“No Pujols, No Problem!” could be this year’s slogan for the St. Louis Cardinals, who opened up a 4.0-game lead in the National League Central this past weekend with a 2-1 series win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Today the Cards open a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs and we setup the game with starting pitcher info, MLB odds and betting stats to start the week off with a winner.
Chicago (4-12) earned one win over the weekend against the visiting Cincinnati Reds but it stands as the Cubbies’ only ‘W’ in their past eight games. Chicago has just five home runs – fewest in the majors, and they have yet to win a single series.
The team is 0-3 against lefties and hitting just .235 and tonight they’ll face Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA), who is 6-1 in his last seven starts as a favorite. Online sportsbooks currently list the Cards at -108 on the moneyline with a total of 7 Under (-113).
Garcia was solid in his first start this season, roughed up a bit in his second outing at Cinci but then collected himself for a much better outing seven days later when he held the Reds to one run on seven hits through seven innings. In 2011, Garcia was 2-0 against the Cubs he and the rest of the Cardinals rotation has been supported by a bullpen with an ERA of just 2.72 on the season, fifth lowest in baseball.
Chicago is giving the ball to Matt Garza (1-1, 3.66 ERA), who looks to rebound from a terrible outing in Miami, but unless the lineup can figure out a way to provided some offense it looks like wins could be hard to come by for seven-year vet.
MLB PICKS
Chicago could not provide much against Garcia in 2011 and they are only scoring 3.0 runs per game against lefties so far in 2012. St. Louis won the first game of the series five of six times this season and the only loss was against these Cubs on April 13 but with the edge in pitching, hitting and defense, we like the road team at this price to start things off strong tonight.
Pick: Take the Cardinals
RUN THE BASES
– St. Louis is 35-16 the past two seasons when they’ve won two of their past three games
– Garza is 18-24 in night games the last three seasons and 3-7 the last 10 times he started Game 1 of a series
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