Seattle Mariners (24-39) at St. Louis Cardinals (34-29)
7:05 PM EST ESPN
Starting Pitchers
SEA: L. French (0-0, 6.35)
STL: A. Wainwright (8-4, 2.30)
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The Cardinals will be happy to return to Bush Stadium after an abysmal 1-5 road trip, and will begin their six-game home stand with a three-game series against the struggling Seattle Mariners on Monday night.
The last-place Mariners are 9-22 on the road, and had lost five straight before avoiding a sweep at San Diego with Sunday’s 4-2 win. Milton Bradley’ two-run home run in the fourth tied the game and Jose Lopez doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth. It was Bradley’s fifth of the year and second in three games. Seattle has just three home runs in their last 10 games as a team, and rank last in the majors with 35 home runs. Ichiro Suzuki added a ninth-inning RBI double to extended his interleague-hitting streak to 17 games, the top active streak in the majors. Suzuki is batting .429 (33 for 77) during the streak.
St. Louis now finds itself chasing first-place Cincinnati in the NL Central and has wrestled as of late with both a cold offense and shaky pitching. The teams combined average since June 7 is .227. Even sluggers Albert Pujols and Matt Holiday are in a slump, combing for just 6 of 44 (.136) with three RBIs. Pujols helped erase a three-run deficit in the ninth at Arizona on Sunday but the Cardinals lost 7-5 in the bottom of the inning on a walk-off home run by Chris Young.
The Cardinals will look to turn things around when Adam Wainwright takes the mound in game one. Wainwright has also had his share of problems on the recent road trip, walking a season-high five and matching a season high by allowing four runs in six innings of a 4-3 loss to the Dodgers on Wednesday. The right-hander has been consistent at home, as is the Cardinals who have won nine of 13 in St. Louis, and they swept Seattle in the Mariners’ only previous visit from July 2-4, 2004. Wainwright is 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA and two complete games at Busch Stadium this year, and is
Seattle will counter with rookie Luke French who will get his first start in the majors this season. The left-hander replaces Ian Snell in the rotation after Snell allowed eight runs in 1 2-3 innings of a 12-2 loss at Texas on Wednesday. French gave up four runs in 5 1-3 innings of relief that night. The 24-year-old dominated minor league hitters for Triple-A Tacoma this year, going 6-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 11 starts. He had a 6.38 ERA in seven starts for the Mariners in 2009, though.
The odds makers have the Cardinals as 1-1/2 favorites with a run total of 7 ½.
I tend tot think Wainwright will have a better outing than French, and expect the Cardinals to win this one and the UNDER.
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Seattle Mariners Betting Trends:
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games
- Seattle is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games
- Seattle is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games on the road
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games on the road
St. Louis Cardinals Betting Trends:
- St. Louis is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games
- St. Louis is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games at home
- St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing Seattle
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