickey has found success by throwing it much faster.

"Ideally, at the end of the spring, I'd like to have my comfortable knuckleball at about 76 or 77 and my low one about 75. So I've probably got to get about three miles per hour on each of the high and low," he said.

'I obviously feel better at this point than I did last year, which I'm hoping will carry throughout the spring and into the season.'- Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey

Last spring, Dickey said he found himself glancing at the radar gun reading on the scoreboard "and seeing high 60s and low 70s."

"I obviously feel better at this point than I did last year, which I'm hoping will carry throughout the spring and into the season," he said.

Dickey struck out two, both with batters chasing 61 mph knucklers.

"Just playing with the speeds and using that slow knuckleball as a changeup and it had good movement," he said.

The lone run against Dickey scored on a passed ball by Erik Kratz, who played last season for the Phillies.

Dioner Navarro is likely to be the Blue Jays' top catcher this season, and Kratz is competing for a backup role.

Trying to catch a knuckleball certainly isn't easy, and Dickey said he thought Kratz did a good job.

"I call my own game most of the time. If he's got a gut-feel, it might be two or three times a game that he might want me to stick with him on any given pitch," he said. "The other 97 pitches, I'm in control of what I want to do. That only leaves him to have to receive the ball and I like it that way."

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Derek Jeter's health not a concern: Yankees GM

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has no concerns about the health of shortstop Derek Jeter, who was limited to 17 games last season due to leg injuries.

Jeter is scheduled to play Thursday against Pittsburgh in his first spring training game of his final season.

Cashman said Wednesday he is "more curious as to like how the weather report is for tomorrow than what he's going to look like."

"What happened last year was unfortunate and unexpected," Cashman said. "I've been conditioned not to worry about Derek Jeter, and I haven't deviated from that."

Jeter, who turns 40 in June, broke his left ankle in the 2012 AL championship series, then broke it again last spring during his rehabilitation.

"I'm looking forward to being out there," Jeter said. "I feel good now, so last year doesn't matter. Since I've been here this year, everything has been like a normal spring. You can't really compare last year and this year. Two entirely different years. Last year I felt as so I was rehabbing, this year I'm good to go."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi is handling Jeter's spring training in a normal fashion.

"Everything he's done has been good," Girardi said. "So, last year where we had some concerns, the way he was running, the way he was moving, we haven't had any of that."

Jeter got to meet 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston before the Yankees played Florida State on Tuesday. Winston is a closer and outfielder for the Seminoles.

"He's pretty remarkable," Jeter said. "I think it's cool that he's playing two sports. You don't see that too often now."

Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira, recovering from right wrist surgery July 2, expects to face a pitcher in batting practice for the first time next week. The first baseman could be ready for a game in about 10 days

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Jose Bautista homers in Jays' spring-opening win

Jose Bautista hit a long home run off Roberto Hernandez three batters into the game, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 Wednesday in rain-shortened spring training opener for both teams.

Bautista's home run landed outside of the ballpark at Bright House Field. The game was called in the middle of the seventh inning.

"It felt pretty good, I can't deny that," Bautista said. "More importantly I felt like I was seeing the ball great. I haven't been playing for a while so that's a positive."

Bautista missed the last six weeks of the season with a hip injury, the second straight year in which he ended the season on the disabled list. He hit 28 home runs in 2013 after reaching 27 the year before.

He was 1 for 2 with a walk and two runs scored Wednesday.

Ryan Howard and Marlon Byrd each had run-scoring singles off former Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ in the bottom of the first.

Hernandez, making his Phillies debut, allowed two runs on four hits in two innings. He is the front runner for the fifth starter's job after signing a one-year, $4.5 million contract as a free agent this winter.

"When I face him I try to throw changeups and sinkers down," Hernandez said of the home run to Bautista. "But today I got down in the count and had to throw it down the middle. I missed up."

Happ struggled in his only inning against his former team. Although he ended up striking out the side, he gave up four hits and a walk in facing eight batters. Happ finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2009, when he went 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA. Happ was 5-7 with a 4.56 ERA in 18 starts with the Blue Jays last season.

Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels threw off the mound for the first time this spring. The 30-year-old Hamels entered camp behind the rest of the pitchers after experiencing biceps soreness in November. Hamels will throw another side session on Saturday and isn't likely to pitch in a Grapefruit League game for another two weeks.

