Underdog Pick: Pirates vs. Cardinals

One of my followers has motivated me to write this by calling me "Joe, the dog catcher" and in essence, he's correct as I've been fairly on point with my dogs. It's all about the marketing in giving you excellence, folks. They sometimes don't get the accolades but should.

2012 Baseball record - 63-55-1 +11.00 units

I want the units to be better than the record. It shows that I've been catching some dogs. A handicapper can go an average 1-1 and if they choose 2 underdogs, they're on the positive side regarding units and units are the defining measure of winning. Let's see if we can catch this dog on a late summer Friday night.

Pittsburgh Pirates at St Louis Cardinals - Cardinals -151, total 8,5

These two teams have almost identical records as only 1 game separates them after a grueling 118-119 game stint. It's also crunch time with a little over 40 games to go in the regular season and both of these teams want this game badly. 

Pittsburgh is one of the two NL teams with the lead in regards to the Wild Card and the Cards have the "The Card" set in their sights. Pittsburgh sends James McDonald (10-5, 3.77) to the mound and he'll be opposed by Jake Westbrook (12-8, 3.62) for the Cardinals. At best, this is an even matchup in pitching starts.

After getting off to a fast start with the Pirates, James McDonald has really hit a slump. This was a pitcher that was once a 9-3 with a 2.59 ERA. Pittsburgh needs McDonald to regain his old form or they go nowhere. In his last start, he got shelled for 7 runs and 7 hit in 4 and 1/3 innings.

My handicapping gut tells me that McDonald will turn this around as he looked like a stud in the beginning and mid-part of the season. When selecting your MLB plays look for a solid outing from McDonald against St.Louis. This isn't San Diego that he's playing, this is a motivational game in where the franchise will be counting on him. I'm expecting his best and it will be up to Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates offense to flex it's muscles against Jake Westbrook.

Momentum

You folks know that I love that word. The Pirates are coming off of a game in where their ace A.J. Burnett regained form and they touched Los Angeles Dodgers pitching up for 10 runs in a 10-6 victory.

McCutchen's assistance

Garrett Jones came up huge in an important game on Thursday in where he hit 2 home runs and 6 RBI against LA. Pittsburgh has to be encouraged as Andrew McCutchen can't shoulder the entire load in order to be a successful baseball team. On the season. Jones has 19 HR, 64 RBI, and a .283 BA. I wouldn't be surprised if Jones's success carries over to this very important game.

Who's on the schedule? 

I'm sure this is what St.Louis starter Jake Westbrook was thinking when he knows that this is a very big game and the Cards rely on his ability to consistently produce. There's not much negative that can be said about Westbrook. He's coming off of a 7 1/3 inning performance where he allowed just 1 run and 4 hits. Westbrook has also won 5 consecutive games.

The one concern that Westbrook has is his past history against Pittsburgh. Westbrook is a career 1-5 with a 5.18 ERA in 11 starts against the Pirates. Pitchers are intelligent and remember who they've had luck against and who they've lacked success against. Westbrook is a question mark in this game despite his 5 consecutive victories.