Colon to throw Thursday

While most of the rest of the team was headed across the state to Vero Beach, for the game against the Dodgers, Bartolo Colon was throwing to live hitters on a back field at City of Palms Park. With Theo Epstein and John Farrell in attendance, Colon threw 43 pitches to four batters brought over from the minor league complex.

Once he was done, Farrell said that, as long as Colon comes through tomorrow, he will be scheduled to pitch in a spring training game on Thursday. He should throw one or two innings in that game, but no more than 30 pitches.

"If it is an inning, it might be 20-25 (pitches)," Farrell said. "But you could also see him going through an inning fairly quickly because he locates the ball. That's the one thing in all of his bullpens, his command of the baseball has been very good, particularly with the four- and two-seam fastballs."

Colon threw all of his pitches yesterday, including both fastballs, changeups, and breaking balls. There has not yet been a decision on whether he'll be included in the trip to Japan.