BALTIMORE - Aaron Hill was in a grouchy mood on Friday.
It was hours before the Blue Jays battled against the Orioles in Baltimore’s home opener but Hill knew that for the second game in a row he would be a cheerleader, a spectator and nothing else.
The problem is Hill’s right hamstring, a muscle that he initially tweaked in the ninth inning of Monday’s season opener in Texas against the Rangers.
Following on off-day on Tuesday, Hill was back in the field for Wednesday’s game playing at less than 100%.
“That wasn’t fun,” Hill said Friday. “When I was running down the line (in the eighth inning) in my last at-bat, I pulled it.”
As a result, Hill missed Thursday’s finale in Texas and probably will not play in any of the three games here. The hope is that he will be ready for Monday’s home opener in Toronto against the Chicago White Sox and won’t have to go on the disabled list. The Jays can’t afford to have him out of the lineup for any amount of time.
“They are just being cautious with it,” Hill said. “Nothing popped or anything. But it’s not a good thing. It’s hard to convince me to do what they want me to do.”
Which in the second baseman’s case, is nothing — no hitting, no fielding, no running.
Hill added that it’s not like he is injured severely.
“I know I can play,” he said. “They asked me if I was 100% but I said: ‘When are we ever 100%.’ But they said: ‘Why not give it a couple of days, that it’s better to miss a couple of days now than aggravate it and miss a couple of months.’ ”
Hill, though, is not someone who is good at sitting around. He had enough of that in 2008 when he didn’t play past May 29 after suffering a concussion in a game following a collision.
“I’m going to go out and do stuff (Saturday),” Hill said. “I’ll stretch and hit off a tee.”
Even if Hill says he’s good to go, the Jays will probably side with caution and still give him another day or two off.
His bat is a big part of the Jays lineup and when he is on the sideline there is nobody on the bench who can come close to replacing it.
Hill bats second in the lineup but Friday that spot went to light-hitting shortstop Alex Gonzalez.
In Texas, the Jays went with rookie Mike McCoy and he responded with two hits and an RBI. On Friday it was John McDonald at second.
The two of them stacked together don’t add up to one Hill.
mike.rutsey@sunmedia.ca
