The match that really grabs my attention today is the traditional late ESPN game. In this case it is St Louis Cardinals playing at Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs. This is an extremely important game for the Cards who are six games back in the divisional race.

ST LOUIS CARDINALS (Carpenter 0-0, 1.00) @ CHICAGO CUBS (Dempster 12-5, 2.93)
Monday 11th August 2008, 1:05 am UK Time - Live on Channel 5(ESPN pictures)

Having made two impressive starts for the Cards and on each occasion being unlucky in getting a lack of runs support, the staff ace Chris Carpenter should be well and truly back into the swing of things. Over the years he has proved himself to be one of the better pitchers in the majors, and with his opponent Ryan Dempster (transformed from a bullpen pitcher) having a terrific season this should be a very close contest in theory.
The Cards have been somewhat of a surprise to many in the know in baseball but to be honest I do not understand why this is the case. With terrific hitters like Albert Pujols, Troy Glaus, Rick Ankiel and youngster Ryan Ludwick in the ranks you can see why they score pretty well.
It is perhaps the pitching rotation people are put off by somewhat. Now that Carpenter is back in the rotation we may see a real surge towards post-season from the Cards because he will usually win more than he loses, same can be said for Kyle Lohse, who has now finally found a real consistency after what has been a pretty patchy career to date.
So how would I personally price this contest? Well I would look at it in two ways. If this contest was the first match of the season, knowing that Carpenter is the reliable ace and Dempster is a converted bullpen man but also allowing for the fact that the Cubs have homefield advantage, I would price the Cardinals as a favourite with a price in the region of 1.66-1.72.
Obviously, this isn't the case so in the current climate of major league baseball with all that has occured this season, I would probably price them up as a coin-toss. Obviously coin-toss prices vary from firm to firm but you get what i'm saying.
I have more confidence in Carpenter than Dempster and think that with a motivated Cards hitting unit that fired greatly in winning 12-3 over the Cubs last night backing him up, I find that 2.32 is an absolute insult and should be snapped up promptly.

MEN TO WATCH

Albert Pujols (.350, 24 HR, 74 RBI, 6 SB) St Louis Cardinals
Kosuke Fukodome (.272, 8 HR, 42 RBI, 10 SB) Chicago Cubs

RECOMMENDATION - 3 points stake on St Louis Cardinals @ 2.32 (Bet365)

Good luck all.
Crafty Stan