MLB Baseball
2012-05-14 - Chicago Cubs at St Louis Cardinals
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 14 May 2012 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The St Louis Cardinals (20-14) will try to erase the memories of being swept by the Atlanta Braves here in their last series. The Braves became the first team since the LA Dodgers to complete a sweep here since August 2011, while this is their longest home losing streak, 4 games, since August 2010.
They will feel confident they can snap that streak as they face the Chicago Cubs (14-20) for the third series this season knowing that they have struggled for any kind of consistency from the plate so far this season.
Jake Westbrook will go to the mound for the Cardinals as he looks to improve on his 4-2 record and maintain his 1.76 ERA. He has also been lucky enough to have been supported by an average of 8.12 runs per game this season which is the highest mark in the National League.
The pitcher didn't allow a run in 7 innings pitched against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his last outing and the Cardinals will hope he can stop the bleeding that has seen the team give up 29 runs in their four game losing streak at home.
Westbrook has won his last two starts against the Chicago Cubs with a 1.93 ERA and he will look to shut down an offense that has scored 2 or fewer runs in half of their last 8 games.
Chicago will counter with Ryan Dempster who must be the most unfortunate pitcher in the Major Leagues so far in 2012. Dempster has a 0-1 record but a very impressive 1.02 ERA and he was impressive in only allowing 1 run against the Atlanta Braves through 7 innings in his last outing.
The problem for Dempster is he is being supported by an average of 2.04 runs per game, the worst mark in the National League. The pitcher will look to restrict St Louis again in this one as he has allowed 3 runs or fewer in 8 of his 9 starts on the road in this series.
Head to Head
The teams have currently split the season series 3-3 so far this season, but St Louis did take 2 of the 3 games they have played here.
That means the Cardinals have improved to 9-3 in their last 12 home games against the Cubs.
St Louis are 8-7 at home this season, Chicago are 5-10 on the road.
Prediction
I am going to take a chance on the St Louis Cardinals getting back in the win column at home and managing to take it by a couple of runs at the least.
Ryan Dempster deserves all the respect in the World for the way he has been pitching this season, but Jake Westbrook is no slouch himself so runs could be at a premium and that is where you have to back the Cardinals batting line up more than the Chicago one.
St Louis have got a hold of Dempster a couple of times in their last few times facing him, earning 3 or more runs in 4 of their last 6 against the pitcher, while also reaching as many as 6 runs on 2 occasions.
The Cardinals remain capable of putting up at least 4-5 runs, and that should be enough for them to win this by a couple of runs at the least.
The Pick :
St Louis Cardinals 5-2 Chicago Cubs
