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St. Louis:
Coming off a series victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cards were poised for a NL Central showdown with the Chicago Cubs at the one, the only, Wrigley Field. This was the first time this season that the Cardinals would take a trip to Wrigley, to take on the NL leading Cubs. After a gut wrenching 3-2 loss in the 11th inning on Friday, the Cards were out for revenge on Saturday, facing the Cubs Ace, Carlos Zambrano. With 29 year old emerging starter Todd Wellemeyer on the mound for St. Louis. Suprisingly, the Cards managed to hit 4 home runs off of Zambrano, chasing him from the game after just 4 1/3 innings. In those innings, Carlos allowed 10 hits, 9 runs, 4 homers and 1 walk. This outing raised his ERA from 2.76 to 3.22.
The Cardinals enter tonight’s game with 2005 NL Cy Young Award Winner, Chris Carpenter, on
the mound. Carpenter just pitched 1 game in the 2007 season, and then had season-ending Tommy John Surgery. Upon his return this year, Chris has started 2 games, with an 0-0 record, has pitched 9 innings, allowing 8 hits, 1 run, and 2 walks while striking out five. In 13 starts and 91 innings against the Cubs in his career, Chris has posted a 7-2 record, while compiling a 3.07 ERA.The Cardinals come into tonight’s game 6 games behind the NL Central leading Cubs, looking for their first divisional series win since the all star break.
Chicago:
The Cubs enter tonight’s game looking for their 4th straight series win. Over that 10 game stretch, the Cubs were 8-2 (9-3 in 12 games including this series first 2). The Cubs began that stretch sweeping a 4 game series in Milwaukee, in a then very tight race for the top spot in the NL Central, and the whole National League for that matter. The Cubs then took 2 of 3 from both the Pirates and the Astros, and enter tonight’s rubber game as I said, looking for their fourth straight series win, all in their division.
After a walk-off winner Friday, the Cubs got pounded yesterday, losing 12-3, there were a few bright spots, for the Cubs: Soriano continued his hot hitting with a 2-4 day with a RBI. Mark Derosa also hit his 13th Big Fly of the year, picking up his 64th RBI.
After picking up 95 saves over the past 3 seasons combined, the Cubs decided to test tonight’s starter, Ryan Dempster back into his original role in his career, a Starting Pitcher. Dempster has had
success as a starter in his career, going 14-10 with a 3.66 ERA with the Marlins in 2000. The Cubs made the right choice with Ryan, as he has already picked up a 12-5 record, compiling a 2.93 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Dempster has also been fantastic at Wrigley this season, where in 14 starts, Dempster has pitched 91 innings, posted a 10-2 record while compiling a 2.77 ERA.The Cubs entered today with a comfortable 4 game lead on Milwaukee, and a 6 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs haven't lost a NL Series at Wrigley since April 29 - May 1st
Betting Edge:
St. Louis Cardinals..+1.5 (-170)..........+130
Chicago Cubs...........-1.5 (+150)..........-140
With the Cubs on a Roll like they are, and how fantastic they, and Dempster are at home, I see no reason why to not take the Cubs. Especially with the way the Cardinals 'pen has consistently given away leads, and has allowed teams to build on their leads, there is no reason to trust the Cardinals until they solidify the closers' role.
I recommend the Run Line, instead of laying -140, you are getting +150. After winning the 1st game in this series by just 1 run, which occurs less than 25% of the time when the Cubs win, it is highly unlikely that they win by just one here. With the trouble that the Cardinals have had in the Bullpen all year long, and the power up and down in the Cubs lineup, once Carpenter is out of the game, expect the Cubs to explode on a horrible St. Louis bullpen.
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