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Most pitchers need at least 12 months to recover from Tommy John surgery. But, B.J. Ryan said he’d heal much quicker and took a major step towards proving that when he struck out two batters on Friday in his one inning of work against Tampa Bay.

Actually getting the start against the Tampa Rays — to sidestep the possibility of afternoon rain — the big guy needed only 12 pitches (eight strikes) to log his much-anticipated spring debut.

He missed, low, with his first pitch to Elliott Johnson, caught the outside corner with his second, then was quick off the mound to his left for an easy comebacker.

It would get better. After Carl Crawford took a ball low, the Tampa stud went down on three straight rips. Willy Aybar followed by taking a called third on a 2-2.

“It was good, finally coming out there, both anxious and nervous and not really knowing what to expect,” said Ryan, who, depending on how he feels tomorrow, expects to be back out there Monday.

Watch the Jays today against Pittsburgh to see if Ryan is as sharp. This is the news that all of you who drafted Jeremy Accardo looking for saves, did not want to see.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Closers, Injury Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.