The Blue Jays kept the media away, but Dustin McGowan pitched a simulated game this afternoon:
McGowan threw 77 pitches in a simulated game Sunday. AA said he looked good and he feels fine. Should be good to go for April 4 start.
— Michael Rutsey (@Rutslive) March 30, 2014I don't know why the Jays would keep the media away from it, but the Jays seem to want to keep everything quiet. Someone ought to tell them that promoting the team is a good thing. Anyway, presuming there are no issues from this work, Dustin should be ready to start on Friday for the home opener and should be able to go 80-85 pitches. A couple of months ago you could gotten pretty good odds, if you wanted to bet that Dustin would start the home opener. He'll be interesting to watch.
I wonder if the Jays will have an innings limit for him? The most he's pitched in a season was back in 2007, when he had 169.2 innings in the majors, following 22 innings in Triple-A Syracuse, for a total of 191.2 innings, but that was a long time ago.
You always want all the Jays to do well, but no one deserves success more than McGowan. Can only hope the best for him.