MLBers help Baseball Tonight‘s Kurkjian, Francona mock each other

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

If that’s true, than ESPN MLB reporter Tim Kurkjian has a fan in Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia.

Kurkjian and his colleague Terry Francona made a stop at Blue Jays Spring Training camp in Dunedin, Fla., on Thursday, as part of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight Goodyear Express Tour.

J.P. was waiting for Tim.

“I was in the clubhouse and Ricky Romero says ‘J.P. does an impersonation of you,” said Tim.

“I was thinking how embarrassing this was. Then he then does an impersonation of me in front of the entire team.”

Did Tim have any idea his new colleague “Tito” Francona then arranged for J.P. to show off his comedic skills on Baseball Tonight?

“No, that caught me by surprise. I got ambushed by Baseball Tonight producer Sean Fitzgerald and Terry Francona. I said, ‘Oh my God, this is ridiculous.”

“I thought it was hilarious. I thought J.P. was funny beyond words and I thought Francona was equally funny. It was priceless,” Tim continued.

But Tim wasn’t going to let sleeping dogs lie, and today, extracted some revenge on his new friend Terry.

“I kind of got back at Tito today.”

See Kurkjian’s revenge in the video below: On the Friday episode of Baseball Tonight, Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon imitates his former Boston Red Sox boss, Francona.