Music: {allcanada} Jays crush Twins in home opener

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One game is no measure of any significance, but boy did all the pieces come together nicely for the Toronto Blue Jays on opening night.

Speed created opportunities and forced mistakes. Smart situational hitting cashed in runs. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind raked like it was 2009.

J.P. Arencibia, in a performance reminiscent of his big-league debut last summer, cracked two homers, a triple and delivered a strong night of work behind the plate.

Ricky Romero dominated.

And Jose Bautista picked right up where he left off.

In so many ways, Friday night's 13-3 thumping of the Minnesota Twins was a performance straight off the blueprint for the 2011 Blue Jays. Romero set the tone with a crisp 1-2-3 first, and he cruised through 6.1 innings from there, while Rajai Davis's speed was the catalyst for a methodical four-run rally in the bottom of the first that displayed the diversity of attack new manager John Farrell is seeking.

Complete with a sell-out crowd of 47,984, pre-game tributes to Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick for their selection to the Hall of Fame, and the unveiling of two banners in the rafters to honour them, the Rogers Centre had precisely the type of atmosphere Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is trying to restore on a more regular basis at home.

Not even the pre-game news that the Blue Jays were declining a trio of options on Hill's contract that would have locked up the second baseman through 2014, took anything away from the festivities.

It was in so many ways an ideal start. Now, they must make a habit of it for the 161 games remaining.

Davis got the crowd going in the first when he beat out an infield single, was picked off by Twins starter Carl Pavano, but eluded the tag and returned to first safely after a rundown.

Yunel Escobar followed with a soft chopper through the left side and after a double steal and a Jose Bautista walk to load the bases, Adam Lind brought home the season's first run with a hit-by-pitch.

Hill and Edwin Encarnacion followed with a pair of fly balls that each brought home a run, while Lind capped the rally by scoring when Twins' second baseman Tusyoshi Nishioka booted Travis Snider's grounder.

The Blue Jays went vintage 2010 after that, teeing off on Pavano for three homers to blow things wide open.

Arencibia, being counted on to provide offence while handling a young pitching staff, crushed a two-run shot to dead centre in the fourth that made it 6-0. Bautista, the reigning home run champion, and Lind went back-to-back to open the fifth, and Arencibia added two-run triple off reliever Jeff Manship later in the inning to make it 10-0.

For good measure, Arencibia opened the eighth with a solo blast to right.

The 25-year-old certainly knows how to make first impressions—in his big-league debut last Aug. 7, he ripped two homers and had four hits in a 17-11 clubbing of Tampa Bay.

Romero, meanwhile, was in total control while pitching into the seventh, although he sputtered a bit at the end. He left after an Encarnacion error on Dannny Valencia's chopper allowed Delmon Young to score the first Twins run, and Alexi Casilla followed with an RBI double.

Casey Janssen relieved and got Denard Span on an RBI groundout that made it 10-3 before diving to snare Nishioka's soft grounder and relaying to first from his belly to end the threat.

Lind's RBI single and John McDonald's sacrifice fly in the eighth made it a 13-3 contest.

Notes: Kyle Drabek (0-3, 4.76 ERA in 2010) starts for the Blue Jays on Saturday against Francisco Liriano (14-10, 3.62 ERA). With Brandon Morrow on the DL and on track to right now miss just two starts, Drabek, Jesse Litsch and Jo-Jo Reyes remain in competition to stay in the rotation once the right-hander is ready. As for how the Blue Jays will make that decision, manager John Farrell is playing things close to the vest. "First and foremost Brandon is going to have to continue on his rehab course, which is a positive one so far," said Farrell. "That will kind of work itself out in due time as he builds back up." … Both Alomar and Gillick looked to be fighting tears during the pre-game festivities. "I'm proud to go into the Hall of Fame with a Blue Jays cap," Alomar told the adoring crowd before hugging Gillick. The longtime Blue Jays GM told the fans, "we couldn't have done it without you."