We are so close to baseball, you can smell it! And if the Milwaukee Brewers’ 10-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays isn’t getting you excited, I don’t know what will. The game featured a lot of action for the Crew’s starters as they try to get their final practice swings in. Everything seems to be in order, as Mike Moustakas drove home Christian Yelich in the first. Brandon Woodruff looked a little “sloppy” by his standards this spring. His Spring Training ERA almost doubled when he allowed two second inning runs. Both runs came on singles and Woodruff still struck out six in his six inning tune up, so I don’t think there’s any cause for concern. Later in the game, the Crew would ignite the fireworks. Yasmani Grandal smacked his second homer of Spring Training, driving in Moose to retakes the lead 3-2. In the top of the fifth, Travis Shaw would nail a three-run homer that extended the lead. After Woodruff, Josh Hader came on and pitched a flawless inning. Alex Wilson, Junior Guerra and Alex Claudio would all give up runs, Junior’s coming unearned. Each run came on a ground or force out. In the top of the 8th, the Brewers ran away with the game. Orlando Arcia his a single to score Manny Piña. Ben Gamel then doubled to drive in Thames and Orf. Hernan Perez would finish things off with a sack fly that scored minor leaguer Devin Hairston and that would be it. The final 2019 Spring Training game gets underway tomorrow. Corbin Burnes (0-1, 5.79 ERA) takes on Thomas Pannone (0-2, 11.12 ERA). First pitch is at 6:05 p.m.<doc-sep>SURPRISE, AZ - NOVEMBER 03: AFL West All-Star, Vladimir Guerrero Jr #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays warms up during the Arizona Fall League All Star Game at Surprise Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) Blue Jays: If trading Kevin Pillar is in the plans, do it now Blue Jays: If trading Kevin Pillar is in the plans, do it now by Chris Henderson The Toronto Blue Jays are headed to La belle province for their annual set of exhibition games, however, this year’s contingent features a few notable omissions. The Blue Jays will host the Milwaukee Brewers on their home and native land in what will be the final two preseason games of the spring. The team released their roster of players who will make the trek to Montreal earlier yesterday. The entire starting rotation will not make the trip to Montreal while Marcus Stroman tweeted that he was back in Toronto. Stroman not making the trip make sense seeing the hurler is tabbed for the opener on Thursday afternoon. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, tweeted earlier yesterday that Clayton Richard would be pitching in a minor league contest in his final tuneup before heading north for the new campaign. Richard is scheduled to throw 80 pitches back in Florida on Tuesday. NEXT STOP: 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Here is our roster for this year's exhibition series in Montréal! pic.twitter.com/5uzlimizFI — Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 24, 2019 Well, Arizona, it’s been a blast. As the rest of the guys continue to play in today’s final #CactusCrew game, the #CanadaCrew is heading north. ✈️ Next stop: Montreal 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/8sjf7dDVku — Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 24, 2019 The likes of Rowdy Tellez and Anthony Alford both surprisingly won’t be joining the team in Montreal for the exhibition games. The Jays opted for Brock Lundquist, Joshua Palacios and Roemon Fields over the talented Alford to round out their seven outfielders. The newly signed Daniel Hudson along with Bud Norris and Trent Thornton will also not be a part of the festivities. Unfortunately, there will be no Vladimir Guerrero Jr. magic this time around as the young slugger is still rehabbing from an earlier oblique injury. Highly touted prospects Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio will attempt to fill the void as both rookies are thankfully Montreal bound. The first contest will feature Sam Gaviglio toeing the rubber opposite the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff. The Jays have yet to announce their starter for Game 2 while the Brewers will be countering with Corbin Burnes. The new look Jays will close out their spring schedule in Montreal before returning to Toronto to kick off the 2019 season on Thursday afternoon versus the Detroit Tigers.<doc-sep>MONTREAL – The Toronto Blue Jays may or may not be back in Montreal next spring now that their contract with promoter Evenko has expired after six years of exhibition games at Olympic Stadium. Discussions have taken place between the sides but there are challenges caused by Major League Baseball’s shift to a mid-week opening day. The ideal is for the Blue Jays to play a weekend series in Montreal but they’re not going to head north and then sit idle until a Thursday start to the year. They could, in theory, come up mid-month for a weekend and then head back to Dunedin, Fla., to continue camp, but cramming in all that travel is problematic, too. So perhaps Tuesday’s 2-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers was the end of a remarkable run that’s demonstrated how Montreal very much remains a viable baseball city. The 96,350 fans who attended the first pair of exhibition games between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets in 2014 captured the imagination of both local investors, led by Stephen Bronfman, and perhaps most importantly, Major League Baseball. As former commissioner Bud Selig said that summer, “I was impressed and I’ve talked to a lot of people there and they have much work to be done, but that was very impressive, no question about it.” Fast forward to the present, and Bronfman and his group are nearly there, targeting the Peel Basin area for a new ballpark and discussing a partnership with real estate developer Devimco, which owns a portion of the land. If that gets locked down, all the groundwork will be in place for the city to host a team, which could come through a