St. Louis has found a new energy after the weekend series with Milwaukee. For the first time in a long, long time they are now showing signs of the Cardinals that won the World Series last year. I'm talking about attitude. When they go into a game now they KNOW they're going to win. Anybody that has ever played on a championship team in just about any sport knows exactly what I'm talking about. The players now feel they are right back in the middle of the divisional race. On the other side you have Pittsburgh. A team that is pretty much done for the year. These teams are going in opposite directions. It would not surprise me if St. Louis goes into Pittsburgh and sweeps this series. Everyone knows that the Cardinals biggest weakness is their starting pitching and their biggest strength is their bullpen. In this first game Wainwright, the Cardinals best starter, gets the call. Pittsburgh is throwing Maholm a lefthander who has been pitching very well as of late. But starting pitching is only one area to consider when handicapping a game. St. Louis is -112 and in this spot at that price I love the Cardinals. This is a 3 unit play for me which is a big play.
Browsing around this morning I see that very few people are on this game yet. That tells me that outside of the people that really follow St. Louis closely, people haven't picked up on what happened to the Cardinals this weekend. That's good for us as the lines should stay soft for awhile. This is the part of handicapping that you can't find on any stat page. The attitude and incentive a team has to accomplish a goal. As someone who has lived a life competing at everything I can tell you that these factors go a long way in determining if you win or lose. For those of you that remember me from this past basketball season, I feel the same way about this game as I did those few 7 unit SEMO games I had last year. But ALWAYS keep one thing in mind. NEVER bet more than you can afford because it is a game and anything can happen.
3 ST. LOUIS -112
