Brett Lawrie set for Toronto debut tonight

Say this for Brett Lawrie: He's media savy.

"I'm not a saviour," he said before he played his first major league game for the Toronto Blye Jays in Baltimore last Friday.

He may want to re-think that after his first major league series.

On Friday, the highly touted 21 year-old from Langley BC - who destroyed pitching in AAA Las Vegas - had his first major league hit and rbi in a Blue Jays win. On Sunday afternoon, he hit his first major league home run.

In the post game interview, JP Arencibia, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil gave him a double shaving cream pie-gatorade shower. Welcome to the bigs, young fella.

In all, Lawrie was 5-11 now he makes his debut in Toronto tonight.

"Obviously it's a plus cause now I know I can stick, I can play with these guys," Lawrie said Sunday afternoon. "I knew before, but it was a question of getting the opportunity."

Lawrie's weekend was made the more special with his parents - Russ and Cheryl - on hand along with his sister Danielle who made the trip.

"After his first game we were back at the hotel sitting and waiting for him and when he walked in he had a smile on his face," said a proud father Russ on Sunday. "I remember that smile when he was 4 or 5 years old. That pretty much told the whole story."

"To step in and do what he did, what can you say? He has tremendous power and he showed a glimpe of that in this series in Baltimore," said manager John Farrell.

Tuesday afternoon Lawrie - acquired in the off season for Shaun Marcum - will play on Canadian soil for the first time as a big leaguer.

It was at Rogers Centre where Lawrie as a youngster took a bunch of dirt from the pitchers mound, with the intention of one day returning as a big league player. Mission accomplished.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," said Lawrie. "There's a lot of people who want to see all of us play. Hopefully I can show something to somebody who hasn't seen me play before."

John Farrell - still learning on the job

The Toronto Blue Jays will be happy when this road trip is over.

The Jays have played well - but injuries and a failure to come up with enough timely hits - has hurt the team that is wrapping up a tough start to the season hoping better days are ahead.

Manager John Farrell has seen key players hurt (right now it's Jose Bautista, who just happens to lead the AL in pretty much every offensive category) and continues to learn on the job. He admits he has learned plenty and is enjoying watching his team, one he says "loves to play together."

“Moving away from a pitching coach to this position, you get such a broader perspective and a greater appreciation for the game. It might give me an ulcer in the future, but I love what the game is about. I’ve learned more in the 2 ½ months including spring training than I would ever have learned as a pitching coach. The offensive and defensive sides factor in, not just who’s on the mound. I sleep well, but at the same time I may not get to sleep at a normal hour, but I still sleep. It’s been good, ” Farrell told reporters in New York.

Toronto has played 18 road games already, meaning the schedule - along with healthy bodies - should lead to better days and more wins ahead.

The bullpen had not given up a hit in 10 2/3rd innings, before Jon Rauch allowed a BJ Upton walk off homer as the Rays took the first game in the series over Toronto.

"I screwed up," said the brutally honest Rauch. "I made 2 really, really bad pitches. I made 2 big mistakes up in the zone. This loss is on me. I blew it."

The bullpen has been the strength of a pitching staff that hasn't been good enough to start the year (Brett Cecil is still in the minors trying to find his form that saw him win 15 games last season.)

Farrell feels his team is playing an aggressive game (having set a franchise record for most stolen bases in the month of April), one that will carry on the rest of the season if the manager has his way.

"I think when we look back we've been able to carry out what we hoped," Farrell said. "We want to establish an identity for this club and I think we've done that."

"I think for the most part we've been in every game. We've been relentless in our competitive nature each and every night. That doesn't mean we don't have areas we need to improve on. I think it has shown resiliency. The fact of the matter guys like one another and they like to play together.

"We are not going to have a perfect team. Yet we will be as best prepared to respond to the situation on the field."

One month down for Farrell - a month that saw him face many injuries. Better days are ahead for the manager and his team, aren't they?

Blue Jays go 3-7 on first road trip of 2011

This is how bad it got for the Toronto Blue Jays in Boston Monday afternoon: Daisuke Matsuzaka looked like Cy Young.

The Blue Jays got just 1 hit on Matsuzaka, who was making his 2nd start at Fenway this year. In his first start, the Red Sox pitcher lasted 2 innings and had an ERA of 31.50. It dropped a bit today.

“It was embarrassing what happened to us the last three days,” said Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill, who went 0-for-3. “We know we're a much better ballclub. It definitely doesn't feel right going home.”

“I think it's best for all of us in a Toronto uniform to put this one behind us and get ready for the Yankees,” manager John Farrell said.

But things don't get easier. Toronto opens a two-game set against New York on Tuesday night and then hosts Tampa Bay for three before going on the road for another 10-game stretch which will feature stops in Texas against the Rangers, New York to face the Yanks, and in Tampa .

“We caught a team that was coming out of a slump at the wrong time,” Farrell said.

The Jays are in a slump right now having gone 3-7 on the road trip, a road trip that saw them blow big leads and lose games in extra innings.

“The schedule is not giving us any breaks, but we have to get back to the way we play, manufacturing runs, capitalizing on balls up in the zone, and pitching . . . that goes without saying — we have to take a leadership role on the mound,” said Farrell.

The Jays scored just 3 runs over the last 29 innings vs the Red Sox.

They had just 3 baserunners, the fewest in a game since May 7, 2009.

The Jays have hit 13 homers this year. Last year at this time they already had 23.