Howard got off to a fast start, singling in a run in the bottom of first. The Phillies' first baseman played only 80 games last year because of knee problems. Manager Ryne Sandberg is impressed with Howard's progress.

"I really like Howard's aggressiveness early in the count with men on base," Sandberg said.

Cliff Lee will make his first start of the spring on Thursday, when the Phillies take on the Blue Jays for the second straight day, this time in Dunedin. But several Phillies regulars will not be in the lineup, including Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.

Toronto is starting knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey. But Sandberg says he's not sitting his regulars because of Dickey's unusual pitch.

"I don't think that comes into play that much," Sandberg said. "If they keep it simple, it comes down to see the ball and hit it."

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Giants C Buster Posey lauds new home plate collision rule

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, whose 2011 season was cut short after the Marlins' Scott Cousins crashed into him at the plate, said Tuesday that a home plate collision rule adopted by Major League Baseball and its players does a good thing by eliminating "malicious collisions."

"I've always said that the main thing is for everybody to be comfortable with it, that the catchers and runners are protected," Posey, addressing the rule change for the first time, said from Scottsdale, Ariz.

Posey, an all-star catcher, sustained a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle in the May 2011 collision, an injury that helped intensify debate over plate collisions. Posey returned in 2012 to win the National League MVP award.

The new rule, in what both sides said was a one-year experiment, allows collisions if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the runner's direct path to home plate, and if the catcher goes into the

basepath to field a throw to the plate.

The rule states that "a runner attempting to score may not  deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher [or other player covering home plate]." A runner violating the rule will be declared out, even if the fielder drops the ball.

The umpire crew chief can use the new video-review system to determine whether the rule was violated.

"I have always set up in front of the plate, where the runner can have part of the plate," Posey said.

Tony Clark, the new executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, asked for Posey's input in helping both sides shape the rule. "They got a lot of different input," Posey said.

"The way I look at it, I don't see that drastic of a change," he added. "The hardest part will be for umpires to make a judgment, although having the replay might help."

Manager Bruce Bochy, himself a former major-league catcher, was pleased with the change.

"I've been for it. It's time for a change," he said. "You want to protect the catcher, not just in the majors but the minors. Guys [baserunners] are getting bigger and stronger all the time."

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Canadian Erik Bedard aiming to crack Rays' rotation

Ottawa's Erik Bedard is excited about the prospect of helping the Tampa Bay Rays get back to the playoffs.

The 34-year-old left-hander signed a minor league contract on the eve of the start of spring training and is being given an opportunity to compete for a job as the team's No. 5 starter.

Bedard struggled the past two seasons, going 11-26 with a combined 4.78 ERA for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. The Rays will decide over the next few weeks if he's capable of filling in for the injured Jeremy Hellickson, who's expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season after undergoing elbow surgery.

Bedard, who turns 35 on March 5, was 4-12 with a 4.59 ERA in 32 games, including 26 starts, for the Astros in 2013. Two years ago, he went 7-14 with a career-worst 5.01 ERA in 24 starts for the Pirates.

"You look at his numbers last year, and obviously the won-loss record wasn't the greatest, but he did a lot of things well and pitched better than those numbers indicated," said manager Joe Maddon, who remembers how effective Bedard pitched early in his career with AL East rival Baltimore.

"You'd like to think that putting him in front of our defence is going to make (his numbers) even better. ... He could be better than a .500 pitcher," Maddon said, adding that one of the keys to Bedard's success with the Orioles was "he was able to throw something other than a fastball in a fastball count for a strike. He was uncanny at that. That's why I thought he really ruled when he was with Baltimore."

Bedard was 40-34 in five years with the Orioles. He won 15 games in 2006 and was just as impressive the following year, when he was 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 28 starts.

Injuries curtailed his production following a trade to Seattle in 2008, and Bedard is happy to have an opportunity to get his career back on track with a contender.

The Rays have made the playoffs four of the past six seasons.

"They're a winning organization. They've been consistent the last five, six years, and everybody wants to be a part of that. I've always heard good things from other players that it's fun to be here, relaxed, and you just play ball," Bedard said after throwing a batting practice session.

