really strange to me they offering plus money on the under in pit? obviously it doesnt take any kind of work to figure out this a potential pitching duel so id assume under is the overwhelmingly popular side, yet while i could make a case for 6.5 they open at 7 and now juicing the over. curious to histories when pitchers make b2b starts vs the same team? maybe that has something to do with it.
i know ive been saying a lot that cards pen is well over due to get shelled, i just dont think they gonna get much opportunity tonight as wacha outta be able to go well into the 7th and possibly 8th. he shut this squad down in a huge playoff gm his rookie year when he only had 2 pitches (and pit was swinging much better bats than they are at the moment) granted very good pitches but he has now added a cutter and has shown flashes of a very waino-esque uncle charlie this season and that was basically a project pitch he would occasionally throw more for effect, quickly that is becoming yet another plus pitch for a guy that already had 2 pitches good enough to get by. i know his advanced numbers dont speak as favorably for him but that has a ton to do with the increased use in the cutter to get quick outs, he hasnt lost any of the strike out ability and has shown it when teams are threatening. with the increased contact rate by design gonna come little less support from his advanced stuff, that said his infield fly ball and ground ball rates are at a all time high and he seems to be able to summon the strike out stuff when needed as shown in his all time high strand rate that is not a fluke imo. not sure it the best approach but probably the right one as especially now cards gonna need him to log more innings than they may have liked off the shoulder thing.
when cards moved jay to leadoff and carp to the 2 hole, allowing heyword to drop down to 6th i thought it was a great move by matheny the 1st time he did it. carp been driving the ball so well that he now fits what cards have always like having in that spot with the advantage of being a better overall hitter than most. didnt know that heyword would seem far more comfortable in the 6 hole but i knew that would probably lead to wong having more rbi opportunities (with heyword and yadi getting on in front of him) which never a bad thing cause i love that kid! he lives for the moment and has such good bat speed he gets a lot of pop out of that frame, i still dont love the middle of our lineup mostly cause adams simply hasnt turned into the power hitter he has the potential to be, honestly think reynolds should be the starter at 1st seeing how we have so many lhb in the lineup anyways.
so i guess the question is can liriano hold down a team taking great abs and no real holes 1-8 for a second start in a row? i mean we talking bout a guy that in 9 career starts vs stl has a sub 2 era and sub 1 whip believe cards have got him for 4 once and 3 once, every other start was 6+ innings and 2 runs or less! . cards havnt liked lefties going back 10 years (well besides kershaw) and this one happens to make them look worse at the plate than any other pitcher i can think of, and it not even close.
maybe a ff/gm under split to guard against what im still sure is a bad pen outing by cards waiting to happen? i saw there were a lot of over type umps in the area and last couple years cards have started doing a better job of laying off and actually taking some walks. i dunno, really confused they wanna give me plus money on this. is either pitcher on bad days rest? i dont follow that as closely as some of you guys, i def think there some merit to it, just not sure how much?