MLB Predictions – Houston Astros vs St Louis Cardinals

Our Thursday afternoon MLB predictions take us to Busch Stadium where the Houston Astros will attempt to pull off a road sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals after surprisingly cashing as lofty underdogs in the first two games of the series.

The Astros bats came alive last night raking 11 overall hits and plating nine runs. Another big error by SS Brendan Ryan opened the door for a huge fifth inning, but the

Astros and their league worst offensive attack will take runs any way they can get them.

Wandy Rodriguez secured his second victory of the season after tossing six innings of five ER ball, and Kyle Lohse remained the only starter on the Redbirds starting staff winless on the season (0-3).

The Astros have now won three in a row and stand a game under .500 on the road (5-6, +$292), while the Cardinals have dropped six of their L/10 overall.

Houston Astros (12-21, -$617) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (20-14, +$15)

Game Date/Time: Thursday, May 13th, 1:40 ET
Game Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
TV Broadcast: FOX (Houston & Midwest), XM Radio

MLB Baseball Odds:

Houston Astros +1’ +110 +230
(Bud Norris – R)

St. Louis Cardinals -1’ -130 -280
(Chris Carpenter– R)

Total: 7.5 O Even 7.5 U -120

Simply put, Bud Norris has been awful this season. He’s allowed less than three earned runs in just once in his six overall starts, and is yet to make it past the fifth inning.

He enters his seventh call to the hill 1-4 on the year with a bloated 7.52 ERA & ridiculous 1.97 WHIP allowing 32 hits and 22 ER’s with a K/BB ratio of 33/20 through 26.1 total IP.

Shockingly however, the Astros have won all three of his career starts against St. Louis having already won in Busch with him leading their charge about a month ago; the win was Houston’s first of the season.

Chris Carpenter has been anything but awful for the Redbirds in 2010. He enters his eighth start of the year 4-0 with a tidy 2.80 ERA & solid 1.07 WHIP allowing 35 hits and 14 ER’s with a K/BB ratio of 47/13 through 45 innings of work. St. Louis has won six of his seven overall starts.

He’s given up two runs or less in five of his seven overall outings and sports a perfect 3-0 record with a 0.90 ERA in three Busch Stadium starts this year.

He’s made his MLB betting backers some coin against Houston going 7-3 with a 2.75 ERA & 1.07 WHIP in 16 career starts vs. the Astros.

MLB Insider Tip: JQP will line up in droves to back the Cardinals in this one expecting them to avoid the home sweep at the hands of the Astros. And why not, St. Louis has won nine of the L/14 overall meetings against them in their own ballpark.

That said; Houston’s bats seem to have awoken from its early season slumber tallying 30 overall its L/3 games. Save for an 11 run outburst against the Pirates on Sunday, St. Louis’ bats haven’t produced many runs its L/8 games (3.4 RPG), and poor defense has plagued them throughout their L/3 games played (6 errors).

With so many destined to be chasing Redbirds money today and the fact that Houston has won three straight in this venue, the best value play here is on the Houston run line at +$$$.

I’m not gonna call for the outright victory, but it would hardly shock me so my MLB predictions for this finale of division rivals has St. Louis backers sweating it out.

My MLB Prediction: Houston Astros (+1’) +110 (Norris/Carpenter)