The online sporstbooks are getting heavy action on the Rangers in this game despite Cleveland sending their new ace, Ubaldo Jiminez, to the mound. Derek Holland will be pitching for Texas, and the young lefty has been pretty solid of late. But all eyes will be on Ubaldo, pitching in his first game since coming over from Colorado in a trade deadline deal. Taking on the Rangers’ lineup in his first AL game is no easy task: the Rangers rank 3rd in runs, 2nd in batting average, 3rd in OPS, 3rd in HRs, and 4th in stolen bases. They are an offensive juggernaut.

Handicappers will likely pay attention to the Rangers’ recent struggles, winning just 3 of their last 9 games while their offense has slumped a bit, scoring 4 runs or fewer in 6 of 9.

Cleveland has won just 3 of their last 9 games as well. They’ve scored 3 runs or fewer in every single one of those losses. When their bats come to life, the Indians do fine, otherwise, they’ve struggled.

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MLB Odds have the rangers at 45-1 to win the World Series, while the Indians are at 60-1.

The home field advantage figures to be a major factor in this game. Both teams have been excellent while playing at their home fields this season, but each team has really struggled while playing on the road. The Rangers are just 10-14 on the road this season and the Indians are the best home team in the American League with a 19-6 record in Cleveland.

These teams each have stellar offenses and this could be a very high scoring series. The Rangers started to slow down a bit offensively, but they will likely turn things around with Josh Hamilton back in the lineup. Hamilton is considered to be one of the best players in baseball and is an integral part of their lineup.

While Hamilton is important for the Rangers, Adrian Beltre may be even more important. Beltre has the potential to be one of the premier hitters in the game, but he has struggled to hit for a good average this season. The Rangers need him to perform in this series.

The Indians have a comfortable lead, but they need to continue to build it as every team goes through a tough stretch at some point in the season.

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The Cleveland Indians are on the verge of matching their longest winning streak of the season. On Wednesday night, as they continue their home series with the Jays, Indians try for a fourth straight victory.

On Sunday, by beating Cincinnati, Cleveland (29-47) snapped a seven-game slide before taking the first two of this four-game set. On Tuesday, Travis Hafner added two hits in a 5-4 and Matt LaPorta hit his second home run, contributing to the win.

The Indians are on the verge of winning a series for the first time since June 11-13 and they have won four in a row twice this year.
With two outs Tuesday, Cleveland scored four times and has scored 44 percent of their runs after two were out, third best in the majors.

In the series LaPorta, called up from the minors Sunday, is 3 for 7 and 5 for 13 against the Blue Jays this season. With two RBIs against Toronto in 2010, Hafner is 6 for 16.

Since being recalled from the minors to join the rotation after an unsuccessful relief stint, Aaron Laffey (0-2, 6.37) will make his second start. On Saturday, in four innings of a 10-3 loss at Cincinnati, he allowed five runs.

On Saturday Blue Jays turn to Jesse Litsch (0-2, 8.78), after throwing seven innings in a 3-0 victory over San Francisco. He allowed six runs and walked four in four innings of a 9-0 loss to Philadelphia.

For the second straight night, All-Star second baseman Aaron Hill went 0 for 4 and he is 4 for 32 in the last nine games. Toronto has hit .224 and scored 27 runs during that span.

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In interleague play, the Pirates seek to end their winless ways and avoid a 13th consecutive overall defeat Saturday as they play the Cleveland Indians.

Pittsburgh (23-44) fell to 0-7 against AL teams this year following Friday’s 4-3 defeat in the series opener. In NL, Pittsburgh has the worst record. Since 1900, its 12-game skid is its third longest.
“Everybody’s … frustrated that this losing is going on, It’s one of those things when you go out and finally get that one and end this streak, then we can move on ” said Ryan Church.

Pedro Alvarez, rookie third baseman went 0 for 4 in his third game, continuing his early struggles. Since being called up for his major league debut Wednesday, the highly touted 23-year-old is 0 for 10 with five strikeouts.

To try to end their woes, the Pirates will turn to Jeff Karstens (1-2, 4.50 ERA). In three starts, the right-hander is winless. After pitching 1 1/3 hitless innings of relief against the Indians last year, Karstens is making his first start against them.

Cleveland (26-40) remains in last place in the AL Central, even though it snapped a four-game losing streak. To snap a scoreless tie, the Indians scored all their runs in the top of the seventh.

The Indians versus the NL, improved to 4-6. A win can do the same for David Huff (2-8, 5.82). From a promising 2009 rookie year in which he went 11-8, and is 0-5 with a 7.29 ERA in seven road starts, the left-hander has already matched his loss total. In his last four starts, he is winless with a 7.41 ERA.

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The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals are the bottom two teams in the division again in 2010. Fausto Carmona of Indians will try to send Kansas City again to a seven straight losing streak.

In 2009, each club lost 97 games and this year it is no better. Kansas City’s woes only seem to be getting worse whereas with two back to back wins, the Indians have come out of the five-game losing streak. To lose more than 600 games since the start of 2004, the Royals (11-22) are the only team in the majors. With a 5.21 ERA, the Royals rank last in the AL. The problem that the Royals are facing is that they are making too many errors in their game play.

This has been Kyle Davies (2-1, 5.45 ERA) worst start of the year. In his first five outings, the right-hander had posted four quality starts. On Thursday when Royals lost to Texas in 13-12, he gave up nine runs in four-plus innings. Using three double plays to work around seven hits and four walks, Carmona (3-1, 3.86) had a more encouraging outing last week. He also held Toronto to two runs in 6 1/3 innings last Wednesday. The last three times Carmona has faced Kansas City, he has run into major problems. Walking 11 in 17 1/3 innings, he has 0-2 with a 7.79 ERA in that stretch.

On Tuesday, Indians struck out 10 times and this achievement was repeated seventh times in their last eight games. Austin Kearns had two hits and scored three runs whereas Russell Branyan had hit two home runs. This season due to back problems, Branyan has been limited to 40 at-bats. The homers from Branyan on Tuesday were his first two of the season.

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