Cards, Pirates set to continue series between Central foes

Baseball Betting Lines

05/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Cardinals hope to carry over the momentum from a late-inning victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday into tonight's clash between the National League Central teams from PNC Park.

The division-leading Cardinals snapped a string of three straight losses with a 4-3 triumph over the Bucs in Friday's opener of this three-game set. Yadier Molina went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs, including the go-ahead RBI double in the ninth inning.

Molina stepped up and hit a liner to the right-field gap off Evan Meek (1-1) to score pinch-runner Joe Mather to snap a 3-3 deadlock. Closer Ryan Franklin (2-0) then worked around a one-out single in the bottom half to nail down the win.

Matt Holliday also had four hits for St. Louis, while starter Chris Carpenter allowed two runs over seven strong innings in a no-decision.

Lastings Milledge had two hits and an RBI for the Pirates, who were coming off a three-game home sweep of the Chicago Cubs. Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-4 in the loss, while Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke gave up three unearned runs over the first 6 1/3 innings.

"They're tough. They kept coming," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of the Pirates. "It was a very tough, competitive game."

Pittsburgh could be in for a challenge again tonight, with the impressive Jaime Garcia set to take the mound for St. Louis. The rookie southpaw has been sensational thus far in 2010, having amassed a 3-1 record with a 1.12 earned run average over five starts. He's surrendered one run or fewer in four of those outings.

Garcia was outstanding once again in Monday's 6-3 victory over defending NL champion Philadelphia, holding the Phillies to one run and three hits while fanning six over six frames.

The 23-year-old did face the Pirates in relief during a brief major league stint with the Cardinals in 2008, allowing no runs over a combined 3 1/3 innings of work.

Garcia will be opposed by Jeff Karstens, who makes his third start for the Pirates after being called up from the minors in late April. The right-hander was sharp in his first appearance, tossing 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in an April 27 no-decision at Milwaukee, but struggled badly in a loss at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.

Karstens was rocked for six runs on 11 hits in five innings against Los Angeles, while striking out three and walking one.

The 27-year-old lost his only career start against St. Louis, which took place at PNC Park on May 14 of last season. He gave up three runs over six innings in that 5-1 setback.

The Cardinals won 10 of their 15 meetings with the Pirates last season, winning six of the nine games contested in Pittsburgh.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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