This is a 7* SITUATIONAL PITCHING MISMATCH on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cardinals' starting pitcher Jaime Garcia has pitched well but he's been the victim of poor run support. After falling to the Rockies on Saturday though, we look for the home side to rally and to find a way to get the job done at the end of the night. Garcia (3-4, 2.00 ERA) gave up three runs over six innings in a 4-0 loss to the Reds last Tuesday and while he's had his hands full with the Rockies in the past, note that Colorado is a league-worst 5-17 vs. southpaws this year. The Cards have to be feeling pretty confident that they can bounce back here though obviously, they've taken 16 of the last 20 meetings between the teams at Busch Stadium despite yesterday's 6-2 setback. The visitors counter with lefty Yohan Flande (1-1, 3.68 ERA) who gave up one run over five innings in a 7-2 win over the Cubs on Tuesday, his first start of the season. Obviously it's way too early to make any solid conclusions about Flande, but note that he was 0-6 with a 5.77 ERA over his first ten starts last season (and note, the only time that Flande faced the Cardinals was in his major league debut and he'd predictably get rocked, giving up four runs over five innings in the eventual 9-6 setback). The CARDINALS have enough situational and motivational factors working in their favor to make this a price that we can live with paying.

AAA Sports