Chicago Cubs vs St. Louis Cardinals | Predictions, Preview, Odds & Free Pick - June 5, 2011 | Sportsbookbuzz.com

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MLB Betting Previews- Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals
Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 2:15 PM EST on TBS

Spread: Cardinals -1.5
Money Line: Cubs +145 / Cardinals -165
Over/Under: 7.5

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The Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals wrap-up a three game set this Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium in a matchup of two NL Central rivals. Game time is set for 2:15 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on TBS.

Chicago was on the wrong end of a 6-1 rout as a 153 road underdog in the first game of this series on Friday night. The loss was the Cubs fourth in-a-row and the seventh in their last 10 games. They are now nine games behind St. Louis in the division with an overall record of 23-32. Chicago is 12-19 at home and 11-13 on the road.

Scoring continues to be an issue for Chicago as even though it is ranked second in the National League with a team batting average of .270, it is ranked eighth in runs scored with 231. That fact that Alfonso Soriano, the team’s leader in RBI with 29, is currently on the 15-day DL with a strained quad does not help matters.

Carlos Zambrano is scheduled to get the start for the Cubs on Sunday. The right hander is 5-2 this season with an ERA of 4.23. His last time out he pitched eight full innings and gave up just one earned run on seven hits but failed to get the decision against Houston. Lifetime against the Cardinals, Zambrano is 12-6 with a 3.49 ERA.

St. Louis’s win on Friday was just its fifth in the last 10 games but it helped preserve a two-game lead over Milwaukee in the division. The Cardinals are now 34-25 on the year overall; 18-13 on the road and 16-12 at home.

Scoring has not been an issue for this team as it leads the NL in total runs with 293 for an average of 4.97 run a game. St. Louis is also ranked first in hitting with a .283 team batting average. With Matt Holliday on the 15-day DL, it will be missing one of its top hitter for this game, but with Lance Berkman (39 RBI) and Albert Pujols (33 RBI) in the lineup, the Cardinals still have plenty of fire power to produce runs.

Chris Carpenter will be on the mound for St. Louis in this one. He has struggled this season with just one win against five losses in 12 previous starts. He has an ERA of 4.52 but pitched better his last time out; giving up seven hits and two earned runs in five innings of work. Carpenter has had success against the Cubs in the past going 11-6 with a 3.19 ERA.

The home plate umpire for this game will be Ted Barrett. The total has gone ‘over’ in seven of his 12 called-games this season. The average runs scored in these games were 9.25.

Chicago is 12-13 as a favorite and 11-19 as an underdog this season. The total has stayed ‘under’ in five of its last seven games but is 29-25-1 overall.

St. Louis is 11-7 as an underdog and 23-18 as a favorite. The total has gone ‘over’ in three of its last five games and in 32 of 59 games this year.

Head-to-head, the Cardinals have won three of four this season heading into Saturday’s game. The total went ‘over’ in the first three games but stayed under the 7.5 line on Friday night. The Cubs got the best of this series last season with nine wins in 15 games overall and went 5-1 at Busch Stadium.

The odds makers have the St. Louis Cardinals as a -1.5 point favorite with an run total of 7.5.

Check out the latest MLB Baseball Odds here.

Prediction: This time around, stick with Zambrano and Chicago to grind out a win on the road against their division rivals.

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