13-4, +14.76
Monday's: what a shitty way to spend 1/7th of your life. Hope everyone had a good Easter. On to today...
1* Pittsburgh Pirates -120
Before the season starts, you know going in - some young pitchers will improve and be undervalued. Some old pitchers will decline, and be overvalued. It's like looking at the back of a baseball card, and watching a guys stats just get better and better each year. Ian Snell is one of those guys.
14-11 his rookie season last year, Snell is a guy you circle because he doesn't rely on gimmicks - his stuff is for real. Mid 90's with a nasty hook, Snell struck out 11 Astros in his opening start, while walking 1. Again, you like to play on young pitcher's early, and back off or fade towards the end because they don't know how to pace themselves for the 162 game season and they break down.
Speaking of pacing yourself, the Cardinals counter with Braden Looper. Looper has been a reliever, mostly a closer, his whole career. It's not just rays of sunshine when you try to make the transition from closer to starter in the big leagues. Looper will feel growing pains at some point, and I guess it begins here on the road in Pittsburgh. With the absence of Chris Carpenter, the Cards are getting creative and throwing their rotation into chaos with Looper making his 2nd start. And that's where you want to fade a guy like this: start #2, and #3. The first start, you are just pitching off instinct, treating it like a relief appearance, doing your thing. But that 2nd start, feeling that major soreness in your arm that you never really get as a reliever, rehabbing the arm, whirlpools, icing, mid-start bullpen, waiting around pre-game and preparing......now you go through the rigors of those 4 off days as a starter. Looper cannot come out and just rock-and-fire. He will have to pace himself to try to give the Cards a minimum of 5 innings today vs. a pitcher Ian Snell that has given 5+ in 25 straight starts. And Looper will have to come out again, and now really PITCH and try to be effective vs. a Pirates team that is playing very solid baseball right now and is rejuvenated by getting their leading hitter, Freddy Sanchez, back.
The other thing I like here is the fact that St. Louis won 10-1 yesterday. I like fading teams off blowout wins, particularly if the next game is vs. the same team that they just blew out. That isn't the case here as they start a new series with Pittsburgh, but I will stick with this non-the-less because St. Lou travels now to Pitt.
Pirates 6
Cardinals 4
Monday's: what a shitty way to spend 1/7th of your life. Hope everyone had a good Easter. On to today...
1* Pittsburgh Pirates -120
Before the season starts, you know going in - some young pitchers will improve and be undervalued. Some old pitchers will decline, and be overvalued. It's like looking at the back of a baseball card, and watching a guys stats just get better and better each year. Ian Snell is one of those guys.
14-11 his rookie season last year, Snell is a guy you circle because he doesn't rely on gimmicks - his stuff is for real. Mid 90's with a nasty hook, Snell struck out 11 Astros in his opening start, while walking 1. Again, you like to play on young pitcher's early, and back off or fade towards the end because they don't know how to pace themselves for the 162 game season and they break down.
Speaking of pacing yourself, the Cardinals counter with Braden Looper. Looper has been a reliever, mostly a closer, his whole career. It's not just rays of sunshine when you try to make the transition from closer to starter in the big leagues. Looper will feel growing pains at some point, and I guess it begins here on the road in Pittsburgh. With the absence of Chris Carpenter, the Cards are getting creative and throwing their rotation into chaos with Looper making his 2nd start. And that's where you want to fade a guy like this: start #2, and #3. The first start, you are just pitching off instinct, treating it like a relief appearance, doing your thing. But that 2nd start, feeling that major soreness in your arm that you never really get as a reliever, rehabbing the arm, whirlpools, icing, mid-start bullpen, waiting around pre-game and preparing......now you go through the rigors of those 4 off days as a starter. Looper cannot come out and just rock-and-fire. He will have to pace himself to try to give the Cards a minimum of 5 innings today vs. a pitcher Ian Snell that has given 5+ in 25 straight starts. And Looper will have to come out again, and now really PITCH and try to be effective vs. a Pirates team that is playing very solid baseball right now and is rejuvenated by getting their leading hitter, Freddy Sanchez, back.
The other thing I like here is the fact that St. Louis won 10-1 yesterday. I like fading teams off blowout wins, particularly if the next game is vs. the same team that they just blew out. That isn't the case here as they start a new series with Pittsburgh, but I will stick with this non-the-less because St. Lou travels now to Pitt.
Pirates 6
Cardinals 4
