Friday MLB Baseball Picks: Cardinals vs Giants
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MLB Betting – Cardinals vs Giants Preview & Pick
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011
Venue: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA
Broadcast: FSMV, CSBA
St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants Betting Lines from Sportsbook.com
Opening Money Line: -158
Over/Under: 6.5
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St. Louis Cardinals (2-4 through April 7)
Jaime Garcia (1-0, 0.00)
The St. Louis Cardinals have plenty to worry about this season. Will they keep Albert Pujols? Will Matt Holliday bounce back after his appendectomy? Will their pitching staff survive without Adam Wainwright?
Jaime Garcia did his best to answer that question with a resounding “yes” in his first start of 2011. He was masterful against the San Diego Padres, striking out nine in a complete-game, four-hit shutout. Maybe he isn’t a one-year wonder after all?
Garcia has handled the San Francisco Giants well in a limited sample size, going 1-1 with a 1.20 ERA over two starts and throwing a complete-game shutout against them.
San Francisco Giants (2-4 through April 7)
Matt Cain (1-0, 0.00)
A 2-4 start isn’t exactly what the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants envisioned, is it? To the surprise of some, their offense has held up reasonably well to start the season, with Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez, Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff all hitting at least .292. For the most part, the Giants’ pitching has been solid, too. So are they just unlucky? 
Maybe their luck will take a turn for the better when Matt Cain takes the hill Saturday night. The Giants’ No. 2 starter didn’t allow a run in three playoff starts last season and continued his dominance last week with six scoreless innings against the Dodgers.
It’s worth noting, however, that the Cardinals are one of the few teams that hit Cain hard. He’s just 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA over five career outings against St. Louis.
MLB Trends:
STL are 7-16 in their last 23 road games.
SF are 10-2 in Cains last 12 starts.
SF are 10-2 in Cains last 12 starts on grass.
Under is 20-6-1 in Cains last 27 Sat. starts.
Under is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings.
The pick:
Some of the Cardinals’ top sluggers are off to slow starts. Albert Pujols hitting .182? No homers for Colby Rasmus or Lance Berkman? All three of those guys have excellent history against Matt Cain, especially Pujols, who bats .667 off him with two homers over 12 at-bats. Cain is due to come back to Earth and the Cards’ offense is due for an outburst. I like St. Louis to pull the minor road upset.
Cardinals vs Giants prediction: Cardinals 4, Giants 2
