MLB Betting Preview: Cardinals at Phillies
A pair of NL division leaders will square off in Philadelphia the next four days in what could eventually be an NLCS preview. Joe Blanton will get the start for the Phils in Game 1 versus the Cards.
Calendars have been flipped to May, so can we stop all of the "It's still early" talk? Whether you agree with that or not, this National League schedule leads off this week with what appears to be a matchup of very, very likely postseason-bound squads.
St. Louis will travel to Philadelphia for four against the Phillies starting Monday when the Cardinals send young left-hander Jaime Garcia (2-2, 1.04) to the mound. The Phils will counter with Joe Blanton (0-0, 0.00) who is making his first start of the season after beginning the year on the DL.
Oddsmakers are not impressed with the two NL Pennants and one World Series the Phils have won the past two seasons, with early lines favoring St. Louis in the 130-135 range and nine for the total. The line has since settled more in the 120-125 range with the total hanging steady.
The Cardinals finished up their weekend with a 6-0 blanking of the Reds behind the right arm belonging to Chris Carpenter and David Freese's bat. The contest concluded a 6-1 homestand and left St. Louis 17-8 on the season, plus 6.2 at the betting window. The Redbirds are also helping 'under' backers to the tune of 16-8-1.
St. Louis starts this road trip 7-5 away from Busch. After the first four in Philly, the Cards will venture across the Keystone State for three in Pittsburgh.
Taking two of three over the weekend from the Mets pushed the Phillies back into the NL East lead. Charlie Manuel's club punched out New York ace Johan Santana on Sunday, clubbing four dingers and scoring 10 runs off the lefty en route to an 11-5 win. The Phils were 115 home dogs in that one to just barely put them into the black with a 14-10 overall mark. Philadelphia is also 14-10 'over' on the season and now a game over .500 at home with a 5-4 mark.
Garcia will be making his first career start against the Phillies and first appearance ever at Citizens Bank Park. He worked twice against them in relief during the '08 season, allowing a run in two innings. The lefty had Tommy John surgery later that year and came back to pitch in nine minor league games in 2009 following his rehab.
He certainly seems fully healed now if Garcia's numbers to start 2010 are any indication. He's yet to allow more than two earned runs in any of his four starting assignments, and no hitter has taken him deep in his 26 innings. In the two games he started that St. Louis lost, Garcia allowed just two earned in 13 innings of work. The Cardinals gave him all of two runs of offense in the two games, a 4-1 loss and 2-1 defeat.
The NL is batting just a buck seventy-six against Garcia who struck out 17 while walking nine.
Blanton's strained oblique is healed as he prepares for his first trip to the mound. Philadelphia was 17-14 in his 31 starts last season, with the beefy right-hander carrying a 4.05 ERA.
The former first round pick by Oakland in 2002 got the call twice against St. Louis in 2009, picking up the win in both outings. Blanton worked 14 innings combined in the matchups, allowing three earned runs while striking out nine and walking three.
Philadelphia took four of the five regular season meetings in 2009, sweeping the short, two-game set in St. Louis before winning two of three at home. Three of the five went 'over' the total, including two of three at Citizens Bank Park where the marks were all in the 9½-10 run range.
Current forecasts are not all that peachy for Monday in the Philly area. Weathermen are calling for a 60 percent shot of rain and thunderstorms into the early evening when the skies should begin to clear. Look for a first-pitch temperature in the low-to-mid 70s and winds out of the WSW at 5-10 mph (3B out to RF corner).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
A pair of NL division leaders will square off in Philadelphia the next four days in what could eventually be an NLCS preview. Joe Blanton will get the start for the Phils in Game 1 versus the Cards.
Calendars have been flipped to May, so can we stop all of the "It's still early" talk? Whether you agree with that or not, this National League schedule leads off this week with what appears to be a matchup of very, very likely postseason-bound squads.
St. Louis will travel to Philadelphia for four against the Phillies starting Monday when the Cardinals send young left-hander Jaime Garcia (2-2, 1.04) to the mound. The Phils will counter with Joe Blanton (0-0, 0.00) who is making his first start of the season after beginning the year on the DL.
Oddsmakers are not impressed with the two NL Pennants and one World Series the Phils have won the past two seasons, with early lines favoring St. Louis in the 130-135 range and nine for the total. The line has since settled more in the 120-125 range with the total hanging steady.
The Cardinals finished up their weekend with a 6-0 blanking of the Reds behind the right arm belonging to Chris Carpenter and David Freese's bat. The contest concluded a 6-1 homestand and left St. Louis 17-8 on the season, plus 6.2 at the betting window. The Redbirds are also helping 'under' backers to the tune of 16-8-1.
St. Louis starts this road trip 7-5 away from Busch. After the first four in Philly, the Cards will venture across the Keystone State for three in Pittsburgh.
Taking two of three over the weekend from the Mets pushed the Phillies back into the NL East lead. Charlie Manuel's club punched out New York ace Johan Santana on Sunday, clubbing four dingers and scoring 10 runs off the lefty en route to an 11-5 win. The Phils were 115 home dogs in that one to just barely put them into the black with a 14-10 overall mark. Philadelphia is also 14-10 'over' on the season and now a game over .500 at home with a 5-4 mark.
Garcia will be making his first career start against the Phillies and first appearance ever at Citizens Bank Park. He worked twice against them in relief during the '08 season, allowing a run in two innings. The lefty had Tommy John surgery later that year and came back to pitch in nine minor league games in 2009 following his rehab.
He certainly seems fully healed now if Garcia's numbers to start 2010 are any indication. He's yet to allow more than two earned runs in any of his four starting assignments, and no hitter has taken him deep in his 26 innings. In the two games he started that St. Louis lost, Garcia allowed just two earned in 13 innings of work. The Cardinals gave him all of two runs of offense in the two games, a 4-1 loss and 2-1 defeat.
The NL is batting just a buck seventy-six against Garcia who struck out 17 while walking nine.
Blanton's strained oblique is healed as he prepares for his first trip to the mound. Philadelphia was 17-14 in his 31 starts last season, with the beefy right-hander carrying a 4.05 ERA.
The former first round pick by Oakland in 2002 got the call twice against St. Louis in 2009, picking up the win in both outings. Blanton worked 14 innings combined in the matchups, allowing three earned runs while striking out nine and walking three.
Philadelphia took four of the five regular season meetings in 2009, sweeping the short, two-game set in St. Louis before winning two of three at home. Three of the five went 'over' the total, including two of three at Citizens Bank Park where the marks were all in the 9½-10 run range.
Current forecasts are not all that peachy for Monday in the Philly area. Weathermen are calling for a 60 percent shot of rain and thunderstorms into the early evening when the skies should begin to clear. Look for a first-pitch temperature in the low-to-mid 70s and winds out of the WSW at 5-10 mph (3B out to RF corner).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
