The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers will be sending two pitchers to the mound tonight with hopes of ending a down-side in recent effectiveness. For the Dodgers, right hander Derek Lowe (2-4 5.34) ERA will be looking for his first win in a month and will be facing Cardinals ace, right hand pitcher Adam Wainwright (3-2, 3.25 ERA) who has lost his last two outings. Oddsmakers at online sports betting giant Sportsbook.com currently have the Dodgers listed as 122-moneyline favorites versus the Cardinals, while the game's total is sitting at 8.
For many pitchers, it would just be a blip, but for Wainwright, two rough starts in a row qualifies as a slump. He's throwing strikes but he's giving up a lot of contact. It's far too early to get worried, but Wainwright needs to be at his best for the Cardinals to keep challenging for the NL Central title.
Lowe volunteered to start on short rest when Brad Penny's arm tightened and it turned into a short start on Sunday. Lowe was victimized by a James Loney throwing error, then let things get completely out of hand with an 0-2 pitch that Mike Napoli hit for a three-run homer. He was charged with seven runs on 10 hits in five innings and spent most of that time fuming on the mound over all that went wrong. He's gone a month since his last win.
The Cardinals banged out 16 hits in defeating the Padres 11-3 in the rubber match last time out, as +135 underdogs. The 14 runs sailed OVER the posted over/under (7.5).
Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus both drove in three runs to lift the Cardinals. Braden Looper allowed three runs off eight hits over five innings to earn the win.
The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Reds with a 5-2 win in Wednesday's finale, as -140 favorites. The seven runs fell UNDER the posted over/under (8.5).
James Loney homered to lead the Dodgers. Hiroki Kuroda gave up two runs over eight innings for the victory and Takashi Saito notched his eighth save of the season with a scoreless ninth.
Point-Spreads.com MLB Picks: Cardinals +112
