CARDS -130
Jaime Garcia makes his second appearance on this list as he's really started to get back to pitching well with a 1.05 WHIP and 1.89 ERA in his last 3 starts. His ERA however on the road is 5.16, but that's a little blown out of proportion due to his poor performance in Colorado where he gave up 11 ER. Take that start out and 9 out of his 11 road starts he's given up 3 earned runs or less so I'm confident with him going up against the Pirates who have only seen him once where he gave up 1 ER over 6 innings last year. Also he faces a Pirates line up that continues to struggle hitting at home and hitting lefties. Pirates have been playing well but it's been all due to their pitching and I'll tell you why that's going to change on Saturday with their starting pitcher Kevin Correia.
First of all Correia has been extremely lucky with the amount of wins he's gotten. He only K's 4.62 batters per 9 innings which is very low and the Cardinals have hit him hard. Pujols/Schumaker/Theriot have a combined .410 average. It appears Pujols is just starting to get hot too as he has back to back days with home runs. Cardinals are 14-3 in their last 17 vs. a winning team with Garcia on the mound and I like their chances considering Correia has a 5.94 ERA at home this year and the Cards are #4 in OPS vs. RHP #1 in the National League vs. RHP. In fact during night games they are #2 in OPS in the entire league while Pit is just 26th with a .658 OPS. Love the Cards and Jaime Garcia to keep doing what he's doing which is pitching well in July as he has a 2.78 ERA in starts from 2008-2010 in July and add in the success over his last 3 starts and it's no coincidence.
SBR Top-Rated Sportsbooks
Saturday MLB PICK 4-22-2011
Reply With Quote
