Blue Jays hope to stay hot versus Indians

Baseball Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays are riding a four-game winning streak and will attempt to continue the string of strong play against the Cleveland Indians in the second of three weekend games at Rogers Centre.

Righty Jake Westbrook will get the ball for Cleveland this afternoon, and he will attempt to improve a 6-7 record and 4.65 ERA. He allowed three runs over eight innings on Monday, but a lack of run support led to defeat. In 127 2/3 innings of work this season, Westbrook has permitted 133 hits and 44 walks while striking out 73 batters.

Westbrook is 2-1 with a 4.57 ERA in five career games at Rogers Centre.

As for Brett Cecil, who is the scheduled starter for the Blue Jays today, he has quietly put together a solid season, posting an 8-5 mark and a 3.89 ERA to date. Cecil did not figure in the decision of Sunday's game against Detroit despite seven solid innings, and he is 1-0 in July with a 2.39 ERA.

Cecil beat Cleveland in his only start against the team this season, pitching eight innings of one-hit ball with 10 strikeouts.

Yesterday, Jose Bautista's grand slam and league-leading 31st home run highlighted a six-run fourth, as the Blue Jays cruised to an 8-1 rout of the struggling Cleveland Indians at Rogers Centre.

Bautista tied the club record with his 11th home run of July and finished with three hits, as the Blue Jays snapped a four-game losing streak to Cleveland. Fred Lewis also homered as part of the 14-hit attack, while Yunel Escobar and Lyle Overbay both had multi-hit efforts.

"I feel really good. I'm getting ready on time," Bautista said. "I'm seeing a lot of pitches over the plate, and I'm taking advantage of it. Hopefully, I can ride this wave as long as I can."

Shaun Marcum (10-4) was dominant in the start, allowing just one run and three hits while fanning a season-high 10 over seven frames.

Matt LaPorta's sacrifice fly was the only offense for the Indians, who have lost three straight and six of seven. Justin Masterson (3-10) was pounded for eight runs on a career-high 13 hits and two walks over only 5 1/3 innings to take the loss.

"It seemed like you kind of need something to keep them on edge," Masterson said. "They're free-swinging -- that's what they did. They beat us at what they're good at -- hit a few home runs."

Cleveland and Toronto have split their eight meetings so far this season.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.