MLB Betting: Dodgers and Cardinals Begin Second Half
St. Louis and Los Angeles each begin the season's second half chasing down division leaders. The two old NL rivals also begin the second half facing each other.
If the first half of the 2010 baseball season was just a warm up, then fans and bettors are going to be in for a real treat the next 12 weeks as we head to the playoffs. And those who like great pitching matchups are certainly in for a treat Thursday in St. Louis when the Cardinals and Dodgers open a four-game series.
With both the Redbirds and Los Angeles trying to chase down division leaders, the squads begin the second half with Aces going at each other at Busch Stadium. Joe Torre will send lefty Clayton Kershaw (12-6, 2.96) to the mound while Tony La Russa trots big right-hander Chris Carpenter (13-6, 3.29) out.
The earliest MLB odds listed St. Louis the favorite in the 125-130 range, with LA available for plus 115. The pitching matchup has the oddsmakers agreeing on seven for the total and favoring neither the 'over' nor 'under.'
It's the second time the two teams have met this year, and will also be the second time the two pitchers face the opposing lineups in 2010. Kershaw and Carpenter missed by a day matching up against one another when the Dodgers hosted the Cardinals in early June.
Los Angeles swept that series, one of the wins a rout and the other two by a single run. The Dodgers enter Thursday's match with a six-game win streak against St. Louis that dates to a the 2009 playoffs when LA broomed the Cardinals out of the NLDS.
Kershaw has started two of those wins in the streak, including a 4-3 victory at Chavez Ravine on June 9. The left-hander worked seven, allowing three runs on four hits. All three runs came home on a Ryan Ludwick home run, one of only seven long balls Kershaw has served up in 112 1/3 innings this year.
The Dodgers opened as small chalk in that June 9 game before closing as very tiny 105 pups. The 4-3 final barely skipped 'over' the 6½-run total.
Los Angeles (49-39) begins the second half tied with the Rockies for second in the NL West two games behind the Padres. The 10-game bulge over .500 is good for just 1.7 units of profit, and the Dodgers have a nearly identical 48-39-1 'over' record to start the second half. They're 11-9 'over' in their last 20 games.
St. Louis is also second in the NL Central, a 47-41 mark good enough to have the Cards a game behind Cincinnati. The Redbirds have started July with a 4-6 mark and went into the break following a 2-4 road trip that saw them swept in Colorado before winning a pair over the weekend in Houston.
Carpenter has been part of the very recent slump St. Louis finds itself in, dropping his last two games (home versus Milwaukee and at Colorado). He allowed 12 runs, 11 earned, in nine innings combined between the two losing efforts, really taking a beating against the Brewers (3 IP, 7 ER).
His appearance at LA in the June series came on June 8 as a 125 favorite against Hiroki Kuroda. Carpenter lived up to the baseball odds with seven shutout innings. But his offense failed to crack through against Kuroda, and a Manny Ramirez double in the eighth broke the scoreless duel to give Los Angeles a 1-0 win.
Ramirez has been missing in action since the end of June, his second stint on the DL with the current hamstring trouble following an earlier calf injury. He was on a rehab assignment this past weekend, and could be activated for Thursday's game. He's 8-for-33 lifetime against Carpenter with a pair of long flies.
A muggy, hot day in St. Louis segues to a possibly wet evening. Weather forecasts currently call for a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, with The Weather Channel noting, "a few of the storms may be severe." Thermometer readings will still be well into the 80s at game time with north winds 5-20 mph (in from left field to the 1B dugout).
The series continues Friday with Chad Billingsley (10-6, 4.14) the listed starter for the Dodgers. St. Louis will counter with Jaime Garcia (8-9, 2.17).
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!
St. Louis and Los Angeles each begin the season's second half chasing down division leaders. The two old NL rivals also begin the second half facing each other.
If the first half of the 2010 baseball season was just a warm up, then fans and bettors are going to be in for a real treat the next 12 weeks as we head to the playoffs. And those who like great pitching matchups are certainly in for a treat Thursday in St. Louis when the Cardinals and Dodgers open a four-game series.
With both the Redbirds and Los Angeles trying to chase down division leaders, the squads begin the second half with Aces going at each other at Busch Stadium. Joe Torre will send lefty Clayton Kershaw (12-6, 2.96) to the mound while Tony La Russa trots big right-hander Chris Carpenter (13-6, 3.29) out.
The earliest MLB odds listed St. Louis the favorite in the 125-130 range, with LA available for plus 115. The pitching matchup has the oddsmakers agreeing on seven for the total and favoring neither the 'over' nor 'under.'
It's the second time the two teams have met this year, and will also be the second time the two pitchers face the opposing lineups in 2010. Kershaw and Carpenter missed by a day matching up against one another when the Dodgers hosted the Cardinals in early June.
Los Angeles swept that series, one of the wins a rout and the other two by a single run. The Dodgers enter Thursday's match with a six-game win streak against St. Louis that dates to a the 2009 playoffs when LA broomed the Cardinals out of the NLDS.
Kershaw has started two of those wins in the streak, including a 4-3 victory at Chavez Ravine on June 9. The left-hander worked seven, allowing three runs on four hits. All three runs came home on a Ryan Ludwick home run, one of only seven long balls Kershaw has served up in 112 1/3 innings this year.
The Dodgers opened as small chalk in that June 9 game before closing as very tiny 105 pups. The 4-3 final barely skipped 'over' the 6½-run total.
Los Angeles (49-39) begins the second half tied with the Rockies for second in the NL West two games behind the Padres. The 10-game bulge over .500 is good for just 1.7 units of profit, and the Dodgers have a nearly identical 48-39-1 'over' record to start the second half. They're 11-9 'over' in their last 20 games.
St. Louis is also second in the NL Central, a 47-41 mark good enough to have the Cards a game behind Cincinnati. The Redbirds have started July with a 4-6 mark and went into the break following a 2-4 road trip that saw them swept in Colorado before winning a pair over the weekend in Houston.
Carpenter has been part of the very recent slump St. Louis finds itself in, dropping his last two games (home versus Milwaukee and at Colorado). He allowed 12 runs, 11 earned, in nine innings combined between the two losing efforts, really taking a beating against the Brewers (3 IP, 7 ER).
His appearance at LA in the June series came on June 8 as a 125 favorite against Hiroki Kuroda. Carpenter lived up to the baseball odds with seven shutout innings. But his offense failed to crack through against Kuroda, and a Manny Ramirez double in the eighth broke the scoreless duel to give Los Angeles a 1-0 win.
Ramirez has been missing in action since the end of June, his second stint on the DL with the current hamstring trouble following an earlier calf injury. He was on a rehab assignment this past weekend, and could be activated for Thursday's game. He's 8-for-33 lifetime against Carpenter with a pair of long flies.
A muggy, hot day in St. Louis segues to a possibly wet evening. Weather forecasts currently call for a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, with The Weather Channel noting, "a few of the storms may be severe." Thermometer readings will still be well into the 80s at game time with north winds 5-20 mph (in from left field to the 1B dugout).
The series continues Friday with Chad Billingsley (10-6, 4.14) the listed starter for the Dodgers. St. Louis will counter with Jaime Garcia (8-9, 2.17).
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!
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