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Lilly gets chance to face old team in Blue Jays

Jun 15, 2008 - 1:52 PM Chi Cubs (44-25) at Toronto (35-35) 1:07 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- On Saturday, Reed Johnson greeted his former teammates with a three-run homer. Ted Lilly will look to re-introduce himself in a similar fashion when the Chicago Cubs visit the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber game of an interleague series on Sunday.

Johnson, who was released by the Blue Jays during spring training and signed by the Cubs, was batting leadoff and playing left field in place of the injured Alfonso Soriano on Saturday when he provided the big homer in the second inning off Roy Halladay en route to a 6-2 win.

Johnson has proved to be a valuable piece for Chicago, playing left and center field and driving in 31 runs in 171 at-bats.

Lilly (6-5, 5.13 ERA) spent three seasons with Toronto from 2004-06 before signing a four-year, $40 million contract with the Cubs prior to the 2007 campaign. While the lefthander's tenure with the Blue Jays included an All-Star appearance in 2004, it also included a couple of very public spats with manager John Gibbons.

The two even argued once face to face on the mound when Gibbons came to remove him from a game.

Lilly scuffled at the start of this season, compiling a 9.16 ERA over his first four starts, but has been strong ever since - going 6-2 with a 3.88 ERA over his last 10 outings.

On Tuesday, the lefthander allowed three runs and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings of a 10-5 win over Atlanta.

Toronto will counter with righthander Jesse Litsch (7-2, 3.42). The 23-year-old has been knocked around a bit in his past two starts, giving up six runs and 20 hits in 11 1/3 combined innings.