Oh, how the Pittsburgh Pirates long for the good old days of…six weeks ago. Around the All-Star break, they were in the thick of the National League Central race, jockeying for the division lead with Milwaukee and St. Louis. <\/p>\n
Bet On Baseball \u2013 Pirates vs Cardinals Preview & Pick<\/strong> Pittsburgh Pirates (60-68 through August 23)<\/strong> Flash forward to late August and the Bucs sit 16.5 games back of the Brew Crew, who have pulled away from the whole division.<\/p>\n The Pirates can only hope to play spoiler now against the Cards at St. Louis on Thursday night. Charlie Morton will get the start. He remains hittable as ever, allowing a .275 opponents\u2019 average, but he continues to do a remarkable job avoiding homers, serving up just five gopher balls in 139.2 innings.<\/p>\n Morton has been a road warrior this season, going 6-2 with a 3.07 ERA over 11 starts. In his last visit to Busch stadium, he held the Cads to one run in six innings, securing the win. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n St. Louis Cardinals (67-62 through August 23)<\/strong> Is the Colby Rasmus trade becoming the new Curse of the Bambino in St. Louis? Not to exaggerate Rasmus\u2019 value, but something horrible has happened to the Cardinals since they traded him to Toronto in a heavily criticized move.<\/p>\n At the time of the deal, they were half a game back of Milwaukee. Now, they\u2019re 10 games back. Of the pieces they received, Corey Patterson is batting .189 and Edwin Jackson is a ho-hum 2-2 with a 4.45 ERA. He\u2019s allowed seven homers and a .323 batting average over 32.1 innings.<\/p>\n PIT are 1-7 in their last 8 games following a win. The pitching matchup appears to favor Pittsburgh since (a) Morton has excelled on the road, (b) he keeps the ball down and is facing a homer-dependent team and (b) Jackson has struggled so badly. He\u2019s been better in St. Louis, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA, but the accompanying WHIP of 1.53 suggests he\u2019s simply gotten lucky.<\/p>\n Jackson doesn\u2019t appear comfortable on the hill. I\u2019d expect an ugly game overall and a meaningless win for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
\nDate: <\/strong>Thursday, August 25, 2011
\nVenue: <\/strong>Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
\nBroadcast: <\/strong>ROOT, FSMW
\nPittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Lines from Bodog.com<\/strong>
\nMoney Line: Cardinals -165<\/strong>
\nOver\/Under: 8 <\/strong>
\n CLICK here for INDEPTH MLB ATS Stats for this matchup —><\/strong><\/a>
\n Bet now at BETONLINE —><\/strong><\/a>
\nTalk smack about MLB Baseball Today In Our Forums –><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nCharlie Morton (9-6, 3.42)<\/p>\n
\nEdwin Jackson (9-9, 4.03)<\/p>\nMLB Trends<\/h3>\n
\nPIT are 13-39 in their last 52 Thu. games.
\nPIT are 7-19 in their last 26 overall.
\nSTL are 16-5 in their last 21 Thu. games.
\nUnder is 6-2-1 in STL last 9 home games.
\nOver is 10-4 in STL last 14 Thu. games.
\nPIT are 3-9 in the last 12 meetings in St. Louis.<\/p>\nMLB Free pick: <\/h3>\n