Britton's next start pushed back (with quotes)

Left-hander Zach Britton was scheduled to start Tuesday night's series opener in Toronto, but he's being pushed back to Friday or Saturday in Washington. Chris Jakubauskas will take Britton's turn. Jakubauskas will be followed in the rotation by Jake Arrieta on Wednesday and Jeremy Guthrie on Thursday. Britton isn't injured. The Orioles want to control his innings so he doesn't reach his limit before September. They want him to pitch during the final month of the season. Manager Buck Showalter isn't providing an exact innings cut-off for Britton, but he suggested that we add 20 or 30 to the rookie's previous high as a professional. Britton threw a combined 153 1/3 innings last year at Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk. You'd probably collect your money if you wagered that Britton will be shut down after 175 innings this season.

"We've got X-number of innings with Zach this year and we'd really like to figure out a way, if we can, to have him pitch in September," Showalter said. "We get some opportunities, we'll do that with him so we don't have to necessarily shut him down in August. He's got 80-something innings now. He's almost getting close to getting halfway there. "This gives us an opportunity to give Zach a little blow. We might even do it with (Brian) Matusz. We'll see how today goes." The Blue Jays have been especially good against left-handers, so this is an opportune time to skip Britton. Showalter noted the physical mental benefits of having Britton pitch during the final month. "That's one of the challenges that young pitchers have," Showalter said. "All of a sudden, the season's not over in August. You've got to keep pitching. We hope one day it's in October, too." Jakubauskas threw five scoreless innings against Oakland in his first start since April 2010. Also, here's a correction to Justin Duchscherer's schedule: He'll throw a bullpen session on Tuesday and attempt to go five innings in Friday's extended spring training game.