ST. LOUIS CARDINALS @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Baseball : North America : MLB
Monday, August 15th, 2011, 7:05PM US
(12:05AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

St. Louis has dropped just 3 of it's last 10 games but has to improve that in order to catch Milwaukee. Over the next 13 games, they play teams with losing records, including 7 against Pittsburgh. Tonight is Game 1 of a 3 game series and I give the Cardinals the edge.

The Cardinals have won 3 of the 6 games they have played against the Pirates but meet them at the right time as Pittsburgh have begun to well and truly slump. St. Louis send out Jake Westbrook tonight, and the righty is 9-6 with a 4.74ERA. In his last start he gave up 3 runs to Milwaukee and has kept 6 of his last 8 opponents to 3 runs or less.

Westbrook is 0-2 against Pittsburgh with a 5.00ERA. I feel he has a great chance to improve that tonight as he current ERA shows an improvement in pitching. Indeed, Westbrook has been much better on the road, with a 3.54ERA. In addition, the St. Louis are hot, and they have been scoring a bunch, including 6 last night.

The Pittsburgh Pirates hand the ball to James McDonald, who is 7-6 with a 4.24 ERA. In his last start, McDonald gave up 3 runs in 6 innings to the Giants. McDonald too has been reliable, giving up no more than 3 runs in 16 of his last 19 starts, but again, there is a slump happening and I feel he will give up at least 4 while his offence look set to struggle.

McDonald is 1-1 over his career against St. Louis, with a 3.00ERA. He will however be facing some batters in great form. Pujols hit his 29th homer last night, and is 17 for 41 with 5 homers and 10RBIs in his last 10 matches. Molina is back from suspension and has gone 6 for 17 in his last 5. And then there is Lance Berkman, who is now on a 9 game hitting streak.

TEAM STATS

St. Louis Cardinals
Overall 65-56, Streak W1

Pittsburgh Pirates
Overall 56-63, Streak L3

BETTING VERDICT

Pittsburgh's batting average and runs scored rank very low in the MLB. I don't think they will manage to score any more than 2 or 3 against St. Louis and that just won't be enough. Take the Cardinals.

The Pick :

St. Louis Cardinals

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the St. Louis Cardinals to win @ 1.81 (Pinnacle)