MLB Baseball Betting for July 9, 2016
Full card of action for Saturday as baseball heads into its All Star Break:
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS AT MILWAUKEE BREWERS:
The Milwaukee Brewers are the latest entry into the ‘worst team in the National League’ sweepstakes though to be honest they have a long way to go before they hit the miserable level of the Cincinnati Reds. Milwaukee has a 7 game lead over last place Cincinnati which says a lot more about how bad the Reds are than anything about the Brewers. Milwaukee has lost 7 of 10 and have been particularly miserable on the road (15-27). Not that they’re any great shakes at home but they are a few games over .500 at Miller Park.
The Cardinals need to win. It’s hard to see the Chicago Cubs continuing to struggle the way they have recently. They just have too much talent. That means the Cardinals need to take advantage of their swoon to pick up some games on the current NL Central leader. Maybe the Cubs aren’t as good as they looked when they started the season 25-6 but they’re definitely much better than the team that has won only two games in the month of July. St. Louis will start 24 year old Carlos Martinez who is going to be a very good Major League pitcher. In fact, he’s already putting up solid numbers even though he hasn’t always received much in the way of run support.
Run support shouldn’t be a huge problem for the Cardinals here. They’ll be facing Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson who has been downright awful this season. He hasn’t made it out of the 5th inning of any of his last three starts, all three of which the Brewers lost. During that stretched he’s pitched 10.7 innings giving up 15 earned runs, walking 10 and striking out 5. That’s a 12.66 ERA and a 2.627 WHIP in his last three games. Even a struggling offense should be able to pummel Anderson and that should take care of Martinez’s run support. Cardinals have owned Milwaukee of late winning 7 of 10 this season and have won 16 of the last 23 meetings on the Brewers’ home field.
BET ST. LOUIS CARDINALS -150 OVER MILWAUKEE BREWERS
BET ST. LOUIS/MILWAUKEE OVER 9 -110
CINCINNATI REDS AT MIAMI MARLINS:
The Cincinnati Reds are a dumpster fire. They might not have the worst record in baseball at the moment but they might very well be the worst team in the Majors. They’ll survive the first half of the season not having the worst record in the Majors since the Atlanta Braves have already locked up that ‘honorific’. They might very well be the worst team in the Majors by the end of the season. Atlanta continues to exert a decent effort despite their record. The Reds not only have played lousy but don’t really look like they care. Cincinnati is 32-55 on the year 20.5 games out of first place. The Reds have lost 7 of 10 and have terrible records at home (18-25) and on the road (14-31). As a matter of fact, the Reds are already the worst road team in the National League and only the Minnesota Twins have a worst record in the entirety of Major League Baseball. Cincinnati’s run differential is a pitiful -150 which is one of only two triple digit run deficits in baseball (the other is the Atlanta Braves at -109).
The Miami Marlins haven’t been playing great baseball (5-5 L10) but a team doesn’t *have* to play great baseball to take care of the Reds in their current form. The Marlins do need wins, however, and assuming they play at least marginal baseball they should win this game. The Reds will go with lefthander John Lamb who has been horrible this season. The Reds have lost 9 of Lamb’s 12 starts including 3 of 5 on the road. Lamb has a 5.43 ERA and a 1.556 WHIP overall, a 8.51 ERA and 1.973 WHIP on the road and a 7.47 ERA and 1.660 WHIP in his last three starts. As if Lamb’s miserable form wasn’t enough of a problem for Cincinnati they’re facing a Miami team that has hit lefthanders well this year. The Marlins have averaged 4.5 runs per game game against southpaws and have a record of 13-6 +11.2 units.
Miami will counter with Adam Conley who has pitched fairly well this season. He hasn’t always received the run support and defense he deserves but his numbers are fine. Conley has a 3.65 ERA overall and a 1.324 WHIP with Miami winning 9 of his 17 starts. He’s got a 3.29 ERA and a 1.244 WHIP at home (where the Marlins are 4-3 in his starts). Miami has won 2 of his last three starts but Conley has pitched very well with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.982 WHIP.
Just no way to justify a play on the Reds right now–at least until the price gets much higher.
BET MIAMI MARLINS -180 OVER CINCINNATI REDS