Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals Pick
Written May 15, 2009 by Steve Janus
The Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals are in a dead-heat in the National League Central. How fitting is it that they square off tonight in St. Louis with the winner taking over sole possession of first in the division? The Brewers are currently on a three-game winning streak, thanks to a series sweep of the Florida Marlins, while the Cardinals just avoided being swept in Pittsburgh, winning game three of their series with the Pirates by a final of 5-1 yesterday. Today’s game is scheduled to start at 8:15 PM ET, and the MLB odds for the game are posted at St. Louis -104 against the Brewers, with an Over/Under set at 8.5 runs.
Starters: Give the edge to the Brewers in the starting pitching match up with Yovani Gallardo on the mound. A healthy Gallardo has been a major part of the Brewers’ success this season. In 7 starts he is 4-1 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP and has K’ed 47 batters in 46 2/3 innings of work. There really isn’t a knock on Gallardo at this point in the season, other than his youth, but he is poised to be one of the best starting pitchers in the National League this year. The Cardinals counter with Kyle Loshe, who despite a strong start to the 2009 season, has fallen apart in his last two starts. In Loshe’s last three starts, the Cardinals are 0-3 and Loshe has a 7.16 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP, having given up 13 earned runs in his last two games combined. This after pitching 6 shutout innings in Atlanta three starts ago. The one saving grace for Loshe tonight might be playing back in St. Louis, where he has earned all 3 of this wins this season while sporting a 3.20 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP at Busch Stadium.
Hitting: The Brew-Crew got off to a slow start this year, but the bats have started to come around. As a team they are hitting just .259, but scoring 5.1 runs per game, thanks in large part to 47 home runs hit in their 35 games this year. The Cardinals play particularly well offensively in St. Louis, upping their season team average nearly 20 points to .295 and scoring almost a half run more per game at 5.5 in 17 home games this year. While the Brewers have hit right-handers well this year, a small edge has to be given to the Cards’ line up playing in St. Louis.
Bullpen: Both bullpens have faired relatively well this year. The Brewers’ pen is 8-4 on the year with a 3.87 ERA and they’ve converted 68.4% of their saves this year (7 of 13). The Cardinals bullpen is 6-5 on the year with a 3.76 ERA and they’ve converted 70.6% of their save attempts overall, including converting 6 of 7 in St. Louis.
Picks: Milwaukee Brewers -106 & UNDER 8.5
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