MLB Betting Picks: St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins

Added on Jun 27, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Another day, another opportunity to bet against the hapless Miami Marlins. The St. Louis Cardinals provide the opposition in today’s game and they’ll try to complete the sweep of the freefalling fish on Wednesday afternoon.

St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins
June 27, 2012 4:10 PM Pacific

The Miami Marlins are quickly turning from a slumping team to an utter disaster. On Tuesday they never even had a chance as the St. Louis Cardinals jumped all over them for 5 first inning runs and made that hold up en route to a 5-2 victory. The loss dropped Miami to -12.9 units overall YTD and -10.2 units against opponents with winning records. During their recent slump they’ve managed to lose games in every possible way and even when they’ve generally performed well they’ve found themselves on the wrong side of a verdict due to late inning miscues.

The Cardinals, on the other hand, have been headed in the right direction and have been in good form lately winning five straight and 9 of their last 13 games. In the process they’ve reasserted themselves in the NL Central race and are currently just two games back of the division leading Cincinnati Reds. The Redbirds have a +71 run differential–second best in the Majors behind only the Texas Rangers who possess a +91 run differential.

Right hander Joe Kelly gets the assignment for St. Louis and it’ll be his fourth start of the season. He’s not exactly been dominant but he has been consistent and hasn’t made any serious mistakes. He’s the type of pitcher that will keep his team in games. The same can’t be said for struggling Anibal Sanchez–at times during the past few years he’s been very good but much like the entire Marlins team he’s in miserable form. At home he’s got a 5.40 ERA and the Marlins have lost 5 of his 8 starts. In his last three starts he’s allowed 13 ER in just over 15 innings of work for a bloated 7.47 ERA.

Pretty simple concept here–the Marlins are a complete mess and until they start to show signs of a turnaround we’ll play against them on a daily basis. St. Louis is starting to play good baseball and should complete the sweep with a victory here.

Bet St. Louis Cardinals (Kelly) +120 over Miami Marlins (Sanchez)