Kyle Drabek's Debut Underscores Blue Jays' Young, Improved Rotation

by Andrew Johnson

Filed under: Blue Jays, AL East

BALTIMORE -- It was hard not to notice Wednesday night, as Kyle Drabek made his major league debut for the Blue Jays, that the guy he was traded for just last winter -- some Roy Halladay fella -- was making a start of his own 953 miles away in Florida.

It might as well have been another world down there.

Halladay, the man who was baseball in Toronto for the 12 seasons prior to this one, was pitching in the thick of a pennant race for the Phillies and is on his way to the playoffs for the first time -- two experiences the game's best pitcher never got to genuinely experience in a Blue Jays uniform.

Drabek, meanwhile, was battling through an up-and-down debut in front of a sparse crowd of 13,651 at Camden Yards in a game between the two teams propping up the standings in the top-heavy American League East. You know the kind. Flashes of brilliance (five strikeouts) sandwiched around signs that there will be a learning curve (nine hits, three runs, three walks, plenty of fortunate defensive help) over six uneven innings and, ultimately, a loss.

"I'd probably on my report say good damage control," Kyle's father Doug, a 13-year major league veteran, said, when asked to assess his son's performance after he escaped from a first-inning jam.

 

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