Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Odds

Betting Odds

Moneyline: Philadelphia (-151)
Game Total Line: 7.5 Under -130
Run Line: Philadelphia -1.5 (+110)
(wagering lines available at 5Dimes)

The Philadelphia Phillies will try and make it two in-a-row over the St. Louis Cardinals tonight in the second of their three-game series at Busch Stadium this week. Game time is set for 8:15 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Philadelphia took advantage of having Roy Halladay on the mound and Albert Pujols out of the Cardinals’ lineup last night in a 10-2 romp as a 164 road favorite. The win pushed the Phillies record to 8-2 in their last 10 games and a MLB-best 46-28 overall. It also maintained a 4.5 game lead over Atlanta in the NL East. They are now 18-16 on the road this season and 28-12 at home.

The Philadelphia lineup, which has been up and down all year long, exploded for nine runs in the eighth inning last night to put a tight game out of reach. Ryan Howard’s RBI single capped the rally and added to his team-high 59 runs batted in. Philadelphia is ranked sixth in the National League in scoring with 309 total runs.

It is Cliff Lee’s turn in the rotation tonight for the Phillies. The left hander has pitched lights-out in his last three starts; giving up just one earned run on 13 hits in his last 24 innings pitched. He is 7-5 overall with a 1.14 WHIP and an ERA of 3.12. Lee is 2-1 with a 2.11 ERA against the Cardinals.

St. Louis is still reeling over the loss of Pujols, who will be out four to six weeks after breaking a bone in his forearm in Sunday’s 5-4 win over Kansas City. The Cardinals dropped back out of first place in the NL Central as a result of Tuesday’s loss and now trail Milwaukee by half a game. They are 40-34 overall; 20-20 on the road and 20-14 at home. This was their eighth loss in their last 10 games.

With Pujols out of the lineup, St. Louis will look to players such as Lance Berkman (51 RBI and 17 HR’s) and Matt Holliday (35 RBI and 8 HR’s) to try and fill the void on a team that is ranked first in the NL in hitting with a .270 team batting average and second in runs scored with 350.

The Cardinals will send Kyle Lohse to the mound in this one. He is 7-3 this season in 14 previous starts with a 2.88 ERA. Lohse has struggled a bit in his last three outings; giving up 23 hits and 12 earned runs in 16.2 innings of work. Lifetime against the Phillies, he is 2-3 with an ERA of 4.00.

Marty Foster will be calling balls and strikes tonight. The average number of runs scored in his previous 12 called games was 7.92 with seven of them staying ‘under’ the total.

Philadelphia is 38-20 as a favorite this season. The total has stayed ‘under’ in four of its last five games and is 33-34-7 overall.

St. Louis is 11-13 as an underdog. The total has gone ‘over’ in six of its last seven games and in 42 of 74 games overall this year.

Head-to-head, the Cardinals won two games at home earlier this season including a 3-1 victory with Lee on the mound for the Phillies. Those two games stayed ‘under’ the total, while last night’s game went way ‘over’ the 7.5 line.

MLB Betting Pick

Stick with Philadelphia to keep things going behind Lee, who avenges the earlier loss with a fourth straight stellar performance. Take the Phillies -151 at 5Dimes and get reduced Juice and 5 Cent MLB Overnight Lines!!