Posted on 5/2/2008 5:03:44 PM

MLB Baseball Betting - Cubs vs. Cardinals

By Mike Rose

The Cubs invade new Busch Stadium with their heads down after they let one get away from them in their series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday afternoon. Closer Kerry Wood ruined what was an excellent pitching performance from Carlos Zambrano who threw six-plus innings of one-run ball. Wood entered the ninth with a 3-1 lead, but all hell broke loose and he ended up surrendering three runs on three hits. Eric Gagne slammed the door shut in the bottom of the inning allowing the Brewers to win their second series of the season at Wrigley Field. The Cubs now stand 17-11 overall and a half game back of the Cardinals for the top spot in the NL Central. The Cardinals enter tonight’s contest off a series win against Cincinnati, and they own a solid 12-6 mark when playing in the comfy confines of their own stadium.

Finally getting the starting nod for the Cubs is Rich Hill who hasn’t thrown a pitch since his April 23rd start at Colorado that saw him go five innings allowing three hits and two earned runs with a K/BB ratio of 3/4. Lou Piniella has treated him with kid gloves so far this season allowing him to get the necessary work in on the side to improve his mechanics. That said, it’s time for him to step up and resort back to the dominant left-hander that stymied a number of offenses the last couple seasons. Chicago is 2-1 in his three career starts against St. Louis, which includes last years gem that saw him outduel Braden Looper at Wrigley, 2-1. He’s only allowed two earned runs and seven hits in his L/14 innings thrown against the Redbirds.

Opposing him will be the Cardinals ace, Adam Wainwright. He enters tonight’s start 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. The Cardinals have won four of his five starts this season, and he’s only allowed 30 hits and 12 earned runs with a K/BB ratio of 28/9 in almost 39 innings of work. He tossed a complete game five-hitter his last time out in their 4-3 win over the Houston Astros. He received an extra day of rest thanks to an off day, but it will be interesting to see how he recovers from a career-high 126-pitch outing. The Cubs knocked him around pretty good in three of the four starts he had against them last year, but his last start against them saw him go seven strong allowing just five hits and three earned runs. St. Louis is 1-3 in his four career starts against the Cubs.

St. Louis opened a –125 home chalk in the first of this three game set with the ‘total’ set at 8.5 over -120. You can get down on both the ‘side’ and ‘total’ at BetUS.com right now!!!

Chicago dominated the Cardinals last season winning 11 of their 16 overall match-ups, and they’ve won 7 of their L/9 visits to the “Gateway City”. However, St. Louis is 7-1 in Wainwright’s L/8 starts as a favorite, and 11-5 the L/16 times they’ve stared back at a left-handed starter at home.

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