Fish Take on Cards
St. Louis, MO – After dominating the opposition for most of the second half, the St. Louis Cardinals are now in danger of losing a second straight series.
Joel Pineiro and the NL Central-leading Cardinals will try to avoid that fate Wednesday afternoon against the Florida Marlins at Busch Stadium.
Following a 9-2 loss to Philadelphia on July 26, St. Louis was 53-48 and one-half game behind the first-place Cubs in the Central. The Cardinals (85-61) started a three-game win streak the next day on their way to a 32-13 surge that has put them in position to win the division for the fourth time in six seasons.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Cardinals -125 moneyline favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Marlins. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 78% of more than 405 bets for this game have been placed on the Cardinals -125.
St. Louis had won 11 of 13 before getting swept in three straight by Atlanta over the weekend, but bounced back to win the opener of this three-game set 11-6 on Monday. Despite another stellar outing from Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals’ offense was shut down Tuesday night by Sean West in a 2-1 loss.
"I don’t like our lineup against anybody if we help the pitcher as much as we did tonight,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said.
With their fourth defeat in five games, the Cardinals’ magic number for clinching the Central remained 10 while their lead in the division dwindled to 8 1/2 games over the Cubs.
St. Louis hasn’t lost consecutive series since June 22-28, to the Mets and Minnesota.
Albert Pujols drove in the Cardinals’ lone run Tuesday with a sacrifice fly. His 126th RBI tied him with Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder for the major league lead.
Matt Holliday went hitless in four at-bats after going 21 for 44 (.477) with seven homers and 17 RBIs in his previous 10 games against the Marlins.
Florida (77-68) stayed seven games behind Philadelphia in the East, but pulled within 4 1/2 of Colorado for the wild card.
Having Pineiro (14-10, 3.21 ERA) on the mound gives the Cardinals an excellent opportunity to take this series. St. Louis is 33-8 since July 1 in starts by the big three of Chris Carpenter, Wainwright and Pineiro, who was 8-0 with a 3.09 ERA in 12 starts before a tough-luck 1-0 loss to Atlanta on Friday.
The right-hander limited the Braves to one run and five hits in seven innings but was outdueled by Jair Jurrjens.
Pineiro has been especially good at home, going 7-5 with a 2.52 ERA in 13 starts at Busch Stadium. His teammates, however, have supported him with an average of only 3.68 runs in those outings.
Pineiro beat the Marlins 4-2 in his only previous appearance against them Aug. 11, 2008, yielding one earned run and seven hits in seven innings.
Dan Uggla continued to swing a hot bat for Florida with a two-run homer, his team-best 29th. He has four home runs and six RBIs in his last seven games.
Josh Johnson (14-4, 3.06) gets the ball for the Marlins looking to continue the best season of his career. The Florida ace has already set personal bests in wins, starts, innings and strikeouts and has won 19 of his last 23 decisions dating to the end of 2008.
He was limited to five innings for the second consecutive start Friday, allowing two runs and two hits with four walks and eight strikeouts before leaving without a decision in the Marlins’ 5-3 loss to Washington.
Johnson is 0-1 with a 3.95 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals.
Posted: 9/16/09 6:00AM ET
