MLB Baseball Betting for July 4, 2016
Fourth of July with a big baseball card:
PITTSBURGH PIRATES AT ST. LOUIS CARDINALS:
Things are getting more interesting in the NL Central. It wasn’t that long ago that this division was the biggest foregone conclusion in baseball. But that was when the Chicago Cubs were dominating and they’re definitely not any more. The Cubs have lost 6 of 10 and were just swept by the NY Mets. The media is trying to figure out what’s wrong but there are no apparent ‘quick fixes’.
So here’s the situation–the Cardinals are now 8 games back of the Cubs and they haven’t been that close in a long time. They’ve won three straight and now have to also be concerned with the Pirates who are back in decent form having won four straight and 7 of 10. Pittsburgh is now 2.5 games behind St. Louis and 10.5 games back of the Cubs.
That makes this week a big deal for everyone concerned. The Pirates and Cards play four games then Pittsburgh heads home to play the Chicago Cubs and the Cards head up to Milwaukee to play the Brewers. As far as this game, the Pirates will start lefthander Jon Niese who has been mediocre at best this year. The Pirates have split Niese’s 16 starts overall and his 8 road starts. They’ve lost his last three starts and Niese has struggled with a 7.31 ERA and a 1.875 in that stretch.
Carlos Martinez will get the start for St. Louis and he’s pitching very well–though the rest of the Cards haven’t held up their end of things. Figure this one out–the Cards have managed to lose his last three starts. All Martinez did in this stretch is throw 20 innings allowing just 1 earned run or–for that matter–only one run of any sort.
The Pirates have won 5 of 9 over the Cards this year and 2 of 3 at Busch Stadium. The handicap on this game comes down to the price–this is an evenly matched game and we’ll bet accordingy.
BET PITTSBURGH PIRATES +170 OVER ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
ATLANTA BRAVES AT PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES:
The Atlanta Braves have cooled off somewhat from their recent strong form while the Philadelphia Phillies are playing decent baseball winning 7 of their last 10 games. Neither of these teams are going anywhere but the Braves could try to pull themselves out of last place with a strong showing in this series. Right now, the Phillies are in fourth place 13 games behind the Washington Nationals. They’re 6.5 games back of the third place Miami Marlins. The Braves are now 8.5 games back of the Phillies and 21.5 games behind the Nationals.
The Braves will start Joel Del La Cruz who didn’t pitch badly in his only start of the season, 6/29 against Cleveland. The Braves lost 3-0 with De La Cruz allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs in 6 innings of work. Nothing to get excited about, but nothing too bad. He’ll be opposed by Jerad Eickhoff who has been solid lately with the Phillies winning two of his last three games. He’s got a 3.37 ERA overall and a 2.41 ERA at home.
Philadelphia and Atlanta have split 6 meetings this season with the Braves winning 2 of 3 at home. The Phillies are putting up putrid offensive numbers at home hitting just .218 and scoring just 2.7 runs per game. Price on the Phillies is just too high.
BET ATLANTA BRAVES +140 OVER PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
MIAMI MARLINS AT NEW YORK METS:
This is an important series for both teams. Mets are in second place 5 games out of first place, the Marlins are 1.5 games behind New York and 6.5 games out of first place. Mets have won 4 straight and six of ten and are coming off a weekend sweep of the Chicago Cubs. That’s a good thing but it could set them up in ‘letdown mode’ here. The marlins split four games with the Atlanta Braves.
Both teams will start underachieving right handers. The Marlins will send Tom Koehler and they’ve lost 10 of his 16 starts. Koehler has a 4.45 ERA overall and a 4.84 ERA on the road. They’ve lost two of his last three starts and Koehler has a 5.40 ERA and 1.733 WHIP in those games. Matt Harvey hasn’t done much better. The Mets have lost 11 of his 16 with Harvey putting up a 4.55 ERA overall and a 4.86 ERA at home.
Basically, we’ve got another evenly matched series and we’ll take the price with the underdog.
BET MIAMI MARLINS +150 OVER NEW YORK METS