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This game is pivotal to both teams. St. Louis needs to snap its current 5 game losing streak if they want to remain serious contenders in the NL Central race. New York needs to keep on their winning ways to help build themselves a lead in the NL East. The Mets are riding a three game winning streak after taking two out of three from the Phillies and the first game of this series. Joel Pineiro (3-4, 4.52) will take the mound for the Cardinals facing Triple-A call up Bobby Knight (0-0, 0.00) for the Mets. He was called up to replace Pedro Martinez who flew back home to the Dominican Republic after the news of his father’s death. Game time is scheduled for 7:10 PM Eastern.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick for tonight’s game between the Cardinals and the Mets:

- The Mets are on a four game winning streak.

-The Cardinals are on a five game losing streak.

- Mets SP Bobby Knight has not pitched in the major leagues since 2002, but has a Triple-A record of 5-1 with a 1.60 ERA.

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The Detroit Tigers (52-50) are currently 6.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox (58-43) in the AL Central standings. It very easily could have been 5.5 games back as they blew their lead going into the top of the ninth to lose 6-5 Friday. It was the second straight comeback win for Chicago, and their 16th in their last 24 games. The go ahead HR was hit by All-star roster snubbed Jermaine Dye who had this to say about the game, “A big game for them getting back into the race and we stole one.” With two outs in the top of the ninth and one man on base, Dye stepped to the plate against Tigers closer Todd Jones. After a quick 2-0 count, Dye hit the next pitch over the fence to give Chicago the lead, and they never looked back. D.J. Carrasco was given the win for pitching the eight, and Bobby Jenks was given the save. Todd Jones was tacked with the loss.

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Yeah, these two meet up again this weekend. But at least now we’re in the second half of the season, and the Yankees have climbed up the AL East after a horrible start to make this series actually mean something. Josh Beckett (9-6, 3.97) will take the mound for Boston, and Joba Chamberlain (2-3, 2.52) will pitch for New York. Expect a big ovation for Big Papi, David Ortiz, when he steps up to the plate. This is his first game back after missing 47 games while on the DL for a  torn tendon sheath in his left wrist. Boston did not fall off when Ortiz was gone, as they went 26-19 without their DH.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick for tonight’s game between the Yankees and the Red Sox:

- The Yankees have not lost since the All-Star break, winning six straight games.

- The Yankees have been a major league-best 57-25 in the second halves of the last two seasons.

- This series is important to both teams: Boston is currently 3 games ahead of New York in the AL East standings.

- Joba Chamberlain has yet to make it to the seventh inning in a start, but the Yankees boast the sixth best bullpen ERA this season.

- Boston starter Josh Beckett has won all three meetings he has had with the Yankees this season, allowing three runs in each game.

- Boston is 36-11 at home, while the Yankees are .500 on the road: 23-23.

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The NL Central, hell, maybe even the whole league should be on the lookout for the Brewers. They just completed a 4 game series sweep of the Cardinals and are 7-0 on their current road trip, and are on an eight game winning streak. Ryan Braun was the catalyst of the offense, going 14-29 during the road trip, including a two run HR in the top of the ninth in St. Louis on Thursday that kept them within a game of the Cubs atop the NL Central standings. The HR from Braun came off of Cards closer Ryan Franklin, who was charged with the loss. In Braun’s own words: “To me, a game-winning homer is the best feeling in the world. There’s nothing better.”

The Brewers are also climbing up the team total HR chart, having hit one homerun in each of their last twenty games, a franchise record. Ben Sheets threw seven strong innings, but left the game when they were down 3-2 and was given a no decision. Eric Gagne pitched in the eighth to earn the win, and Solomon Torres was given the save.

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The Marlins (53-48) will head to Wrigley Field to take on the Cubs (58-42) in a showdown that has major implications for both the NL East and the NL Central.  The Marlins are currently 1 game back of both the Phillies and the Mets, who are tied atop the NL East standings.  The Cubs are hanging on to first, with a red hot Brewers team only a half game behind.  The St. Louis Cardinals are only 2.5 out as well.

As we can see, there are at least 6 teams, along with their fanbases, who should watch this series closely.  It will be a tough task for Florida to come in and take a game or two away from the Cubs, who have the best home record in the league at 37-12.  The Marlins, on the other hand, are below .500 on the road, going 24-25 in games away from Miami.  Scott Olsen (6-4, 3.84) of the Marlins is scheduled to take on Carlos Zambrano (10-4, 2.98) and the Cubs at 8:05 PM Eastern.

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The Chicago White Sox (57-43) beat the Texas Rangers (52-50) by a score of 10-8 in an afternoon showdown at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago today.  The White Sox win was a come from behind victory; they scored 5 runs in the bottom of the eighth and closer Bobby Jenks closed it out for the save.  Carlos Quentin turned out to be the star of the game, as he hit two home runs, for a total of 26 on the season.  His eighth inning, three run bomb off of Rangers closer C.J. Wilson drove in three runs to give the Sox the lead heading into the top of the ninth.  The HR came with two outs, and with Wilson just coming in to replace reliever Eddie Guardado, who was eventually charged with the loss.

