But with spring training finally over, both Gaston and the team's impact rookies are looking forward to opening day with a mixture of optimism, eagerness and excitement.

"(Romero has) improved every time he's gone out there," Gaston said. "When that bell rings everybody turns it up a notch, and hopefully we can do that too."

Outfielder Travis Snider says he's not sweating tomorrow night's game against the Detroit Tigers at the Rogers Centre.

Don't think that the 21-year-old, who hit .381 in spring training, isn't excited about his first big-league opening day. He is. Immensely.

But he says few experiences can match the electricity of his big-league debut last August at Yankee Stadium. Playing 24 games at the end of last season, Snider hit .301 with two homers and 13 RBIs.

Early in spring training, Gaston said Snider would have to do something really bad not to make the roster.

That never happened.

Though he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in yesterday's 1-1 draw with the Marlins, Snider led all Jays regulars in spring batting average, and half of his 24 hits went for extra bases.

Already familiar with playing on big stages, Snider says the thrill is in finally playing that games matter.

"You're just excited to get the season started," he said. "You're excited to start competing for wins and losses when things really count, and that starts Monday."

Romero, meanwhile, is still happy to have graduated from the long bus rides and chilly climates of the Eastern League. Starting last season in New Hampshire, he says his team had at least one early April game cancelled due to snow.

That won't happen at the Rogers Centre.

"It's going to be night and day," said Romero, who finished spring training with a 3.91 ERA.

"Obviously a different atmosphere and I'm pretty excited to see what opening day is going to be like in the big leagues."

Romero is also still trying to make sense of his rapid transition from a scattershot hurler headed for another season in the minors to a part of the Jays' opening-day rotation.

After an early spring outing that saw him walk six batters in less than two innings, the club prepared to send him to minor-league camp. But pitching coach Brad Arnsberg intervened and adjusted Romero's technique, and Romero pitched well enough in three subsequent starts to break camp with the big club.

"You don't take anything for granted and you try and just stay as humble as possible when you're out there," Romero said.

"Every day that goes by ... I'm trying to pick somebody's brain. I feel like that's how I'm going to get better."

mcampbell @ thestar.ca