The magic stat: Cardinals can't lose;......
daking
Senior Member
Julian Dickinson
Nobody?s happy to see these guys come to town.
The St. Louis Cardinals` reputation as single-minded, ornery ball-bashers
precedes them in every series they enter.
Maybe that?s why they?re so successful (77 percent) in series openers.
But, if you can believe it, they?re even better in these games when
they?re coming off a loss ? as they are now after dropping the rubber
match of their series in Toronto on Wednesday night
Tampa Bay, which begins a three-game weekender against St. Louis, should
take note because the Cards are a perfect 11-0 in Game 1 of the next
series following a loss.
Check it out: in just the last two weeks, the Red Birds have been
repeating the pattern systematically. They lost their last game in a
series with Colorado and came back to beat Andy Pettitte and the Astros in
the next game. They lost Game 3 of that series, but turned around and beat
Boston 7-1 at home. They closed that one out with a defeat also, only to
bounce back with a win against the Yankees in the next game.
It might not sound like a hugely significant stat right off the bat, but
it underlines a more telling characteristic about a team like St. Louis.
Bill Beatty, head linesmaker at says it`s something bettors should be
aware of.
?Teams like the Cardinals who are expected to compete for the World series
need to be able to bounce back after a loss,? Beatty says.
But it should also be a statistic that alerts bettors to a frequently
forgotten aspect of professional baseball. Although major league teams
play a 162-game season, the schedule is really broken down into around 45
multi-game series ? and bettors need to look at each game as it relates to
the series.
?A team like St. Louis has the firepower and the wherewithal to load up
and win the games it needs,? says Covers Expert Brian Gabrielle. ?So you
know the manager is circling certain games as ?must-win? and dumping his
bullpen and hitting resources into those games.?
With pitching ace Mark Mulder on the mound today, this Game 1 is likely to
be circled on Tony LaRussa?s schedule. Gabrielle says that Game 3, with
Jeff Suppan taking his 0-6 lifetime record against the Devil Rays to the
hill for the Cards, could be a write-off and LaRussa will lay it all on
the line in Games 1 and 2.
Nobody?s happy to see these guys come to town.
The St. Louis Cardinals` reputation as single-minded, ornery ball-bashers
precedes them in every series they enter.
Maybe that?s why they?re so successful (77 percent) in series openers.
But, if you can believe it, they?re even better in these games when
they?re coming off a loss ? as they are now after dropping the rubber
match of their series in Toronto on Wednesday night
Tampa Bay, which begins a three-game weekender against St. Louis, should
take note because the Cards are a perfect 11-0 in Game 1 of the next
series following a loss.
Check it out: in just the last two weeks, the Red Birds have been
repeating the pattern systematically. They lost their last game in a
series with Colorado and came back to beat Andy Pettitte and the Astros in
the next game. They lost Game 3 of that series, but turned around and beat
Boston 7-1 at home. They closed that one out with a defeat also, only to
bounce back with a win against the Yankees in the next game.
It might not sound like a hugely significant stat right off the bat, but
it underlines a more telling characteristic about a team like St. Louis.
Bill Beatty, head linesmaker at says it`s something bettors should be
aware of.
?Teams like the Cardinals who are expected to compete for the World series
need to be able to bounce back after a loss,? Beatty says.
But it should also be a statistic that alerts bettors to a frequently
forgotten aspect of professional baseball. Although major league teams
play a 162-game season, the schedule is really broken down into around 45
multi-game series ? and bettors need to look at each game as it relates to
the series.
?A team like St. Louis has the firepower and the wherewithal to load up
and win the games it needs,? says Covers Expert Brian Gabrielle. ?So you
know the manager is circling certain games as ?must-win? and dumping his
bullpen and hitting resources into those games.?
With pitching ace Mark Mulder on the mound today, this Game 1 is likely to
be circled on Tony LaRussa?s schedule. Gabrielle says that Game 3, with
Jeff Suppan taking his 0-6 lifetime record against the Devil Rays to the
hill for the Cards, could be a write-off and LaRussa will lay it all on
the line in Games 1 and 2.