MLB Picks – St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals

BetOnline MLB betting odds: Cardinals -120, Nationals +100, Total 10

Right-handers take the mound for both teams on Thursday, as Mitchell Boggs of St. Louis (1-0, 0.00 ERA) faces off against Daniel Cabrera of the Nationals (0-2, 4.42 ERA).

Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* STL has won seven of its last nine games

* STL has lost 17 of its last 25 road games

* WASH has lost 19 of its last 24 games

* WASH has lost 11 of its last 15 home games

* WASH has played four of its last six home games UNDER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD online betting trends:

* STL has won five of the last six meetings

* WASH has won five of the last seven meetings as the home team

* Twelve of the last 16 meetings in Washington have gone UNDER the total

The Cardinals beat Atlanta 5-3 on Wednesday for their seventh win in the last nine games, as Adam Wainwright picked up his third straight win. The Nationals were able to beat the Phillies 4-1 and take one game out of three in that series at Citizens Bank Park, as newly-acquired Scott Olsen registered his first win in a Washington uniform. The Cardinals are atop the National League Central, leading three teams – the Pirates, Reds and Brewers – by three and a half games. Washington brings up the rear in the National League East, 7.5 games in back of the Florida Marlins.

Neither of Thursday’s pitchers has ever made a start against the other team.

Daniel Cabrera was lifted after 2-1/3 innings in his last start, giving up five runs (one of them earned) and six hits in an 8-2 loss to the Mets. Thus far the Nats have lost all four games he has started. Cabrera has been around for a while, but he is not throwing with the same kind of velocity he used to, and that is evidenced by his strikeout rate, which is only seven in 18-1/3 innings. Last year he fanned 95 in 180 innings, but that is in stark contrast to 2006, when he struck out an average of 9.5 batters per nine innings. This was partly an effort get more control, but that hasn’t happened. He’s got 12 walks so far.

Mitchell Boggs led the Pacific Coast league in ERA last season, and he was the logical choice to take the fifth spot in the St. Louis rotation when Chris Carpenter went to the disabled list. What had held him back from a regular big league assignment was lack of command in his breaking ball, but pitching coach Dave Duncan has been impressed. "The most impressive thing was he made his breaking ball a factor in the game," Duncan told reporters after Boggs put in 5-2/3 innings against the Cubs five days ago without allowing an earned run. Still, concerns linger because in his brief stint with the big league club in 2008, Boggs allowed more walks than he had strikeouts.

Washington has had little in the way of a home field edge, with a 3-5 record this year and 11 losses in 15 games going back to the 2008 campaign. The pitchers themselves look like they may be going in different directions, so let’s lay a mild price with St. Louis, the -120 favorite in the BetOnline National League baseball sports betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: ST. LOUIS (-120) **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)