Posted on 4/3/2008 12:58:12 PM

MLB Baseball Betting - Brewers vs. Cubs

By Mike Rose

All’s well in the land of cheese as the Milwaukee Brewers upended the Chicago Cubs in the second game of their three game set Wednesday afternoon, and now sit atop the NL Central standings. It was clearly evident the day belonged to the Brewers on the first pitch of the game. Rickie Weeks deposited lefty Ted Lilly’s first offering into the left field bleachers, and the Brewers took a 1-0 lead before most of the Wrigley crowd found their seats. Ned Yost is firmly aware that this is just the start of the season, but he won’t dismiss how important every one of these early divisional games are. He knows every win within the Central Division is important for his young contending ball club. "I mean, I'm not going to say no," Yost said. "We lost our division by two games last year, so every game is important. Is it nice that we're playing the Cubs? Yeah." Brewer starters have stifled the Cubs throughout the first two games of this series only allowing two runs in 12 2/3 innings.

Cub nation can’t be happy with what they’ve seen so far this week. Zambrano already got taken out of a game early because of cramps induced by not having enough potassium in his system. Ted Lilly’s 4 2/3rd inning performance saw him get ripped for 5 hits and 4 earned runs, ultimately skyrocketing his ERA to 7.71 after he was sent to the showers. "He didn't have a good fastball, he really didn't," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "That pitch was missing. It wasn't his best stuff. Milwaukee's a good hitting team." The offense has only been able to manufacture runs via the longball, and that can’t sit well with the coaching staff.

David Bush will take to the bump looking to help the Brewers pull off the three-game sweep. He went 12-10 with a 5.12 ERA last season allowing 217 hits in a shade over 186 total innings with a K/BB ratio of 134/44. However, Mr. Bush has had problems in his career against the Cubs posting a 1-5 mark with a 4.36 ERA and WHIP of 1.099. He’s gone 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA in four career starts at Wrigley Field.

Ryan Dempster is back in a starting rotation for the first time since 2002. He was the Cubs closer the last couple seasons, and did a solid job overall even if he blew more than a couple big saves during that stretch. He has had success against Milwaukee in his career posting a 4-1 mark with a 3.19 ERA and WHIP of 1.313, but his most recent start came against them back in 2006 when the Brewers were a much different team.

The Cubs have once again been deemed the favorite in this spot and carry a –135 price tag this time around. You can get down on the ‘side’ and ‘total’ once it’s released at BetUS.com.

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