The lefty isn't making any predictions about the competition for the fifth starter's spot. Among the others in the running are right-handers Jake Odorizzi and Alex Colome.

If Bedard doesn't win the job, he conceivably could wind up in the bullpen.

"You're just trying to throw strikes, get your arm in shape for games and go from there," Bedard said. "It's a process. You don't try to make the team in BP. ... I'm throwing strikes. That's the main thing. Not everything is sharp right now, but it'll get there and I'll get better."

Maddon likes what he's seen from the veteran of 10 seasons — on and off the field.

"I never knew, but he's kind of gregarious. The guy is affable. He talks. He's funny. You never got that watching from a distance," the manager said. "I like his personality. I think he fits in well here."

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MLB bars home plate collisions with 1 exception

Rather than ban home plate collisions outright, Major League Baseball and its players adopted a rule limiting them this season.

In what both sides said was a one-year experiment, the rule allows collisions if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the runner's direct path to home plate, and if the catcher goes into the basepath to field a throw to the plate.

"It's not a radical departure from what it had been," Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

The new rule, 7.13, states "a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate)." A runner violating the rule shall be declared out, even if the fielder drops the ball.

"It's good, I think it takes away the malicious intent behind the play at the plate," Texas Rangers catcher J.P. Arencibia said. "Obviously the runner doesn't always have to slide, and the catcher still has the ability to block the plate once he has the ball in hand."

Along with the rule, the sides agreed to a pair of comments umpires use for interpretation. The first comment says "the failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runner's lowering of the shoulder, or the runner's pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation." The comment says players who slide appropriately are not in violation of the rule.

The second comment says that "unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score." The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation "if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable."

"There are some things that often times can make the water a little muddy," union head Tony Clark said after meeting with the New York Yankees. "Over the course of the off-season, the concern was protecting players, but trying to draw up something that not only made sense on paper, but also was going to make sense to the players that were playing on the field."

The umpire crew chief can use the new video-review system to determine whether the rule was violated.

"It stops guys just going out of their way just to try to dislodge the baseball when they [catchers] have the plate," Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said.

Debate over plate collisions has intensified since May 2011, when San Francisco's Buster Posey was injured as the Marlins' Scott Cousins crashed into him at the plate. Posey, an All-Star catcher, sustained a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle, an injury that ended his season.

In Game 5 of last year's AL championship series, Detroit backstop Alex Avila was pulled a couple of innings after being run over at the plate by Boston's David Ross, a fellow catcher.

"I think it's fair. A runner's path is to home plate," Oakland catcher Derek Norris said. "Any deviation and he's not trying to score, he's trying to harm. A runner going out of the basepath trying to break up a double play is declared out. This is the same concept as a double-play slide."

1) A runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate). If, in the judgment of the Umpire, a runner attempting to score initiates contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate) in such a manner, the Umpire shall declare the runner out (even if the player covering home plate loses possession of the ball). In such circumstances, the Umpire shall call the ball dead, and all other base runners shall return to the last base touched at the time of the collision.

Rule 7.13 Comment: The failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runner's lowering of the shoulder, or the runner's pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation of Rule 7.13. If the runner slides into the plate in an appropriate manner, he shall not be adjudged to have violated Rule 7.13. A slide shall be deemed appropriate, in the case of a feet first slide, if the runner's buttocks and legs should hit the ground before contact with the catcher. In the case of a head first slide, a runner shall be deemed to have slid appropriately if his body should hit the ground before contact with the catcher.

2) Unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score. If, in the judgment of the Umpire, the catcher without possession of the ball blocks the pathway of the runner, the Umpire shall call or signal the runner safe.

Notwithstanding the above, it shall not be considered a violation of this Rule 7.13 if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the Umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable.

— The Associated Press

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MLBPA cleans slate with suspended Alex Rodriguez

Union head Tony Clark says the players' association has no issues going forward with suspended New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Rodriguez sued Major League Baseball and the players' association in January in an effort to overturn a season-long suspension, then dropped the lawsuit this month. Rodriguez initially was suspended for 211 games in August by baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and the union filed a grievance to overturn the discipline.

Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz shortened the penalty after a hearing the three-time AL MVP claimed was flawed.

"The page has been turned," Clark said Monday after holding the union's annual spring training meeting with Yankees' players.

