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MLB Betting – St. Louis vs. Tampa Bay Preview & Pick

Shea weighs in with his MLB Interleague Free Pick for Friday. It’s the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tampa Bay Rays matching up at Tropicana Field. The Rays are currently 131-moneyline favorites…

Friday MLB Interleague Betting – Cardinals vs Rays Preview & Pick

With Albert Pujols sidelined after fracturing his wrist two weeks ago, the St. Louis Cardinals could only hope to tread water and avoid falling out of the National League Central division race.

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MLB Gambling Online – St. Louis Cardinals vs. Tampa Bay Rays Preview & Pick
Date: Friday, July 1, 2011
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
Broadcast: FSMW, SUN
St. Louis Cardinals at Tampa Bay Betting Lines from BetUS.com
Money Line: Rays -131
Over/Under: 9
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St. Louis Cardinals (43-38 through June 29)
Jake Westbrook (6-4, 5.32)

A bat of his caliber is simply irreplaceable; losing it was particularly painful for the team considering its best pitcher, Adam Wainwright, is out for the season due to Tommy John surgery.

Friday's Cardinals vs. Rays Interleague Gambling Preview

Through Thursday, the Cards were 3-5 without Pujols; their pitching had guided them to consecutive wins over the Baltimore Orioles. Kyle Lohse and Chris Carpenter stepped up on consecutive nights. Will Jake Westbrook do the same when St. Louis visits Tropicana Field on Friday?

Tough to say. Westbrook has been mediocre at best of late, allowing four runs and eight or more hits in three straight outings. His walk rate is uncharacteristically high this season and opponents are batting .309 off him.

Tampa Bay Rays (45-36)
Wade Davis (7-5, 4.32)

The Tampa Bay Rays are starting to put a scare in the Yankees and Red Sox again, having won seven of 10. A big reason why: Evan Longoria is returning to form. The big third baseman has five homers and 17 RBI in his last nine games. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]

Longoria will hope to continue the trend of solid run support for Wade Davis. The righthander lost five straight starts from May 14 to May 30 but has won his last three, getting nine, five and seven runs of support. After looking like a power pitcher as a rookie, Davis has pitched to contact more this season and become an innings eater. He has a paltry 43 strikeouts over 91.2 innings.

MLB Trends:

Over is 10-4-1 in STL last 15 overall.
STL are 36-16 in their last 52 Fri. games.
Over is 36-17-2 in STL last 55 road games.
Under is 39-11-2 in TB last 52 home games.
TB are 10-3 in their last 13 interleague games.
TB are 9-3 in their last 12 overall.

MLB pick:

Though Westbrook is 4-2 on the road this season, I see the Rays feasting on him Friday night. Righthanded hitters are batting .341 off him this season and that stat should be music to Longoria’s ears. Davis hasn’t been perfect by any means but he’s hot and he’ll face a Cards lineup that just isn’t the same without Pujols.

It’s worth noting as well that Lance Berkman’s hot streak is over.

He’s batting .210 in June and has one homer in his last 13 games.

Cardinals vs Rays prediction: Rays 6, Cardinals 3

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By Shea Matthews

Shea Matthews the Senior Writer at CP. Lives and breathes sports. He made the transition from athlete to sports journalist at a young age, writing in TV & national papers. Shea applies his knowledge to sports betting + handicapping daily, and shares winning picks with the world.