One player looking to bounce back from a rough end to his season is New York opening day starter Chien-Ming Wang, who went 19-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 2007.

Wang, however, struggled in the playoffs, going 0-2 with a 19.06 ERA against Cleveland and said it took a month to get over his performance.

"I'm glad it took him a month," Girardi said. "It told me he really cares. I think he will continue to improve."

The right-hander didn't beat the Blue Jays last season, going 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA in three starts.

Toronto is a team that is expected to challenge New York and Boston within the division. The Blue Jays, who haven't made the playoffs since winning their second straight World Series in 1993, felt they should have been in contention during last year's 83-79 campaign.

Thirteen Blue Jays, however, combined to miss 951 games, giving the club virtually no chance to catch the Red Sox and the Yankees.

"We feel like we had a good club the last two years and, with the injury factor, obviously we couldn't do certain things we wanted to do," general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "There's things we can't control, obviously health is one, and that's the most important thing."

It's already been a difficult spring for the Blue Jays in terms of injuries. Promising reliever Casey Janssen was lost for the season due to a torn labrum, new third baseman Scott Rolen is out for at least a month with a broken finger, and closer B.J. Ryan is struggling to recover from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow last April.

Toronto does have ace Roy Halladay at its disposal Monday, and he's enjoyed plenty of success against the Yankees. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 1.77 ERA in his last eight starts against New York, which hasn't beaten him since Sept. 21, 2004.

Halladay, who is also 7-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his last 12 starts against the Yankees, finished fifth in the majors with 225 1-3 innings in 2007. He went 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA.

New York went 10-8 against Toronto last season.

Pick: Jays

Florida at N.Y. Mets (-220, 8)

In some respects, life with Johan Santana is already paying off for the Mets.

New York hasn't totally shaken off the effects of that freefall a year ago, but some, including third baseman David Wright, believe Santana's arrival provided a buffer this spring from what could have been a constant state of questions about what went wrong last September.

''We've gotten the opportunity to split that up,'' Wright said, ''with what to expect in 2008 with Johan.''

And they expect something special from Santana, who has 983 strikeouts since 2004 - 139 more than any other pitcher in baseball over that stretch.

''He's one of the best pitchers in the game,'' Mets manager Willie Randolph said before his team worked out at the Marlins' home ballpark Sunday. ''Obviously we take the wraps off and we get a chance to see a great pitcher work, but the beauty of it that he's going to be there every fifth day for me. So every day is a good day.''

Santana will make $19 million this season.

The Marlins' entire 25-man roster won't make that much in 2008.

So clearly, there's a mild difference in the perceived expectations for the two clubs. But penny-pinching Florida - coming off a 71-91 season and now without Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, traded away to Detroit - still has a team that believes it can surprise, and knows facing Santana on Monday is a great opportunity to show that, if only for one day.

''Right up there with the Miggy and Dontrelle trade, the signing of Santana was probably the biggest (personnel) news in baseball,'' Marlins outfielder Cody Ross said Sunday. ''Everybody's going to wonder how he's going to do and everybody's going to be watching. There's a lot of Mets fans down here and they're pumped he's on that team now.''

The Mets and Marlins played some emotionally charged games to finish last season; John Maine nearly no-hit Florida in a 13-0, fight-filled matchup on the next-to-last day of 2007, and the Marlins weren't shy about saying how much that fired them up to doom New York's playoff chances on the final afternoon.

''Those games were fun for the guys and I told those guys at the end last year that I was so proud of them,'' Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ''I don't know if it'll carry over or not.''

Veteran lefty Mark Hendrickson gets the call for the Marlins.

Pick: over