St. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

There will be several storylines in baseballs second half this season. In addition to the exciting divisional races (four of the six divisions are divided by 3 1/2 games or less from first to second place teams), there will be a great storyline in Minnesota if Joe Mauer can hit .400.

But the best storyline may be in St. Louis as the Cardinals try to get into the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2006 and keeping tabs on Albert Pujols trying to become the first Triple Crown winner in 42 years.

Ted Williams did it last, in 1967 in the American League, but for Pujols to accomplish it would be even more amazing considering it has been 72 seasons since a NL player has won the rare feat when Joe Medwick, also a Cardinal, led the league in average, homers and RBIs in 1937.

Currently Pujols leads with 32 round-trippers and 87 RBIs, but needs to improve on a lofty .332 batting average that is surprisingly only good for fourth in the league.

In addition to attempting to improve on that average, Pujols will need to be pitched to more often. He leads the league with 71 walks, 32 of those intentional. The issue is that St. Louis does not boast much offensive punch outside of Pujols. Only two other players have double-digit home runs, and no one has more than 15.

St. Louis begins the second-half two games in front of the Milwaukee Brewers in first place in the NL Central and faces the Arizona Diamondbacks (38-51) at home for a weekend series.

Pujols will be facing the Diamondbacks Jon Garland (5-8, 4.53) to start the second half. Garland is winless in three career starts against the St. Louis Cardinals, having gone 0-2 with a 10.38 ERA, including allowing seven runs in just 3 2/3 innings on April 15.

Garland put a stop to the worst streak of his career and won for the first time in seven tries as he allowed a run over eight innings in a 5-1 win over the Florida Marlins on Saturday.

St. Louis, on the other hand, will go with a pitcher who has dominated Arizona is six career starts. Chris Carpenter (7-3, 2.47) is 3-0 with a 2.30 ERA against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Carpenter is looking for his third straight win after allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings of an 8-3 win over the Chicago Cubs last Friday.

Click here for more Baseball Betting Lines and Online Sports Betting Lines.

---

---

Comments