Cards hope for boost from Carpenter in battle with Bucs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis' bats have failed the Cardinals on more than one occasion over the club's current funk. With Chris Carpenter set to take the hill tonight versus Pittsburgh, those struggles might be forgiven tonight.

Carpenter will try to win his 11th straight decision over the Pirates when the Cardinals kick-start a three-game set versus their division rival tonight at Busch Stadium.

The 35-year-old Carpenter is 11-1 with a 2.29 earned run average in his career versus the Pirates, winning 10 decisions in a row since his lone loss to the club way back on June 29, 2004. He did not factor into the decision of his lone meeting with Pittsburgh this year, a May 7 outing in which Carpenter allowed two runs over seven innings.

The right-hander is 11-3 with a 3.09 ERA overall this year and had won two straight starts before a no-decision versus the Cubs on Sunday. Carpenter allowed three runs on nine hits over seven innings of his club's extra-inning victory.

St. Louis might need its former Cy Young Award winner to be on point tonight. Since winning eight in a row from July 11-21, the Cardinals have lost five of seven and have been shut out in three of those games.

That includes yesterday's result versus the Mets. New York knuckleballer R.A. Dickey held the Cards to just four hits over 8 1/3 innings en route to handing St. Louis a 4-0 setback.

"This is different. You're not used to facing knuckleballers," said Jon Jay, who had St. Louis' lone extra-base hit with a double. "We all check out film and talk about it and stuff, but [Dickey] was on today and did a really good job."

Ryan Ludwick, Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus all singled for the Cardinals, who are a half-game back of Cincinnati for first place in the National League Central. Starter Blake Hawksworth went six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits.

Looking to keep St. Louis' offense in check will be Jeff Karstens, who hasn't won since June 19. The right-hander is 0-4 with a 4.72 ERA in six starts since and has dropped each of his last three outings.

Karstens has gotten just six runs of support over his three-start slide, but allowed four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits over six innings of a 9-2 setback to the Padres on Saturday. He fell to 2-6 with a 4.72 ERA on the season.

The 27-year-old has a solid 2.25 ERA and 1-1 mark in two career starts against St. Louis, which he beat on May 8 with six shutout frames in a 2-0 triumph.

Pittsburgh failed to record a three-game sweep of Colorado on Thursday, falling 9-3 in the finale. Neil Walker had a two-run homer, but Bucs starter Paul Maholm gave up eight runs and 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings.

"I just didn't do a good job in the fourth [inning] when they got their four runs," said Maholm. "They didn't take big swings, they just put the ball in play, got runners over and I wasn't able to make the pitches."

Outfielder Andrew McCutchen is day-to-day for Pittsburgh after getting scratched from Thursday's lineup due to a sore right shoulder. McCutchen missed six games with the ailment last week and aggravated it on Wednesday.

The Cardinals took two of three in Pittsburgh when the clubs met for the first time back from May 7-9. St. Louis won 10 of the 15 meetings a season ago.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.