Good afternoon, giddy gamblers!
The Pirates collected that booty yesterday to bring my overall record to 13-4....However, for my first selection I'm going against the mostly abysmal Pittsburgh team...
Cardinals -1.5 (-115)The Cardinals are
only 2.5 games behind the Brewers for the NL wildcard, and tonight begin a crucial seven-game homestand. Braden Looper gets the bump tonight for St. Louis; over the last three appearances he has a nasty WHIP of 0.86 and ERA of 2.14. On June 1st of this year he helped beat the Pirates 7-4 versus this evening's Pittsburgh starter, Ian Snell. Snell's overall record is 4-10 with an ERA in night games of 5.02. He had an above average outing last week, albeit versus the Reds, but the Pirate offense failed to generate enough runs. Arguably one of the weakest MLB lineups, the Pirate team batting average the last ten games is .237 RHP and .207 LHP. Conversely, St. Louis is batting .298 against right handed pitching over the last ten games. Betting the run line is a tricky animal, but I have faith in a Cardinal team at possibly the most crucial point in the season.
Tigers -115While the Tigers are
not mathematically eliminated from wildcard contention, most fans, sports pundits, and bettors understand that the team has too many weaknesses to be consistent winners the rest of the season. Tonight, however, I really like the pitching matchup of Detroit's Armando Galarraga versus the Ranger's Vicente Padilla. Armando is an ex-Ranger pitcher who holds an 11-4 record this season and an ERA of 3.11. He pitched very well in his last outing, a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays in which he only allowed one run on five hits. None of Rangers current lineup has faced Galarraga. Vicente (12-6, 4.85 ERA), on the other hand, has lost his last three starts...and now must face a Tiger lineup that includes more than a few hitters with career success against him. Although the Tigers last faced Padilla on April 22nd of this year, I'm expecting similar results to that 10-2 beat down.
Good luck tonight, everyone!