Posted on
5/16/2008 4:34:07 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - Tampa Bay at St. Louis
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB betting odds: St. Louis -115, Tampa Bay -105; Total 9
The sports betting friendly Tampa Bay Rays (24-17), who are now leading the American League's East division, are riding a wave of good pitching right now. They will hope to continue that when they visit Busch Stadium (natural turf) to play the St. Louis Cardinals (24-19) in an interleague online betting contest that will start at 8:15 PM ET on Friday evening.
Right-handers take the mound, as Andy Sonnanstine (5-1, 5.08 ERA) of the Rays opposes Braden Looper (5-2, 4.21 ERA) of the Cards.
At BetUS Sportsbook, St. Louis is listed as a -115 favorite (Tampa Bay is -105), with a total of nine runs (Under is -120, Over is even money).
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* TB has won seven of its last eight games
* TB has played six of its last seven games UNDER the total
* TB has lost four of its last six road games
* TB has played five of its last six road games OVER the total
* STL has lost seven of its last nine games
* STL has played three of its last four games OVER the total
* STL has won seven of its last 11 home games
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD MLB betting trends:
* STL has won all three meetings
* Two of the three meetings have gone OVER the total
St. Louis has performed very well as a favorite, compiling a 16-9 mark in that role. Last night Pittsburgh scored seven runs after the seventh inning to blow past St. Louis by an 11-5 score. Jason Isringhausen, the Cardinals' closer, gave up four runs. This season opposing batters have hit .282 against Isringhausen, a jump of 93 points over last year. And half the hits he's given have been for extra bases.
Braden Looper, St. Louis' starter, is not the type who is going to throw the ball by a lot of hitters, but he has good control (four walks in his last five starts). And in only one start has he really been blown out. The Cardinals, for the most part, have produced offensively; they rank third in the NL in hits and lead the league in walks.
Actually, this game matches the team which scores the most runs on the road in the American League against the team that allows the least runs at home in the National League. Tampa Bay's pitching staff allowed just six runs in the four-game set against the Yankees. And the offense has been enough to win five straight games that Andy Sonnanstine has started. In his last couple of starts, he has allowed nine runs in 11 innings, which would normally not be sufficient to win..
With the price reasonable, let's move with the Tampa Bay Rays, the -105 underdog in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: TAMPA BAY (-105)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)