Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros Picks & Predictions

Written May 7, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz

cubs-astros-predictions-050709 The Cubs are 15-12 on the season and are coming off a 6-3 victory last night over the Astros in the first game of this series. Chicago should be very encouraged as they are three games over .500 and really have not played that well. Derrek Lee is hitting .209 from the field with three home runs and 15 RBIs and Geovony Soto has been horrific hitting .159 from the plate. Aramis Ramirez has been hurt but played last night and had a home run and Alfonso Soriano is hitting .270 with seven homers and 14 RBIs which when analyzed is okay 27 games into the season. The Cubs have gotten good production from Fukudome and Mike Fontenot. As a team they are hitting .246 which will need to improve as the season goes on. The starting pitcher for the Cubbies tonight is Ted Lilly who is 3-2 with a 3.13 ERA through his first five starts. Lilly has shown good control this year as well as some life on his fastball. His first start of the season was at Houston in which he picked up the win but did struggle going 5 innings allowing 8 hits and 5 runs. Houston is a hitters ball park so he will need to forget about that last start and come out tonight ready to pitch well. Last season Ted Lilly went 2-0 in three starts against the Astros with a 1.40 ERA. The key factor for Chicago tonight will be Aramis Ramirez. He is one of baseball’s best sluggers and is back and looking healthy. Expect him to jack one or two out tonight. Thursday’s MLB odds show the Cubs -144 against Houston and the total set for 10 runs.

The Houston Astros are 11-16 on the season. They currently are on a two games losing streak. What has been surprising to me is the lack of power this team has shown. Besides the fact they play in an elementary style ball park, they have proven sluggers in Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman and Miguel Tejada has shown he has nice power as well. Berkman has seven home runs and 16 RBIs while hitting an very confusing .194 from the plate while Carlos Lee has five homers and 20 RBIs hitting .294 from the plate. Hunter Pence is hitting .311 and has added four homers and 11 RBIs. That about sums up this teams offensive production. Tejada has been okay at best while Kazuo Matsui and Pudge have been non effective. Tonight’s starter is Russ Ortiz who has gotten the best luck of any pitcher on this team. Through four starts he is 2-0 but has a 5.21 ERA. He has walked 14 batters in 19 innings which is laughable. Russ Ortiz did not pitch in 2008 so their is no recent starts to mention against Chicago. He did come out of the bullpen this year and got rocked against the Cubs going three innings allowing three runs and four hits while also walking four batters. I do expect Berkman to hit well tonight and I see this game go buck wild with offense as both pitchers have not pitched well against the others lineup.

Haimo’s Hot Notes: The Astros are 6-2 in their last eight Thursday games. The UNDER is 23-9-1 in the last 33 Astros home games. The UNDER is 38-16-2 in the last 56 meetings between these two teams. Who’s ready to do some trend breaking? Lilly got hit hard in his first start against Houston while Ortiz was all over the place in his only relief appearance. Aramis Ramirez is back healthy in the lineup while Berkman is due to break out any time now. We had a situation like this a couple of weeks ago how the trends so heavily favored the UNDER.. However, that is because the line is usually so bloated it makes it not worth taking. Tonight the O/U is set at a very reasonable 9.5. EASY MONEY. BEST BET of the day.

Betting Line: Chicago Cubs vs Houston Astros O/U 10

Jordan’s Pick: Cubs vs Astros OVER 10

We settle for a 2-2 night yesterday sweeping the Yanks/Rays Game and UNDER. The Twins were down 4-1 as the game was called due to rain. We caught an awful break there as the game should never have re-started. The Nats didn’t come through with the upset but a small play on an underdog is not much damage. A split on the day gets us ready for tonight’s action. Lets get rolling fellas

Documented MLB Record:

40-22 OVERALL

15-8 BEST BET

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1 Comment

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One Response to “Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros Picks & Predictions”

jello on May 7th, 2009 2:36 pm

im going with you hopefully cubs win with the over 10

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