Rodriguez was among 14 players suspended last summer following MLB's investigation of a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned substances. He was the only player to contest his penalty.

"I'm comfortable with the process that is in place," Clark said. "A player has an opportunity to go through the process as one of the players did. Others decided not to go through the process."

Rodriguez will be 39 when eligible to return next year and has three seasons and $61 million US left in his record million, 10-year contract with the Yankees.

Clark has not talked with Rodriguez since the litigation against the union was dropped on Feb. 7.

"Alex is a member of the player's association," Clark said. "He will serve the penalty that he's been given by the arbitrator, and he will come back in spring training ready to go wherever that happens to be. He's under contract with the Yankees.

"I would expect him to be in camp with the Yankees. Am I concerned about anything beyond that? No."

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Blue Jays' home opener vs. Yankees a sellout

Toronto opens 2014 season at Tampa Bay

The Canadian Press Posted: Jan 31, 2014 12:32 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 31, 2014 12:32 PM ET

When the Toronto Blue Jays host the New York Yankees in their home opener April 4, it will be before a Rogers Centre sellout.

The club made the announcement Friday morning, just 48 minutes after all single-game tickets went on sale.

Toronto will open the season visiting the Tampa Bay Rays for three games before returning to Rogers Centre to face the Yankees. Following an off-day, Toronto will host the Houston Astros for three games, starting April 8.

The Blue Jays said tickets to those and all other games are available through all sales channels.

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Veteran Michael Young officially retires from MLB

Michael Young slipped on a No. 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time.

Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. He called his time in Texas the best years of his life.

"I came kind of confident, and stubborn, with a lot to learn," Young said. "In a lot of ways was still immature, trying to figure out who I was, and what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be about, and I figured it all out here."

A seven-time All-Star, Young is the Rangers' career leader with 2,230 hits. The 37-year-old infielder finished as a career .300 hitter in 1,970 games for Texas, Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Texas acquired Young from Toronto in July 2000, along with reliever Darwin Cubillian, for pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Young made his major league debut playing twice the final weekend of that season.

Young became a regular in the Rangers lineup after being called up in late May the next season. Texas went from being a last-place team to consecutive World Series in 2010 and 2011. He was traded last winter to Philadelphia, then to the Dodgers at the end of August before the playoffs.

Young has three young sons, ages 17 months to 8 years old, who were all born in Dallas, where he and his wife still live. Playing away from home for the first time last season was difficult for Young, even though he loved his time with the Phillies and hometown Dodgers.

"My boys are the driving reason why my playing days are done," Young said. "You've got to be there with them, you have to be there for every success, every failure. If something doesn't go right, I want them to see me first."

Had Young wanted to keep playing, he said the Dodgers made him a tempting offer that would have provided significant playing time.

Young definitely wants to get back in baseball at some capacity in the future, but isn't in a rush to do so.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, who got emotional at one point during his opening remarks, said the team certainly wants to have Young involved in some way.

"The game of baseball is going to miss you, and I certainly hope you don't stay away from the game," said Texas manager Ron Washington, describing Young as the ultimate teammate. "I don't think this game will be able to survive without a Michael Young in it."

Among the handouts Friday was a listing of all 2,375 of Young's career hits — it was almost all of 11 triple-columned pages. The first was a single at Baltimore on May 27, 2001, and the last was a double in a home game for the Dodgers against Colorado last Sept. 29.

Originally a second baseman for Texas, Young voluntarily moved to shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded before spring training in 2004. Young was an All-Star each of his five seasons at shortstop and won a Gold Glove in 2008.

Young switched to third base in 2009 and earned an All-Star nod at that position. He made that move when the Rangers promoted Elvis Andrus, then 20 years old and without ever playing above the Double-A level, to the big leagues.

When third baseman Adrian Beltre signed with Texas before the 2011 season, Young became a utility player. He started at five different positions, made another All-Star game, led the AL with 213 hits and was part of the team that twice in Game 6 came within a strike of winning the World Series against St. Louis.

"What sticks in my head most is the 2011, what I felt was a championship team that doesn't have a championship," he said. "It still eats at me — a lot, actually. I'm over it, but I'm not. I don't want to spend too much time thinking about it. When I do, I still get a sick feeling in my stomach."

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