In front of a sold out Rogers Centre crowd consisting of 47,984 fans the Toronto Blue Jays opened up the 2011 season with a bang, defeating the Minnesota Twins 13-3.

The Jays came into the season after having a terrific spring with many question marks surrounding the team. Were the Jays going to be the same power-hitting threat from last season? How would the young starting rotation pitch? Could Ricky Romero take the reigns of ace after the departure of Shaun Marcum? How would the late decision to swap Jose Bautista from third base to right field pay off? Would Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind have any difficulty manning the corners defensively for Toronto? Would J.P. Arencibia leave his horrible spring behind in Florida and get back on track for the regular season?

The question marks were in abundance for Toronto with one thing being unquestionable. The excitement surrounding the team is resonating through Toronto. This is thanks to the acquisitions made and the plan set forth by general manager Alex Anthopoulos as well as the new addition of manager John Farrell, who has his team already believing in his philosophy of playing better all-around baseball, despite only steering the ship for a short period of time.

On this night the Jays did not look like a young squad full of potential question marks; the team looked like a well-oiled machine with the type of energy that had the fans in attendance beaming with joy.

After a memorable ceremony in honour of Pat Gillick and Roberto Alomar’s 2010 induction into the baseball Hall of Fame the Jays handed the ball to the left-hander Romero. With his family in attendance as well as his main squeeze, Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih, Romero would show the baseball world that he can be a legitimate number one starter. An impressive and successful pitch selection headlined by his change-up, which was moving all around the plate, fooled Twins hitters all night. Romero looked comfortable with Arencibia behind the plate; the two knowing each other well after playing together in the minors for a long period of time. He would end up pitching a six and a third inning gem, allowing three runs, one of which was earned as well as seven hits. He did not walk anyone and struck out seven. I use the term gem for Romero’s performance as it was a great way for him to begin the season after a shaky spring and with all of the added pressure dropped on his shoulders. Aside from one bad inning in the seventh, which featured some defensive malfunctions on Toronto’s end, Romero was next to unhittable.

Romero could thank his team-mates for his comfort level throughout the performance, as they sprang out of the gates giving him early run support. New acquisition Rajai Davis showcased his speed and determination beating out a groundball to short to begin the game and it was all down hill for the Twins from there on. After a Yunel Escobar single, the Jays put one of their new baseball elements into play as Davis and Escobar would each steal bases. Twins starter Carl Pavano would walk Bautista to load the bases and bean Lind to pot Toronto’s first run of 2011. The Jays would continue to play effective baseball in the inning scoring all three base runners. Two runs scored via sacrifice flies and one came home thanks to second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s error.

The four run inning would not spell the end of the doom for Pavano as the Jays would light him up for eight runs, seven earned on six hits in total, three of those hits being home runs. Arencibia would get the home run party underway jacking a two-run shot to deep centre field, leaving his poor spring in his dust. Bautista would go yard with some authority after home plate umpire “Cowboy” Joe West would irritate him after stepping out of the batter’s box during Pavano’s initial windup to begin the at-bat. Lind would follow Bautista’s blast by hammering a Pavano pitch into the second deck of the right field stands. The home run ended the night for the Twins moustache man Pavano.

With the Jays up 8-0 they would not pull their feet off the throttle. Arencibia would hit a two-run triple in the fifth before Minnesota finally seemed to figure out a way to get Toronto hitters out. After the Twins got on the board in the seventh Arencibia would continue to make the baseball world aware that he is here to stay. The catcher would take Twins reliever Dusty Hughes deep for his second home run of the game. The dinger pushed his RBI total to five on the night. Lind would continue to impress offensively adding another RBI to his total, giving him three on the night and Bautista was more then solid as well, going three for four with a home run and three runs scored on the evening.

J.P. Arencibia got off to a hot start for Toronto in his 2011 debut.

With the impact of the offense and Romero’s superb pitching performance the Jays bullpen may have been lost in the spotlight. The new look bullpen was lights out. Casey Janssen worked a clean two thirds of an inning which featured two athletically defensive plays from the right-hander, helping his own cause. Jason Frasor pitched a scoreless inning of work in the eighth and off-season acquisition Carlos Villanueva looked extremely comfortable in his new home working a clean ninth, striking out Danny Valencia to win the ball game.

Overall, the Jays could not have gotten off to a better start to the 2011 season, absolutely dominating a tough Twins team from the get-go and from every aspect of the ball game. The Jays used a combination of power, speed and pitching spread across a very durable line-up to take home the victory; surely manager Farrell was pleased with that accomplishment.

Toronto will continue to host Minnesota tomorrow as the highly anticipated season debut for young pitcher Kyle Drabek will occur with the Twins sending the talented left arm of Francisco Liriano to the mound for the start. The game will begin at 1:07pm EST.

For those fans that may have missed the announcement today, the Blue Jays declined to exercise three option years on Aaron Hill’s current contract. Toronto had until today to decide on if they were going to exercise the option which would have kept Hill in Toronto for three years at $26 million. This means that Toronto is left with the ability to exercise a one or two year option on Hill at $8 million annually. The move was expected after Hill struggled in 2010 hitting .205 with 26HR, 68RBI and an OBP of .271.