relocation of the Tampa Bay Rays, or expansion. Bronfman’s shift from managing expectations in his public comments to raising them was noticed with intrigue by people who have carefully tracked the endeavour’s progress. Montreal has a very wealthy and engaged local group interested in ownership, the support of all relevant stakeholders, a market with history in the game, a booming economy, a burgeoning property plan and market research suggesting there’s a path to economic success. Major League Baseball can’t ignore that forever, not with the Rays in limbo, not with expansion on the horizon, which is why people here are starting to believe it’s a matter of when, not if at this point. Even Mayor Valerie Plante, clad in a Montreal Expos cap signed by some of the former players in town, is throwing her support behind the endeavour. While she remains adamant any city money for a stadium would have to be approved in a referendum, she did say the city could fund the type of regular infrastructure it usually does for the Peel Basin project. “If I think about all the economic benefits, there’s a lot,” Plante said during an in-game conversation with reporters in the Olympic Stadium press box. “At the same time, as the mayor of Montreal, what I’m interested in is making sure that if this project comes to life, which would be fantastic, that it fits well within the neighbourhood, within the needs of the city, whether it’s about housing, whether it’s about different types of industries or businesses we want there. We want to make sure it’s well integrated with the city’s plans.” Unlike predecessor Denis Coderre, who stumped loudly and publicly for the cause, she sees her role differently, preferring to act more as a facilitator than investor. As she so bluntly put it, “other mayors have tried that and we’ve seen what happened – I’m not going to play that movie again.” “I will let the (investors) do their job,” she continued. “I’m here to convene everybody, to raise the energy high like (Monday) at city hall bringing all the older players together, it was such a great moment, and I will be there supporting the people who want to bring the Expos back, or a baseball team back.” In that way, whether or not the Blue Jays exhibition series in the city gets extended or not, the annual trip to Montreal has served a purpose far beyond making some money for the team and Evenko. The games offered a reminder of how much fun baseball is in this city when the fans are engaged by a team that isn’t trudging along a heartbreaking death march, the enduring passion that lingered, the opportunity that exists. Consider that a total of 47,030 fans came out on Monday and Tuesday nights to see a rebuilding Blue Jays team and the Milwaukee Brewers, who are the defending NL Central champions but not exactly a marquee draw. The way they chanted “Bo Bichette, Bo Bichette” during the top prospect’s at-bat in the seventh inning showed that fans are paying attention to the right guys. It all can make the imagination can run wild, Blue Jays and Expos 18 times a year in the American League East, competing for the country’s middle-ground fans, forcing the other to be better. It would be like another Jose Bautista bat flip homer in terms of grassroots impact, too. Man, that could be really, really cool. For now, reality rules. While it may be au revoir for the Blue Jays exhibition series, a la prochaine may be far more appropriate.<doc-sep>
MONTREAL — Charlie Montoyo was a 27-year-old infielder still trying to carve out a major league career the last time he stepped on the field at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Montoyo, now the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, returned to the city Monday as his team opened a two-game exhibition series against the Milwaukee Brewers. "I’m never going to forget having my first hit of two here," Montoyo said. "That’s a memory that I’m always going to have. Hopefully they (show) the highlights before the game. They’d have to stop the game for five seconds." Montoyo, who was drafted by the Brewers twice — in 1986 and 1987 — made his major league debut with the Expos in 1993, appearing in four games with a pair of hits and three runs batted in. But that would be it for his major league playing career. Montoyo sat in a familiar spot in the Olympic Stadium dugout when addressing the media before Monday’s game. It was the same spot he was sitting in when former manager Felipe Alou asked him to pinch hit for his first major league appearance against the Colorado Rockies. "I got here late, like 7:00 or 7:10 or something. I said hello to Felipe and I put my uniform on and sat on the bench," Montoyo said of that day. "Until the seventh inning when he said, ‘if they bring the lefty you’re going to go pinch hit. "’ The Rockies brought in left-hander Gary Wayne and Montoyo stepped to the plate. He said there were no butterflies in his stomach when he eventually hit the go-ahead RBI single before closer John Wetteland preserved the 4-3 victory. "There were butterflies when I went to play defence because I hadn’t taken any ground ball or anything," said Montoyo, who will make his official debut as a MLB manager when the season begins Thursday. "But Wetteland was lights out. 1-2-3 and game over. I was the hero." A number of longtime former Expos, including Canadian Larry Walker, Steve Rogers, and former manager Alou were on hand pre-game to be commemorated for the team’s 50th anniversary. Montoyo’s two hits as an Expo didn’t feature in the celebration, however. Earlier Monday, the Blue Jays signed right-handed reliever Daniel Hudson to a one-year, $US1.5 million contract. The Jays were looking for relief depth after Bud Norris, Ryan Tepera and John Axford suffered injuries in the past week. Hudson, 32, had a 4.11 earned-run average, 44 strikeouts and 18 walks across 46 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018. The six-foot-three, 225-pound Hudson has been in the majors for nine seasons. In another move, the Blue Jays placed second baseman Devon Travis (knee) on the 60-day injured list.