LA Dodgers @ St Louis Cardinals
United States: MLB Baseball
Tuesday 23 August 2011 - First Pitch 8:15pm ET
1:15am (British Standard Time)

---

Preview

The LA Dodgers (58-69) have had a tough season with ownership issues and they are unlikely to be playing in October as they sit 10.5 games behind Arizona in the National League West. They continue this series with the St Louis Cardinals (67-61) who are struggling to keep tabs on the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, sitting 9 games behind with 34 games to play.

With a Wild Card spot very much in the control of the Atlanta Braves, the Cardinals know they need to start making a hole in the deficit to the Brewers if they want to play in the postseason with this strong batting line up they have.

There is a chance that Matt Holliday will miss out for the Cardinals after an incident last night where a moth flew into his ear. He was pulled from the game to get a bit of treatment and his status is unclear for this game.

Kyle Loehse will be sent to the mound for St Louis- he is 11-7 with a 3.33 ERA this season. He has gone 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA in his last 4 starts and he allowed just 2 runs in the last 7 innings in his last start against Pittsburgh.

Loehse was given the win in his only start against the Dodgers this season, giving up just 2 runs in just over 7 innings pitched as the Cardinals won 11-2.

The Dodgers will counter with their ace pitcher, Clayton Kershaw, who is also a contender for the CY Young award in the National League. Kershaw is 15-5 this season with a 2.60 ERA, but he has been even better of late as he has gone 7-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his last 8 starts and has not allowed more than 2 runs in any of those games.

However, Kershaw has struggled against the Cardinals in recent outings and was hit 5 runs in just under 5 innings pitched while the Dodgers lost 9-2. He now has a 9.00 ERA in his last 2 meetings with St Louis.

Head to Head

The Dodgers took Game 1 last night but have not won back to back games in St Louis since 2003- they are 5-21 in the 26 games since then here at Busch Stadium.

St Louis now lead the season series 3-2 but have lost the last 2 games.

St Louis are 21-20 in Game 2's this season, but they are only 9-12 when losing Game 1.

The Dodgers are 15-26 in Game 2's, going 9-13 when winning the previous game.

Prediction

With Clayton Kershaw on the mound, I think the odds have been skewed too much in the favour of the road team and there might be a value play on St Louis picking up the win.

Kershaw has been brilliant in his recent outings, and he is just not giving up that many runs which is keeping the Dodgers in games and allowing them to pull the wins.

However, Kershaw has struggled against this powerful St Louis batting line up and he could have a bit of trouble again tonight.

Kyle Loehse is also capable of keeping the Cardinals in the game in a pitching duel and I think there has to be more faith that they will get the crucial run that will be the difference in this game.

The Pick :

St Louis Cardinals 2-1 LA Dodgers

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back the St Louis Cardinals @ 2.05