MINNEAPOLIS -- Roy Halladay has taken a big step towards coming back from the emergency appendectomy surgery he underwent two weeks ago. Halladay took the mound and threw 65 pitches in a simulated game before Friday's opener in Minneapolis.

Halladay seemed satisfied with his throwing session, but afterward still had no timetable for his return.

"I think I just have to see how it feels tomorrow," Halladay said. "For me, it's going to be more about how my arm bounces back than my body. So, I'll just come in and see how it is [Saturday] and set up a plan from there. Obviously, the sooner the better."

Halladay, who before the surgery was 4-2 with a 4.37 ERA in eight starts, said he's focusing on his arm and that he hasn't felt pain in his body since last week.

"I'm just not sure how my arm is gong to feel coming back after not throwing for a week or a week and a half," Halladay said.

Halladay may come back with an improved cutter thanks to a piece of advice from veteran catcher Sal Fasano. Prior to Thursday's game in Baltimore, Halladay mentioned to Fasano that he was having trouble with his cutter. Fasano suggested that Halladay back off his index finger, a trick he learned from one of the many pitchers Fasano has caught.

"It's just a little tool he can use to get in front of it," Fasano said Friday. "It's no major change or anything like that, it's just a little cheat, I call it."

Fasano said that Halladay experimented with the new grip a couple times on Thursday and used it Friday in his simulated game.

"It's common practice that if you know something you try to share it with other guys, for me anyway," Fasano said. "I've been with so many pitchers and I've seen so many grips. Sometimes a grip will help one guy and it might not help another guy. This one just happened to work with Doc."

On the mend: Injured catcher Gregg Zaun took batting practice on Friday and reported no pain in the right thumb that was broken by a foul ball on April 24.

"It didn't bother me one bit [Friday] and I look forward to doing it again [Saturday] and the next [day]," Zaun said. "Hopefully I'll be able to jump on a plane and go start getting some at-bats in a rehab start."

Zaun hopes to make that rehab start sometime in the middle of next week and is eager to start getting regular at-bats. He has also been throwing the last four days to return his arm to shape and said while it is tired and sore, it's nothing that can't be fixed over time.

"It's kind of like I'm getting ready for the season again after a month off, but the arm should bounce back quicker than normal," Zaun said.

Zaun hopes to be back to form and playing with the Jays in a week to two weeks.

Welcome home: The Blue Jays have agreed to terms with first baseman Kevin Denis-Fortier, who they selected in the 38th round of the last year's draft. The 6-foot-3 left-hander will be the eighth Canadian-born player currently in the Jays' farm system. He was originally drafted by Toronto in the 48th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft.

The 19-year-old Quebec City native was drafted out of Crowder Junior College in Missouri. He led Crowder with 11 home runs and 63 RBIs while batting .358 in 52 games this spring. Fortier will report to the extended Spring Training program in Dunedin.

Big milestone: Frank Thomas belted career home run No. 493 in Thursday's win over the Orioles, tying him for 21st on the all-time home run list with Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig. Big Hurt's solo shot put him just two home runs shy of tying Edgar Martinez for the most home runs by a designated hitter.

Quotable: "Minnesota's always good. They've got a good solid ballclub. They pitch, they do the fundamentals and they've got some guys in their lineup who are as good as anybody out there in baseball. They're never easy." ­-- Blue Jays manager John Gibbons

Coming up: Toronto right-hander Tomo Ohka (2-4, 5.52 ERA) will make his first start on Saturday after a stint in the bullpen. Ohka and the Jays will face Minnesota's Ramon Ortiz (3-4, 5.36 ERA) who lasted just 4 1/3 innings against the Brewers in his last start. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.