The second half of the 2012 baseball season will kick off with a bang for the Cleveland Indians on Friday night, as Manny Acta's team starts up a brutal seven-game road trip against American League East opponents.
Friday's opponent, the Toronto Blue Jays, will send left-handed changeup artist Ricky Romero to the hill to face a lineup that will feature catcher Carlos Santana playing first base and batting in the No. 5 spot. Romero sports an impressive 8-4 record through 18 starts, but has been routinely knocked around this year en route to a horrid 5.22 earned-run average.
Aiming for his sixth victory of the season is Cleveland starter Justin Masterson, who will get the ball trying to erase memories of his last outing, a 4.1-inning debacle where he served up eight earned runs on nine hits. Masterson was truly starting to get into a rhythm in the month of June, so the the Indians are hopeful that he can get on track against a swing-and-miss-happy Toronto lineup in game one of the series.
Here are the starting lineups for Friday's opener:
Indians
1. Shin-Soo Choo - RF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera - SS
3. Jason Kipnis - 2B
4. Travis Hafner - DH
5. Carlos Santana - 1B
6. Michael Brantley - CF
7. Lou Marson - C
8. Johnny Damon - LF
9. Jack Hannahan - 3B
Justin Masterson - SP
Blue Jays
1. Brett Lawrie - 3B
2. Colby Rasmus - CF
3. Jose Bautista - RF
4. Edwin Encarnacion - 1B
5. Adam Lind - DH
6. Yunel Escobar - SS
7. Kelly Johnson - 2B
8. Rajai Davis - LF
9. J.P. Arencibia - C
Ricky Romero - SP
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