Paradox at the plate

Jansen started game with Jays in June, and will finish it with Red Sox

- MIKE WILNER

The beginning of Monday afternoon’s Blue Jays game at Fenway Park in Boston will feature an unusual pair of public address announcements.

“Now catching for the Red Sox, No. 28, Danny Jansen.”

“Pinch-hitting for the Blue Jays’ Danny Jansen, No. 28, Ernie Clement (or Alejandro Kirk, or Leo Jimenez, or someone else).”

No, there hasn’t been a tear in the space-time fabric, though it may seem that way. The Jays and Red Sox will be resuming a game suspended June 26 because of rain. Jansen was at the plate for the Jays, but has since been traded to the Red Sox. When the game resumes, he will become the first player in major-league history to play for both teams in the same game.

“Baseball has been around for so long, there’s so many things that’s happened in the game,” Jansen told reporters in Boston. “So I was surprised when I found out I was the first.”

Two months ago, the 29-year-old Jansen fouled off the first pitch of his at-bat against Kutter Crawford, now his teammate, so whoever hits for him will assume the 0-1 count while he settles in behind the plate.