MLB Betting Picks: St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins

Added on Jun 26, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Things just keep going from bad to worse for the Miami Marlins and they’re coming off a tough loss to the St. Louis Cardinals last night. They’ll try to get things headed in the right direction on Tuesday when they once against host the Redbirds. The Cardinals are now just 2 games out of first place in the NL Central while the Marlins are tied with the Phillies for last place in the NL East.

St. Louis Cardinals at Miami Marlins
June 26, 2012 4:10 PM Pacific

How bad have things gotten for the Miami Marlins? Monday night’s game is a good example of just how snakebit this team is at the moment. The Marlins took a 6-1 lead into the top of the 8th inning and a 6-2 lead into the top of the 9th. The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game and 2 runs in the top of the tenth to get the win. That’s the difference between successful teams and struggling teams–struggling teams never catch any breaks. The loss dropped Miami to -11.9 units overall YTD and -9.2 units against opponents with winning records.

The Cardinals, on the other hand, have been headed in the right direction and have been in good form lately winning 8 of their last 12 games. They’ve taken advantage of matchups against teams with losing records this season coming off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in Interleague play and appear poised to make short work of the bumbling Marlins as well.

Kyle Lohse gets the start on Tuesday for St. Louis and he’s been solid and consistent all season long. Lohse has a 2.85 ERA overall, a 2.83 ERA on the road and a tidy 1.66 ERA in his last three starts. The Cardinals haven’t always given him good run support but they have won 9 of his 15 assignments YTD. The Marlins will counter with Carlos Zambrano who has been struggling bigtime this season–his overall ERA of 4.01 isn’t anything to write home about but his home ERA of 6.12 is even worse. His recent form has been atrocious–he’s allowed 14 earned runs in just 9 1/3 innings of work in his last three starts for a bloated 13.50 ERA. The Marlins have lost 8 of his 14 starts overall this year including 4 of 6 at home and his last three assignments.

Pretty simple concept here–until the Marlins show some signs of life we’ll gladly go against them any time we get a good price. St. Louis is playing good ball and Lohse is in good form on the mound. Getting a ‘pick’em’ price against Miami and the struggling Zambrano is a gift.

Bet St. Louis Cardinals (Lohse) -110 over Miami Marlins (Zambrano)