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Sunday MLB Betting – Colorado vs. St. Louis Preview & Pick

Shea weighs in with his MLB Free Pick for Sunday night baseball. It’s the Colorado Rockies vs St. Louis Cardinals matching up at Busch Stadium. Odds favor the Cardinals opening at -153.

Sunday MLB Baseball Picks: Rockies vs Cardinals

For the second straight years, pundits and bettors alike were mostly high on the Rockies entering the season, expecting them to challenge for the National League West crown.

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Sunday Night Baseball Betting – Rockies vs Cardinals Preview & Pick
Date: Sunday, August 14, 2011
Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
Broadcast: ESPN
Colorado Rockies at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Lines from Sportsbook.com
Money Line: Cards -153
Over/Under: 9 -125
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Colorado Rockies (55-64 through August 11)
Esmil Rogers (6-1, 5.85)

But it hasn’t played out that way.

Offensively, the Rockies have been more or less fine. Troy Tulowitzki is still a stud; Carlos Gonzalez has regressed slightly but has still proven last year’s offensive explosion wasn’t a fluke; and Todd Helton has enjoyed a nice resurgence.

The Rockies’ pitching hasn’t been up to snuff, however. Ubaldo Jimenez got himself shipped out of town a year after establishing himself as a true ace. Jorge De La Rosa blew out his elbow.

Even Esmil Rogers hasn’t been very good at all despite his 6-1 record. That said, he’s looked impressive since rejoining the rotation at the end of July, allowing two earned runs or fewer in three straight starts (all victories).

St. Louis Cardinals (63-55 through August 11)
(Edwin Jackson (8-8, 4.07)

The St. Louis Cardinals are eight games over .500 despite playing all year without Adam Wainwright, so you can’t really call their 2011 season a failure to date. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are slipping in the NL Central as the Milwaukee Brewers pull away. The Cards can’t afford any losing streaks right now. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]

Edwin Jackson has made three starts since arriving in St. Louis at the trade deadline and he’s been vintage Jackson, as inconsistent as ever. He allowed one run in his Cardinals debut but was epically bad in his second start, allowing 10 runs, eight earned, and four homers on 14 hits over seven innings.

After that, he bounced back with six innings of two-run ball.

MLB Trends:

COL are 7-19 in their last 26 Sun. games.
Over is 6-2 in STL last 8 games following a loss.
Under is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.
COL are 2-7 in the last 9 meetings.

Free MLB pick:

The big question entering this matchup is…what version of Jackson will show up? His lifetime record against the Rockies is horrific. He has a 17.28 ERA over five starts against them. That’s 32 earned runs in 16.2 innings. They bat .432 off him.

And it isn’t just a Coors Field thing. His ERA at Colorado is “only” 15.75. The Rockies just haunt his dreams wherever he goes.

Rogers seems to have figured things out since rejoining Colorado’s rotation and he keeps the ball in the park well, which should help against a longball-reliant St. Louis team.

This could be ugly for Jackson; eight current Rocky hitters have a lifetime OPS above 1.0000 against him.

Sunday Night Baseball prediction: Rockies 7, 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.