Giants-Cardinals: Plus Money Play On St. Louis On Monday Night

Giants vs. Cardinals, 7:45 ET

Baseball has actually been going better for me lately and I think we can keep this entire thing running. Sometimes it takes a bunch of games for you to get into a groove. I'm hoping that's all that it was in the first couple months of the season. They weren't bad, but it wasn't a significant run at any point. Tonight, we take a look at the Giants as they head into St. Louis for the start of a three-game set.

The Giants are the definition of average. On the season, they are 32-32, 15-15 on the road, meaning 17-17 at home. They didn't do a great job early in the season, then went on the road. Then they stumbled again, and they played good again. Maybe that's the way teams are, some of them are just up and down constantly, and others are just bad or good the full season. With the Giants, it seems more pronounced for some reason. Today, they get their Opening Day starter, Logan Webb. Webb isn't quite an Ace in my book, but he is a talented pitcher. Webb has a 3.09 ERA over 13 starts, but most of his success has come in San Francisco. June hasn't been a great month for Webb as he has allowed seven earned runs over 12.1 innings. He had one quality start, a loss to the Orioles. Then he allowed four earned in Colorado over 5.1 innings, a win over the Rockies. Cardinals hitters have a strong enough track record against him at 19-for-70.

The Giants take on the Cardinals in a three-game set. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

The Cardinals continue to disappoint me and make me hate them more than I ever did as just a fan of the Cubs. Even when I start to get hopeful that they will make a run, the team seems to drop their effectiveness and lose any momentum. It really doesn't make sense either as they are hitting pretty well overall. None of their superstar hitters are really slumping or anything, with maybe the exception of Willson Contreras. The pitching staff hasn't been very good this year. This will be the fifth game of the season for Matthew Liberatore. It is also his fourth start of the season. He's only had two appearances at home for the Cardinals, and over six innings has allowed just two earned runs. It is a little early to say if he is going to do well or poorly. He's never faced the Giants, but I don't think the Giants offense is that good, so he should have a solid chance to stop them.

I'm going to take the Cardinals in this game, mostly due to value. Webb is definitely the better and more established pitcher, but Liberatore isn't terrible. He actually has some potential and I think his stuff is solid enough. I'm going to back the Cardinals at plus money in this one and hope they all can live up to their potential for at least a day.

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