The speed was constant on the Rogers Centre scoreboard Sunday: 94, 94, 93, 93, 93, 92, 93 … 86 and 87 miles per hour. Yet LaTroy Hawkins was just a shade shy of giddy in analyzing his performance: three ground-ball outs by Dustin Pedroia, Xavier Bogaerts and David Ortiz in a nine-pitch ninth inning.

“I felt OK, but if I could feel like I felt and still have my sinker, and be able to throw my slider when I need to … well, then I’m fine,” the 42-year-old right-hander said. “I need that: I need my sinker and my slider. I don’t know … I’ll see if I can pitch (Monday.) I think I should be able to.”

Hawkins only threw one slider – to Ortiz – and as he said it is the slider and sinker that will test the forearm. “My sinker and slider is when I need to get on top and put a little stress on the forearm. So … we’ll see.”

Hawkins has been limited by soreness in his right forearm, and in the meantime the Blue Jays have seen the bridge to Roberto Osuna wobble slightly – particularly Aaron Sanchez, who has walked three and given up eight hits and four earned runs in his last four outings over 3 1/3 innings. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but here’s what to keep an eye on as the Blue Jays brain trust makes a mental note of its post-season rosters, which can be changed before the start of the division series, championship series and World Series and at any time during the series in the event of an injury requiring disabling. …

Health: Hawkins and Troy Tulowitzki are the most pressing public health concerns for the Blue Jays, although one Blue Jays insider without naming names claims at least two other regulars could need surgery at the end of the season. Tulowitzki’s left scapula will not be healed fully in time for the post-season – his availability depends on his ability to play with discomfort if not outright pain. Remember: rosters are set before each series and you can replace an injured player at any time – but that player must miss the next series in addition to the current series. If Tulowitzki can’t go, be prepared for …

Muni-mania: Yes, Munenori Kawasaki might actually get a spot by default on the post-season roster if Tulowitzki can’t contribute. Darwin Barney isn’t eligible and Devon Travis said his goodbyes Sunday in the clubhouse ahead of shoulder surgery. Kawasaki is the only backup infielder if Ryan Goins and Cliff Pennington are starters: so if the Jays actually win a series, be prepared for many photographs of No. 66 dancing, gesturing and celebrating.

It’s to be hoped that’s the only way he’s noticeable. And speaking of noticeable, whose absence from the post-season roster would be any more noticeable than …

Mark Buehrle: Yeah, I know, I know. Frankly, barring his arm falling off in the next two weeks the only way Buehrle wouldn’t be on the roster for a division series is if the opponent were the New York Yankees. The starting rotation, you’d have to figure, would be David Price, R.A. Dickey (especially if the Blue Jays have home-field, you’d like him pitching in Rogers Centre) and Marcus Stroman with Marco Estrada along as a swingman.

Buehrle can’t handle the Yankees as a starter, and he’d be of limited use as a lefty specialist considering how well so many of the Yankees’ left-handed batters hit him (Brett Gardner is .375 lifetime and Brian McCann .374, for example.) Operating under the assumption that he isn’t starting, he’d be handy against the Kansas City Royals (lefty bats Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas are a combined 10-for-49 against him, with Moustakas 1-for-13) but there’s little to get excited about in individual matchups with left-handed hitters on the other post-season eligible teams. So, Drew Hutchison isn’t the only starter whose status is in jeopardy. Of course, it all depends, anyhow on …

How many relievers the Blue Jays will carry: Three of four AL teams carried 11 pitchers in last year’s division series, and Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez, Mark Lowe, Brett Cecil and Liam Hendriks are slam dunks. Hawkins is if he’s healthy, and even if a starter (say, Estrada) goes into the ‘pen there’s still room for two more relievers, perhaps Jeff Francis or Ryan Tepera or Aaron Loup. The number of relievers is important, because it has a bearing on …

Bench strength: Manager John Gibbons has already said that Russell Martin will catch R.A. Dickey in the playoffs, so that would seem to knock Josh Thole off the roster. But here’s where it gets interesting: Dioner Navarro’s availability to pinch-hit is negated a bit by the fact that using him burns the only backup catcher to Martin, which leaves Gibbons short-handed in the event of in-game injury. If the Blue Jays elect to take 11 pitchers plus their regular lineup, Gibbons is left with two other openings, which would likely be Dalton Pompey and Ezequiel Carerra (assuming one of Kawasaki or Tulowitzki is on the roster.)

So those are some of the roster issues the Blue Jays would face heading into the post-season. I still think there might be some shuffling around in the bullpen – a few more control issues on the part of Sanchez and Lowe or even Cecil could very well be promoted into an eighth-inning role. Buehrle’s status would be the most intriguing political decision Gibbons and general manager Alex Anthopoulos have had to make, since as Felipe Alou would say: “The man is even bigger than the pitcher.” But – hey – beats the hell out of talking about which prospect can use garbage time to set himself up for spring training, no?

QUIBBLES AND BITS

• Tom Coughlin’s two Super Bowl wins have brought the New York Giants head coach a great deal of rope but, man, I don’t know. The Giants blew a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead on Sunday to the Atlanta Falcons with quarterback Eli Manning once again brain-freezing for the second consecutive week: this time, a botched third down and 12 play with 3:27 left after he was given a time-count violation – with the Falcons out of time outs. The Giants have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, and this is also the third straight season in which they’ve started 0-2.

• Remember Carlos Beltran’s three-run home run off Sanchez in the New York Yankees’ last series at Rogers Centre? His three-run shot against the New York Mets at Citi Field on Saturday was his first game-winning RBI against the Mets, meaning he has now tallied a game-winning RBI against all 30 major league teams. He’s the only active player to do so. Bret Boone, J.D. Drew, Shawn Green, Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Sheffield also had game-winning RBI against the 30 teams during their careers.

• More food for thought about the Yankees: with 38 three-run home runs and seven grand slams, the Yankees are the run-away leaders in the majors with 45 dingers of at least three runs – 16 more than the Blue Jays. It’s the most by any team since the 2006 Yankees had 44 homers of three runs or more.

• I admit to having a soft spot for Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls, ever since I mistakenly called him Mark in a post-game interview in a scrum only to have him gently and very diplomatically correct me. He is one of the most likable NBA players – which is saying a lot because there is in my experience no friendlier a place to work than an NBA locker room. At any rate, Gasol and Spain beat Jonas Valanciunas and Lithuania this weekend in Eurobasket and Gasol was named to his eighth all-FIBA team, moving past Kresimir Cosic (of the former Yugoslavia, whose final selection was in 1979) and Sergei Belov of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, whose last all-star team was also in 1979. Don’t know why, but that knowledge made me happy.

THE END-GAME

Scott Boras is a name seldom mentioned with anything other than contempt in the Blue Jays offices. My guess is that’s the case again this morning, after Boras client Matt Harvey was taken out of Sunday’s 11-2 New York Mets loss to the Yankees because of concerns over his innings limit in his first full season after Tommy John surgery – a concern made public by Boras.

Harvey, whose innings total of 176 2/3 is 1 2/3 shy of his career high, was one-hitting the Yankees when he came out; the Yankees immediately scored five runs to close the gap on the first-place Blue Jays.

“I think that we’d like to have Matt in the mound … but he wasn’t. I guess we’ve got to deal with it,” said a perplexed Mets third baseman David Wright. The Mets have all but sewn up the National League East title and will have time to mull over the implications of last night’s debacle. The Blue Jays can only seethe.

Jeff Blair is host of the Jeff Blair Show from 9-11 and Baseball Central from 11-1 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 590/The Fan and Sportsnet. He is also appears frequently on Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown.