TheSpread.com

Dave Cokin

San Francisco Giants vs St. Louis Cardinals
Pick: St. Louis Cardinals

Matt Cain has been a little off in his last couple starts, and he's gotten touched for some long balls. With Kyle Lohse in better current form and pitching at home, I'll side with the Cardinals.

Jeff Scott Sports

3 UNIT PLAYS

ST LOUIS -121 over San Francisco: Matt Cain is the ace of this Giants squad and he is 11-1 on 5 days rest this year, but this is a team he has struggled with in his career, going 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA in 8 starts vs them, while in two starts vs them this year he is 1-1 with a 6.94 ERA. Cain can also be hit a bit on the road as he has a 3.62 ERA away from home and St Louis does score 5.04 rpg at home. Kyle Lohse has had an excellent year for the Cards and is 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA at home this year. The Giants do score 5.07 rpg on the road, but they have been struggling overall hitting .210 and scoring just 3.6 rpg in their last 10 games. St Louis is at home and after getting blown out in their last game in San Francisco I look for them to get back on track with a solid win here. 

Yanks/ Detroit Under 7: Neither offense has been scoring a whole lot of late as the Yanks have averaged just 1.8 rpg in their last 5 games, while the Tigers have averaged just 3.1 rpg in their last 10 games. Now we add a couple of hot pitchers to the mix and I really don't expect allot of scoring in this one. CC Sabathia comes in with a 1.51 ERA in his last 5 starts, going at least 8 innings and not allowing more than 2 ER's in each of those starts. Max Scherzer comes in pitching very well allowing more than 2 ER's just once in his last 10 starts, while posting a skinny 1.36 ERA over that stretch. Max also has a 1.44 ERA in his last 3 starts vs the Yanks, while CC has a 3.32 ERA in his 3 starts vs the Cats this year. This will be a classic pitchers duel with at most 4 or 5 runs being scored.

Joseph D'Amico

New York at Detroit
Play: New York

Detroit isn't taking this series. New York is handing to them. I know that a few starters, their top reliever, and team captain, Derek Jeter are all out. But the Yankee's just aren't producing on offense. The team does have one major edge in this matchup…post-season experience. They also have CC Sabathia throwing today. The LH took two of the team's three wins in the Oriole's series. The ace is 3-0 with a 3.32 ERA against the Tigers this season. Detroit has played well. But let's face it, they haven't been the most consistent squad ever. They, themselves have been hit or miss offensively of late. Today, the team has Max Scherzer starting. The RH can fan batters but is 0-1 with a 5.79 mark in his only starts this season against the NY. The Yankee's will show pride and experience here. Take New York.

Jimmy Boyd

St. Louis Cardinals -125

The Cardinals haven't lost consecutive games in over a month. They are 7-0 in their last 7 games following defeat, and I expect this trend to continue.

The Cardinals are 35-17 in their last 52 home games and 5-2 in their last 7 home games in the postseason so you better have good reason to fade them at home, and I'm not seeing enough of a reason today.

Lohse only has one loss at home in 16 starts this season while posting an ERA of 2.33. Cain has just two losses on the road in 18 starts this season, but his 3.62 road ERA pales in comparison. The Cardinals are 14-6 in Lohse's last 20 home starts and 11-4 in his last 15 starts as a favorite.

Cain has struggled against the Cardinals this year, going 1-1 with a 6.94 ERA in two starts, and is 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA in eight career starts against them. Lohse, meanwhile, has won his last two starts against the Giants while holding them to two runs or fewer and is 3-2 with an ERA of 3.78 in five career starts against them. Bet the Cardinals.

Jeff Benton

Looking for my third straight freebie winner after the Yankees and Tigers played Under the total last night.

Now 18-9 with my comp plays.

Your Wednesday freebie is the Giants to take the 2-1 series lead over the Cardinals with the win today in St. Louis.

It will be Matt Cain and Kyle Lohse to the hill - both 16-game regular season winners, and both winners of a playoff game already this postseason.

Cain hasn't exactly been his usual dominant self, and he has had issues this season in his two starts against St. Louis, but to get him at this price is an offer too good to pass on.

The Giants are a perfect 3-0 this postseason away from home, and they are also a solid 49-35 overall on the road this season including taking two of three from the Cards in an early August series played at Busch.

The St. Louis starters have not been able to get past the 5th inning in any of their last three playoff games, so I will look for the Cardinals to have a hard time coming out on top in this spot.

Take San Francisco to come up with the Game Three win in this NLCS today in St. Louis.

2♦ SAN FRANCISCO