Rocketman
3* St Louis -130
Paul Leiner
100* Milw/AZ Over 9
50* Cardinals -135
25* Yanks -105
ATS LOCK CLUB
4 Units Oakland A's +100
3 Units SL Cardinals -135
Michael Cannon
25 Dime Cardinals
OC Dooley
5* Reds +123
Executive
250% Seattle
Bob Balfe
Giants / Cubs Over 7.5
Carlos Zambrano has not pitched in over a month and really has lost his dominating stuff. One plus for Zambrano is that he can hit so it could help out our total. The Giants are a great home team and should tag Zambrano for a few easy runs. Madison Bumgarner has lost his last two starts and I expect tonight for both teams to put up enough to send this over the total. Take the Over.
Matt "Lillefty" Dennehy
1* ST Louis -1,5 runs +125
1* St Louis -135 over Cincinnati
It is a tough call to make here going against a red hot Cincy team. I just have to realize that the Reds beat Pitt and the Cubs, so excitement should be tempered there. Leake is hitting that "rookie wall" . In his L9 starts Leake has allowed 36 ER in 53IP for a 6.11 ERA. This is the 1st of a few division changing series for STL and Cincy. Carp has dominated the reds not only this year, but in his career. Carpenter is 3-0 w/1.29 era this year and 10-3 w/1.96 ERA in his career vs the Reds. I like the team w/experience and the better pitcher on the mound. 2 months ago I would have said this game was a toss up. Now I believe the Cards are ready to take hold of this division.
2* Milwaukee/Arizona over 9
Fresh off their pasting off the Astros, the Brewers get the next best thing to having extended batting practice, the D-Backs pitching staff. Kennedy, much like Leake for Cincy, has hit the wall. Before this year Kenedy had never pitched more than 119 IP in pro ball. He is now up to 133IP this year. In his L9 starts, he has allowed 36ER in 50.2 IP for a 6.39 era. Look for the Brewer bats to stay hot. Narveson is getting better(he can't help but get better after his 1st couple of starts), but he is just a 5th starter type that goes for 6 IP tops and allows 3 or 4 runs. These 2 bullpens are among the top 5 worst in MLB history. If we can get 3 inn out of each pen, this should hit double digits with ease.
1* Atlanta -130 over Houston
This kid Minor is the real deal. He combined with David Price to form a lethal 1-2 combo at Vanderbilt. Atlanta didn't rush him too much and let him develop his pitches and he has had a fine year in the minors. Good off speed stuff will help him up here as long as he doesn't walk too many. Atlanta is playing well again off their big series with SF. Norris isn't vs ST Louis so that means he will get lit up. His home stats are horrible 1-4 w/6.10 era and 1-6 w/7.51 ERA at night.
Wayne Root
No Limit - Oakland
Rocketman
3* St Louis -130
St Louis is 2 games behind Cincinnati in the NL Central race making this a very important series. Reds have been hot but what better to cool them down than one of the best pitchers in the game in Chris Carpenter. Carpenter is 12-3 with a 2.91 ERA overall this year, 3-1 with a 3.15 ERA on the road and 1-0 with a 2.02 ERA his last 3 starts. Mike Leake is 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA his last 3 starts. Carpenter is 10-3 with a 1.96 ERA overall vs Cincinnati since 1997. We'll play St Louis for 3 units tonight!
Marc Lawrence
St. Louis -135
When the Cardinals meet the Reds in Game One of this three-game series in Cincinnati Monday night they will send Chris Carpenter to the mound knowing he is 12-4 in his career starts in this series, including 8-0 with a1.09 ERA his last eight starts. Carpenter is also 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his last five team starts for the Cardinals. With Reds rookie Mike Leake just 6-8 in his team starts following his 5-1 start to begin the season, including 2-4 with a 6.22 ERA in his last six efforts, look for the Cards to come up big here this evening. We recommend a 3-unit play on St. Louis.
Lenny Del Genio
Atlanta -125
The Braves visit Houston tonight and are currently in first place in the NL East. Their pitching rotation took a bit of a blow as they have placed Medlen on the DL. So what do the Braves do, just recall another strong arm. Atlanta has brought up Minor tonight from their Triple-A farm club and the former #1 draft pick will be making his major league debut. The prize rookie lefty has been very sharp at AAA with a 1.89 ERA and 4-1 record in six Triple-A starts. We think he’ll pitch well against the weak Astros. Don’t be fooled by the Astros recent hitting numbers. They’ve hit .326 in their past seven games but despite that they are still hitting only .247 on the season. We think they’ll struggle first time facing this sharp Atlanta lefty. Houston starts Norris tonight and he’s been awful on the season with a 5.65 ERA and a very high 1.558 WHIP. Pitching here in Houston this season hasn’t been very good as he’s posted a 2-6 team start record and 6.10 ERA. Norris has pitched the Astros to back-to-back team start wins in his last two outings, but we look for him to get shelled tonight. He started once against these Braves this season and it wasn’t pretty as he went only 4 2/3 innings allowing seven earned runs. On the season, the Braves haven’t been a very good road team. However, we’re getting good value tonight because of the Braves bad road record and a rookie starter on the hill. But the Braves will pound Norris and get their rookie his first MLB win!
Mike Neri
Tampa Bay -158