Preview Toronto v Cleveland

Preview Cleveland v Toronto series

Halladay v Sabathia. Should be a great pitching matchup although Jays bats are awful. They need a good start to this hinegame road trip.

Halladay (3-4, 3.00 ERA) has given great back-to-back games. He went 8 2-3 innings in Boston on April 29, allowing his only run of the game in the bottom of the ninth to take the 1-0 loss. He gave up three runs - one earned - in 7 1-3 innings on Sunday, but the result was better this time as Toronto beat the Chicago White Sox. 4-3.
Halladay has pitched 30 complete games since 2003 - nine more than his closest individual competitor. Twenty major league teams have fewer complete games than the right-hander.
Two of Halladay's 35 complete games have come against Cleveland (16-18), but none since Sept. 27, 2003. Halladay is 5-0 with a 3.77 ERA in 10 career starts against the

Sabathia (1-5, 7.51) is 6-3 with a 3.71 ERA lifetime against Toronto.

What they said:
Gregg Zaun after Toronto went 1-11 with runners in scoring position “It's pathetic. We're a way better club than this.. There's no excuses. We need to go out there and start getting those runs home."

Cleveland's offense has been struggling just as much as Toronto's. They are averaging just 2.8 runs over their last 10 games, even though their pitching staff has pitched well.
After four bad starts Sabathia settled down, allowing one run in 14 innings in his next two outings. He seemed to be cruising along in his last start, tossing six shutout innings, but was pulled in the seventh after getting just one out and yielding four runs in Cleveland's 4-2 loss to Kansas City.
Jays have lost 12 of their last 13 in Cleveland.

Personnel changes
Jays have hired two new faces Kevin Mench, acquired from the Texas Rangers for cash, and free agent Brad Wilkerson 30-year-old veteran outfielders to help at the plate and in the field.
Wilkerson played 19 games for the Seattle Mariners this season, hitting .232 with four doubles, 10 walks in 56 plate appearances. In 887 career games, the outfielder hit .249 with 118 homers and 376 RBI.
Mench was playing with Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League, where he had three homers and 18 RBI in 29 games this year. He hit .271 with 89 homers and 320 RBI in 651 major league games.

Gustavo Chacin and infielder Sergio Santos have been designated for reassignment, meaning the Jays have 10 days to trade them or they become free agents.
Outfielder Joe Inglett has been sent back down to Syracuse.