MLB Betting: Pujols and Cardinals Chasing Reds in NL Central
Separated by just a game at the top of the NL Central division, the Cardinals host the Reds in a key three-game series starting Monday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
The 2010 baseball season completes its first third of the schedule this week. If things go according to past numbers, four of the present six division leaders will be in the postseason.
Will the Cincinnati Reds be one of the four that do, or half of the two that don't?
With a slim one-game lead in the NL Central, the Reds embark on a crucial road trip this week beginning with their closest competitors from St. Louis. Cincinnati will send right-hander Bronson Arroyo (7-3, 4.30) to the Busch Stadium mound on Memorial Day trying to maintain the division lead. The Cardinals, overwhelming favorites to take the division before the season started, will counter with young southpaw Jaime Garcia (4-5, 1.14).
Early betting odds released Sunday afternoon listed the Cards as 140-150 favorites with the 'over/under' set at 7 ½.
After outscoring the Astros 27-8 in the first two games of the weekend series, the Reds forgot their bats in Sunday's series finale. Houston prevailed in 10 by a 2-0 score to leave Cincinnati with a 30-21 record and up a little more than eight units on the money line.
Powered by three Albert Pujols blasts and seven good innings from Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals rolled to a 9-1 win Sunday at Wrigley. The triumph gave St. Louis a 2-1 edge in the series over the Cubs. The Redbirds are 29-22 and down about 3.5 units at the window.
They will be looking at Arroyo for the third time this season and 23rd time in his career. The Reds won Arroyo's previous two starts versus the Cardinals with both of those games at Great American Ball Park.
Arroyo is presently enjoying a four-game winning stretch during which time he's tossed 30 1/3 innings while allowing just seven earned runs (2.07). Cincinnati is 4-1 in the right-hander's five starts away from home with Arroyo owning a 4.73 ERA in those outings and holding the opposition to a .234 batting average.
This will be Garcia's second go at the Reds in 2010, the first coming in Cincinnati on May 14. The southpaw worked 6 1/3 innings with two runs scoring while he was on the hill. St. Louis held on for a 4-3 win, Garcia's last victory.
The Cardinals have not given Garcia much support recently, scoring just six times in his last four starts with St. Louis 1-3 in those contests. The lone win was the May 14 game at Cincinnati. Garcia's 1.14 ERA ranks second in the NL. He's worked 11 scoreless frames in his most recent pair of starts, but St. Louis has dropped both games.
Perhaps Pujols' power display at Wrigley is a sign both he and the Redbirds offense is coming out of its recent doldrums. The St. Louis slugger had just one homer during a 28-game stretch from April 27 to May 26. He's now hit four in the last four games, driving in nine runs in the process.
A 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms is in the forecast for the St. Louis area on Monday afternoon. Without the rain it will still be a muggy 85ºF with WSW winds at 5-10 mph (third base line out to right-center).
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!
Separated by just a game at the top of the NL Central division, the Cardinals host the Reds in a key three-game series starting Monday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
The 2010 baseball season completes its first third of the schedule this week. If things go according to past numbers, four of the present six division leaders will be in the postseason.
Will the Cincinnati Reds be one of the four that do, or half of the two that don't?
With a slim one-game lead in the NL Central, the Reds embark on a crucial road trip this week beginning with their closest competitors from St. Louis. Cincinnati will send right-hander Bronson Arroyo (7-3, 4.30) to the Busch Stadium mound on Memorial Day trying to maintain the division lead. The Cardinals, overwhelming favorites to take the division before the season started, will counter with young southpaw Jaime Garcia (4-5, 1.14).
Early betting odds released Sunday afternoon listed the Cards as 140-150 favorites with the 'over/under' set at 7 ½.
After outscoring the Astros 27-8 in the first two games of the weekend series, the Reds forgot their bats in Sunday's series finale. Houston prevailed in 10 by a 2-0 score to leave Cincinnati with a 30-21 record and up a little more than eight units on the money line.
Powered by three Albert Pujols blasts and seven good innings from Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals rolled to a 9-1 win Sunday at Wrigley. The triumph gave St. Louis a 2-1 edge in the series over the Cubs. The Redbirds are 29-22 and down about 3.5 units at the window.
They will be looking at Arroyo for the third time this season and 23rd time in his career. The Reds won Arroyo's previous two starts versus the Cardinals with both of those games at Great American Ball Park.
Arroyo is presently enjoying a four-game winning stretch during which time he's tossed 30 1/3 innings while allowing just seven earned runs (2.07). Cincinnati is 4-1 in the right-hander's five starts away from home with Arroyo owning a 4.73 ERA in those outings and holding the opposition to a .234 batting average.
This will be Garcia's second go at the Reds in 2010, the first coming in Cincinnati on May 14. The southpaw worked 6 1/3 innings with two runs scoring while he was on the hill. St. Louis held on for a 4-3 win, Garcia's last victory.
The Cardinals have not given Garcia much support recently, scoring just six times in his last four starts with St. Louis 1-3 in those contests. The lone win was the May 14 game at Cincinnati. Garcia's 1.14 ERA ranks second in the NL. He's worked 11 scoreless frames in his most recent pair of starts, but St. Louis has dropped both games.
Perhaps Pujols' power display at Wrigley is a sign both he and the Redbirds offense is coming out of its recent doldrums. The St. Louis slugger had just one homer during a 28-game stretch from April 27 to May 26. He's now hit four in the last four games, driving in nine runs in the process.
A 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms is in the forecast for the St. Louis area on Monday afternoon. Without the rain it will still be a muggy 85ºF with WSW winds at 5-10 mph (third base line out to right-center).
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!
