A.J. Burnett faces his former team and mentor tonight in Toronto, taking the hill against Yankee nemesis Roy Halladay.
It's already May 12th, and this is the first meeting (of 18) between the Jays and Yanks.
Halladay has now faced the Yanks essentially the total of a full season (207 innings), and has made quite a career against the Bombers: 15-5, 2.86 ERA, 1.12 WHIP (including 5-1, 2.40 ERA last year).
Burnett faced Toronto only once in his career, back in 2001, so this is essentially his first start (of many) against them in the coming years.
Toronto is shocking the baseball world, leading the toughest division in baseball with a 22-12 record. Their offense has been incredible so far, averaging six runs a game (tops in the AL, a full run better than the league average), while their pitching has been nearly as good (third in the league).
Adam Lind and Aaron Hill are leading the way, having a .966 and .943 OPS (respectively). Even Marco Scutaro's having a great year: .278/.406/.444, but he won't keep that up.
On the pitching side, the leaders are Scott Richmond, the Indy-league refugee (who has a total of 65 ML innings), and (as usual) Roy Halladay.