Sunday MLB – St. Louis to Battle Giants

The St. Louis Cardinals realize that they are once again in a tussle for the N.L. Central Division. The Cards are 10 and 5 and 2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the division but they go into this weekend facing one of the best pitching teams in baseball, the San Francisco Giants. The Cards figure to be baseball bet favorites in Sunday’s game because the man they start has been brilliant so far this season.

After facing Tim Lincecum on Friday and Barry Zito on Saturday, the Cardinals tackle Gaints’ pitcher Matt Cain with the suddenly awesome again Brad Penny. In 3 games and 21 innings, Penny has allowed 17 hits for a .95 WHIP. His overall ERA in those 3 games is 1.29. Penny is yet another former Dodger that has found his groove outside of L.A.’s organization.

Brad takes his repertoire to the Bay Area to battle Matt Cain. Cain hasn’t been as good so far in 2010 as he was in 2009. He hasn’t been able to pitch past the 6th inning in any of his 3 starts. His record is 0 and 0. His overall ERA is 3.86. His WHIP is pretty good at 1.13.

Because Penny has been pitching so well, I see the Cardinals going off as slight favorites in the MLB sportsbook.

Expected Baseball Odds

St. Louis Cardinals
Brad Penny – R -1 ½ Ev -120 O 7 ½ -110

San Francisco Giants
Matt Cain – R +1½ -120 EV U 7 ½ -110

The trends in this game appear to favor the Giants.

• The San Francisco Giants are 6 and 1 in their last 7 games versus a team from the N.L. Central Division.
• The San Francisco Giants are 6 and 1 in their last 7 home games versus a right-handed starter.
• The St. Louis Cardinals are 2 and 5 in their last 7 games versus a team from the N.L. West Division.

Even though the trends favor the Giants, the Cardinals send a pretty good pitcher to the mound on Sunday afternoon. Penny could seriously shut down the Giants. He knows the team well having faced them more than a few times as an L.A. Dodger.

But this Giants’ team is somewhat different than the ones Penny used to face. This Giants’ team is averaging close to 5 runs per game. They’re also batting .274 as a team. The craziest thing for the G-Men is that 3-game sweep they suffered in San Diego.

That’s the reason they figure to do well in this series. The Giants are a much better team than they looked against the Padres. They figure to win at least one game against the Cardinals during this 3 game series.

The Cardinals pitchers have been on fire lately but out of all of them, Penny appears to be the one most likely to fall off of the less than 2.0 ERA wagon. Cain, on the other hand, figures to start stepping it up soon.

I believe that Penny and the Cardinals will be slight favorites in the sportsbook. I also believe that it’s only a matter of time before pitcher Matt Cain, and the Giants’ as a team, start winning games again.

Because of that, I’ll bet that Cain and the G-Men beat Penny and the Cardinals at home on Sunday.

Pick: San Francisco Giants as -110 to above favorites >> Join NOW