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St. Louis Cardinals Begin Series With Diamondbacks
One of Thursday's premier MLB betting affairs takes place at Busch Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals will play host to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the outset of the final series before the all-star break.
The first pitch of this clash is slated for 5:15 p.m. (PT). MLB bettors can view this one Fox Sports Arizona and Fox Sports Midwest.
Both of these teams have a lot to look forward to in the second half of the season, as both are clearly going to be buyers at the trade deadline. St. Louis and Arizona are both right there in the thick of the race going into the All-Star Game.
We know that there have to be a ton of players for the D-Backs that are having significantly better years this year than they had in 2010. The epitome of that is the man that is scheduled to be on the bump on Thursday, Joe Saunders.
The southpaw was just 3-7 last year after being traded to Arizona at the trade deadline, and he was only 9-17 in total on the campaign. This year though, Saunders is off to a lot better start at 5-7, and he has won all five of those games since May 24. The former Virginia Tech Hokies standout has a 4.04 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, while batters are hitting .277 against him.
Meanwhile, Saunders could have himself a big time problem to deal with in the form of Albert Pujols. The first baseman for the Cards is just getting back in the lineup after a two week absence with a wrist injury, and he figures to help out a lineup that has really picked up the slack without him.
St. Louis actually has better offensive numbers this year than most teams in the game. The Redbirds rank No. 4 in the league at 4.68 runs per game, and are batting .269 as a team. What's scariest about that is that Pujols is only batting .279 and has accounted for just 17 home runs on the campaign.
Pujols won the Triple Crown for the decade of the 2000s, and he is seemingly always good for a .300+ batting average and at least 40 homers. In fact, if he doesn't hit at least 37 homers this year, it will only be the third time in Pujols' career in which he didn't reach that home run total.
This is all great news for the man starting on the bump on Thursday for manager Tony LaRussa, Kyle McClellan. The righty probably only earned his spot in the rotation this year after Adam Wainwright suffered a season ending shoulder injury in Spring Training., but he has definitely made the most of it, going 6-5 with a 4.27 ERA.
The bad news for McClellan is that he hasn't won a start since May 19, and he has led the Redbirds to five straight defeats. Sure, his ERA in those five starts is a woeful 7.00, but the offense is definitely to blame as well. This unit has only averaged 1.20 runs per game in that stretch as well.
Mother Nature should be providing us with great conditions for an MLB betting battle on Thursday. Forecasters are expecting temperatures in the high-70s by game time with a slender 30 percent chance of rain.
One of Thursday's premier MLB betting affairs takes place at Busch Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals will play host to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the outset of the final series before the all-star break.
The first pitch of this clash is slated for 5:15 p.m. (PT). MLB bettors can view this one Fox Sports Arizona and Fox Sports Midwest.
Both of these teams have a lot to look forward to in the second half of the season, as both are clearly going to be buyers at the trade deadline. St. Louis and Arizona are both right there in the thick of the race going into the All-Star Game.
We know that there have to be a ton of players for the D-Backs that are having significantly better years this year than they had in 2010. The epitome of that is the man that is scheduled to be on the bump on Thursday, Joe Saunders.
The southpaw was just 3-7 last year after being traded to Arizona at the trade deadline, and he was only 9-17 in total on the campaign. This year though, Saunders is off to a lot better start at 5-7, and he has won all five of those games since May 24. The former Virginia Tech Hokies standout has a 4.04 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, while batters are hitting .277 against him.
Meanwhile, Saunders could have himself a big time problem to deal with in the form of Albert Pujols. The first baseman for the Cards is just getting back in the lineup after a two week absence with a wrist injury, and he figures to help out a lineup that has really picked up the slack without him.
St. Louis actually has better offensive numbers this year than most teams in the game. The Redbirds rank No. 4 in the league at 4.68 runs per game, and are batting .269 as a team. What's scariest about that is that Pujols is only batting .279 and has accounted for just 17 home runs on the campaign.
Pujols won the Triple Crown for the decade of the 2000s, and he is seemingly always good for a .300+ batting average and at least 40 homers. In fact, if he doesn't hit at least 37 homers this year, it will only be the third time in Pujols' career in which he didn't reach that home run total.
This is all great news for the man starting on the bump on Thursday for manager Tony LaRussa, Kyle McClellan. The righty probably only earned his spot in the rotation this year after Adam Wainwright suffered a season ending shoulder injury in Spring Training., but he has definitely made the most of it, going 6-5 with a 4.27 ERA.
The bad news for McClellan is that he hasn't won a start since May 19, and he has led the Redbirds to five straight defeats. Sure, his ERA in those five starts is a woeful 7.00, but the offense is definitely to blame as well. This unit has only averaged 1.20 runs per game in that stretch as well.
Mother Nature should be providing us with great conditions for an MLB betting battle on Thursday. Forecasters are expecting temperatures in the high-70s by game time with a slender 30 percent chance of rain.
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