DUNEDIN, Florida – With the eyes of the Blue Jays front office firmly planted on him, starting rotation hopeful Marcus Stroman had an up and down three innings on Friday afternoon. Stroman allowed three runs on four hits, striking out a batter and walking a hitter, too. He threw 46 pitches, of which 31 were strikes. Getting the third out was the problem. "The third guy in each inning kind of hurt me," said Stroman. "The first inning was a walk and then I kind of got lazy on the next guy when I got two quick outs and didnt execute my pitch. Definitely being better with two outs because thats when you want to get back in the dugout." Stroman entered the game in the fourth, with the Jays down 1-0, pitching in relief of Mark Buehrle. Two quick outs later, he battled former Jay Jayson Nix to a full count and lost him on a slider. Catcher Dioner Navarro called for a fastball, but the brash, confident youngster shook off his veteran battery mate. "Which Im perfectly fine with," said Navarro. "We aint kids, man. Were all growing men and we know what weve got to do. He had a pretty good idea of what he was doing. Ive got a pretty good idea of what Im doing. It was just a matter of execution." The next pitch, the first pitch in the at-bat to Kevin Kiermayer, was a change-up left up in the strike zone. "A lot of change-ups up in the zone get hit hard," said Navarro. "I think if he would have thrown it down, we would have gotten a ground ball to the infield." In the fifth, Stroman struck out Sean Rodriguez and erased Desmond Jennings on a ground ball to short, but a double by Matt Joyce and RBI single by Wil Myers soured the taste of the inning. Two quick outs. Manager John Gibbons, though, is impressed with Stromans repertoire. The fastball pops the mitt, the breaking stuff is nasty and the change-up is developing. Stroman is working on the pitch with Brandon Morrow and is throwing a split-change-up, rather than using a circle-change grip. The pitch sinks and, when its working, misses bats. "Its just refining it, getting it in that strike zone," said Gibbons. Earlier this week, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said, tongue-in-cheek, that Fridays outing was "very important" for Stroman. The Jays are stretching him out. Stroman could throw another three innings, maybe four, in his next appearance. They want to see consistently positive results. He insists he isnt paying attention to the chatter that he, along with Drew Hutchison, could be the tandem that backfills a starting rotation led by R.A. Dickey, Brandon Morrow and Mark Buehrle. "It doesnt affect me at all," said Stroman. "It is what it is and I just keep my head down and work. Every time Im out there I try to give it my all and today wasnt my best at all." BUEHRLES CHANGE-UP Mark Buehrle allowed a run on three hits in three innings on Friday. He was on the plate, throwing 31 of his 44 pitches for strikes. "The change-up was probably the best its been in three years that I can remember," said Buehrle. Asked to confirm whether he meant the three previous springs or three previous seasons, he said he meant the latter. "It was moving a lot," said Buehrle. "Guys were swinging and missing at it. There was good movement; dropping, sinking. It was just one of those days I wish you just soak everything in and do the exact same thing you did today and feel today." ROMEROS POSITIVE OUTING Ricky Romero threw two scoreless innings on Thursday. He stranded two, two-out base runners in the eighth. The Rays Mikie Mahtook singled, followed by a would-be inning ending ground ball from Curt Casali. A Maicer Izturis throwing error extended the frame. Romero picked up his teammate, striking out Richie Shaffer.. "I thought he was popping it," said Gibbons. "You know, the first couple he spiked, but after that he settled in. The thing I noticed the most, he looked nice and relaxed out there. He made some good pitches and he looked confident out there. Thats something hes battling. They all battle that, but I thought he looked like he used to look out there.” Romero isnt on the 40-man roster. His name has been uttered only on the periphery when the subject of available starting rotation jobs is discussed. "The best weve seen him in a long time," said Gibbons. "I think hes moving in the right direction." RASMUS IMPROVING Colby Rasmus expects to resume baseball activities on Saturday. Hes missed a week with neck spasms. The centerfielder received a cortisone shot in an attempt to alleviate the problem. "Its definitely helped," said Rasmus. "A couple of things I did, stretching out my back, whatever, and the way I slept that night kind of got my neck going and the treatment, it didnt react well to it and the neck just stayed spasmed up, so I got the shot and the dose pack and it seems to be helping." Rasmus missed time during the first half of spring training last year with a sore muscle in his shoulder. He has experience heading into the regular season with fewer at-bats than first anticipated. "Its just one of them things, I dont know," said