Quentin had this to say about the homerun: “I was looking fastball and was going to adjust to anything he threw up there.  I was just looking to get a hit and tie the game. Sometimes in those situation when you’re not looking to do too much, good things happen.”  The win came without eccentric White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on the bench.  He was tossed in the seventh, when his team was down 8-4, after arguing a called third strike with home plate umpire Rob Drake.  Octavio Dotel (4-4) was given the win after pitching a perfect inning in the top of the eighth.

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Yes, this was the game to watch yesterday and the game of the day today, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the game to watch tomorrow as well.  In fact, due to tonight’s result, you won’t want to miss this game.  The game is big for both teams: if the Phillies (54-46) win, they’ll put the Mets (53-47) two games behind them, but if the Mets win they’re both even atop the NL East again.  A Phillies win combined with a Marlins win would put the Mets in third place.

This growing rivalry will have tempers flying, hits aplenty, and lots of homeruns tomorrow.  Brett Myers makes his return to the majors after being sent down to AAA after going 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA in the first half of the season.  He will be going against John Maine.  The reason we will see lots of hits and homers is simple: Both starters have given up a combined 35 homeruns this year (24 by Myers, 11 by Maine), and Myers has a BAA of .282.  Be ready to watch this game at 7:10 PM Eastern.

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Almost seems like déjà vu, doesn’t it?  The Mets bullpen yet again gave up a big lead that Johan Santana got for them, blowing a 5-2 lead in the top of the ninth as the Phillies won 8-6 in New York.  Santana, who pitched 8 strong innings, gave up 8 hits and 2 runs, while striking out 4 and walking none.  Manager Jerry Manuel made a controversial decision to pull Santana in the 9th for Duaner Sánchez, which was obviously not a smart choice as he gave up three hits with no outs to load the bases for Joe Smith, who was called in to replace Sanchez.

Phils catcher Carlos Ruiz stepped to the plate and grounded into a fielders choice to Jose Reyes, who decided to try to get the force at second on Shane Victorino.  Chalk up another mistake for the Mets as he didn’t reach second before the speedy Victorino, which brought in a run with the bases still loaded.  Pedro Feliciano came in immediately after to replace Smith, which may have been another mistake.  Feliciano gave up a double to So Taguchi, who was 0-16 in pinch-hit opportunities this year.  The double drove in two runs and tied the game, moving Ruiz over to third as well.

Jimmy Rollins came up next and he hit a double as well which drove in two runs, Ruiz being the go ahead.  Ryan Howard eventually drove Rollins home, which was the last of the Phillies 6 run inning.  Brad Lidge, who has not blown a save this year, remained perfect in save opportunities.  He did give up one run, but held onto the lead as the Phillies won 8-6 at Shea.  Chad Durbin was given the win, while Joe Smith took the loss.

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Who would have ever thought, even as little as a month ago, that the Mets would be where they are right now.  After firing manager Willie Randolph and putting Jerry Manuel at the helm, things have only gone up in Mets land.  In their last 13 games the Mets are 11-2, and they are just coming off of a 10 game winning streak as well.  They have an important showdown at Shea against the Phillies tonight.  Both teams have the same exact record, 53-46, and are tied atop the NL East entering tonight’s game.  The Mets send Johan Santana to the mound to square off against new Phillie Joe Blanton.  Joe Blanton was acquired last week for three prospects in the Phillies system.  The Mets lead the season series against the Phils by going 7-3, and sweeping them in their last series.  However, the Phillies last season won 8 straight games against the Mets and eventually became the NL East champs by one game.  That should prove how important this game is to both teams.  Game time is scheduled for 7:10 PM Eastern at Shea Stadium.

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In the close NL Central race, any win from here on out is an important win.  Just look at last night’s game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, which Milwaukee won 6-3.  The win gave Milwaukee a better win percentage than St. Louis and moved them into second place behind the Chicago Cubs.  Bill Hall, who hit the go ahead homerun in the top of the 10th, had this to say:  “From the looks of it, it’s us, the Cardinals and the Cubs who will be battling for the division.  Every win is important in this division.”  After Brewers starting pitcher Seth McClung let in two runs in the bottom of the first off of a Troy Glaus double, the Brewers offense helped him out by getting 3 runs home in the top of the fifth with Rickie Weeks 9th HR of the year.  The score remained 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, when Yadier Molina stepped to the plate facing Solomon Torres.  Molina hit a ground rule double, and was then replaced by pinch runner Brendan Ryan. 

Pinch hitter Jason LaRue moved Ryan to third, and Skip Schumaker hit a sacrifice to left to bring Ryan in to tie the game.  Before you could even blink, Milwaukee had already gained the lead again in the 10th as Bill Hall led off the inning with a HR.  The Brewers eventually got two more runs and won the game 6-3.

As always, if you’re looking to bet on sports, head over to http//www.SportsBettingChamp.com for information on how to win 97% of your sports bets!