Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: Cardinals -130 / Phillies +110 / Over/Under 9 runs
Time: 7 PM EST Monday July 19, 2010 on ESPN
The Cardinals come into the opening game of this series on fire winning 5 in a row. Tonight St. Louis will try for their first 6 game winning streak in 2 seasons. The defending NL champion Phillies are coming off a loss, are only 5-5 in their last 10 games, and are in 3rd place in the NL East 5.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves.
With their 5 game winning streak the Cardinals are back atop the NL Central, but they only lead the 2nd place Cincinnati Reds by ½ game.
This season the Cardinals are 31-15 at home and the Phillies are 21-25 on the road.
In their last games yesterday the Cardinals beat the L.A. Dodgers 5-4 to finish a sweep and the Phillies lost to the Chicago Cubs 11-6.
The Phillies' offense ranks 9th in HR's and 10th in RBI's, but they only rank 23rd in the Majors in batting average. The Phillies need to start hitting and in losing 3 of 4 to the Cubs in their last series the Phillies did hit 7 HR's, but they only hit .232.
Philadelphia has won 4 straight in St. Louis.
Blake Hawksworth (3-5 4.73 ERA) takes the hill tonight for the Cardinals and in his last start went 5 innings and gave up 2 earned runs in a win. Kyle Kendrick (5-3 4.44 ERA) is on the mound for the Phillies and in his last outing he pitched 1 inning in relief giving up 0 earned runs in a no-decision.
Hawksworth is 2-2 with a 4.97 ERA in 5 starts this season. Kendrick is 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA in 4 career starts versus St. Louis.
Albert Pujols (.307 21 HR 64 RBI) should be back in the lineup after missing yesterday's game with a minor injury. He is hitting only .202 with 2 HR's in 28 career home games against Philadelphia.
Ryan Howard is hot with 4 HR's and 8 RBI's in his last 4 games. He has played well in St. Louis hitting .381 with 7 HR's and 29 RBI's in 17 career games at Busch Stadium.
Betting Trends
Philadelphia is 4-0 in their last four games against teams that have a winning record, 1-4 in their last five road games, and 4-9 in Kendrick's last 13 road starts.
St. Louis is 5-0 in their last 5 home games against teams with a winning record, have won 4 of their last 5 games facing a right-hand starter, and has an Over record of 4-1-1 in their last 6 home games.
Our Selection : Check back later for our moneyline selection for this game.
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