Bet on Baseball – St. Louis and Philly Clash Again in Huge Wednesday Night Game

The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, two of the best teams in baseball, clash in the 3rd game of their 4 game series on Wednesday night. Standing at 1 and 1, game 3 could set the tone for the 4th and final game.

It could also set the tone for one Kyle Kendrick who, if Philly wishes to return to the World Series this season, is going to have to turn around his form. Kendrick has been about as bad as any starter in any rotation in the National League this first month of the 2010 MLB Season. After pitching 8 shut-out innings against the Atlanta Braves on April 20th, Kendrick has given up 6 home runs in 15 2/3 innings for an 11.49 ERA. His WHIP stands at 1.65.

By contrast, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Brad Penny has been exceptional for most of 2010. Penny is 3 and 1 with a 1.56 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He’s one of the reasons that the Cardinals boast the best pitching staff in MLB with an overall ERA of 2.56 and an overall WHIP of 1.13.

The Cardinals are the slight baseball bet favorites in the MLB sportsbook in Wednesday night’s game.

St. Louis Cardinals
Brad Penny – R -1 ½ +135 -120 O 10 -105

Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Kendrick – R +1 ½ -155 Ev U 10 -115

The MLB betting trends favor neither team in this game.

• The St. Louis Cardinals are 8 and 1 in their last 9 games following a loss.
• The St. Louis Cardinals are 8 and 2 in their last 10 games overall.
• The Philadelphia Phillies are 4 and 1 in their last 5 games against a team from the National League Central Division.
• The Philadelphia Phillies are 8 and 1 in their last 9 games at home versus a right-handed starter.

The trends don’t mean as much in this game, both of these teams are good teams, as do the actual head to head pitching stats.

Against the St. Louis Cardinals, Kyle Kendrick is 3 and 0 with a 2.55 ERA. Matt Holliday, Ryan Ludwick and Albert Pujols are 3 and 22 combined against Kendrick.

Brad Penny is 4 and 0 with a 2.13 ERA in his last 5 starts against the Philadelphia Phillies.

That leads to one key question…which Penny and which Kendrick will show up? Kendrick has the ability to keep a team from putting up runs against him, but he has to regain the control he showed against Atlanta in April. If he doesn’t, then the Cardinals could go nuts against him.

Penny is coming off of his worst outing of the season. He gave up 8 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings in a 2 to 3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

My hope is that Kendrick finds something, anything, in tonight’s game to keep the Cardinals from putting up a ton of runs. I also suspect that Penny will keep Philly under control like he usually does.

Because of that, the best baseball wager in tonight’s game is under the total of 10 runs.

MLB Free Picks: Under 10 -115