Rasmus. "Baseball throws curveballs at you. Youve got to be able to make adjustments and keep working with it, grind through it, find a solution and keep going." Area motorists are thankful Rasmus is feeling better. "I can look in my blind spot now," he joked. JUST CALL HIM "JOHNNY BASEBALL" General manager Alex Anthopoulos is impressed with reliever John Stilson this spring. "Hes been on the radar," said Anthopoulos. "Hes a third round pick, hes one of our better relief prospects, we like him a lot. I think hes had a good camp so far." Stilson, 23, was a third-round pick in 2011 out of Texas A&M. A four-pitch reliever, Stilsons fastball registers 92-93 miles per hour with sink. Hes leaned on pitching coach Pete Walker, new bullpen coach Bob Stanley and consultant Pat Hentgen for advice. Theyre helping Stilson to slow the game down. In the past, when hes gotten into trouble, hes tended to rush his pitches. SEITZER AND SON Blue Jays hitting coach Kevin Seitzer watched as his son, Cameron, a Rays prospect, hit a two-run home run off Todd Redmond in the ninth inning of Tampa Bays 6-3 win on Friday. Hes a proud father. "Spring training is different than regular season," said Seitzer. "He does it against us in the regular season, Im not going to be happy. Its just fun getting to watch your son play." Seitzer appreciated Rays manager Joe Maddos decision to bring Cameron along for the trip to Dunedin. Kevin coached first base in the bottom of the fifth, a gesture by manager John Gibbons, when Cameron entered the game defensively. Cameron is a first baseman. What did they say to each other? "He goes, Whats up pops?," said Seitzer. "I go, Hello bud, this is pretty cool." Jordan Henderson Liverpool Jersey . Abduraimova had not won a tour-level match since 2009 but was a wild-card entry in Tashkent and broke her opponent twice in each set to reach the second round. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced easily by beating Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1, while No. Dejan Lovren Liverpool Jersey .28 mph. Logano will start on the front row next to Penske Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, who came in second Friday at 193.099. The Penske drivers swept the top two spots for the second straight race, reversing their qualifying finish in Phoenix a week ago. http://www.liverpoolgear.us/Customized/. -- The Anaheim Ducks have signed left wing Dany Heatley to a one-year deal, returning the 33-year-old unrestricted free agent to the Pacific Division. Nathaniel Phillips Jersey .The ruling takes effect on Jan. 1 and stems from the debate surrounding Paralympic champion Markus Rehm, an amputee who won the national long jump title competing with a carbon-fiber prosthesis. Rafael Camacho Liverpool Jersey . -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are disappointed, though not discouraged.TOBLACH, Italy -- Alex Harvey was solid in a fifth-place result on Saturday in his final World Cup cross-country ski distance race prior to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. After spending a week doing high-altitude training in Italy, the 25-year-old from St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., bounced back into race form while challenging for the podium in the mens 15-kilometre individual start classic-ski race. Harvey clocked a time of 37 minutes 30.1 seconds. "That was a solid race from Alex today. He started out conservative and then made up ground throughout the race," said Justin Wadsworth, head coach of the Canadian cross-country ski team. "This week is all about shaking out the cobwebs after being at altitude so it was a good day." Harvey set a pace ahead of the eventual winner, Russias Alexander Legkov, in the final lap. Legkov set the time to beat at 37:02.7. Switzerlands Dario Cologna was second at 37:05.6, while Swedens Marcus Hellner rounded out the podium in third with a time of 37:20.3. Four other Canadians hit the start line including two relative rookies to thee World Cup, Graeme Killick and Jesse Cockney, along with Olympic veterans Devon Kershaw and Ivan Babikov.dddddddddddd Kershaw, from Sudbury, Ont., finished 39th with a time of 39:31.7, while Killick, from Fort McMurray, Alta., placed 40th (39:32.3). Cockney, from Canmore, Alta., was 51st (39:48.6), while Babikov, also from Canmore, finished 62nd (40:24.4) in the wet and mild conditions. "Devon and Ivan struggled with their skis today in the conditions," added Wadsworth. "All of the guys are feeling really good and I think are looking good heading into the Games." Whitehorses Emily Nishikawa was the lone Canadian to start in the womens 10-kilometre classic-ski race. Nishikawa placed 40th after clocking a time of 30:06.8. Norways Marit Bjoergen finished on top at 26:54.2. Therese Johaug, also of Norway, grabbed the silver medal with a time of 27:30.9, while Swedens Charlotte Kalla skied to the bronze after stopping the clock at 27:37.1. The final World Cup race prior to the start of the Olympic Winter Games takes place on Sunday in Toblach, Italy. ' ' '