Lets talk Cards Padres Game 2 Thursday

[mother_brain]

Mulder vs. Astacio.

I hope everybody picked up on that Cards -1.5 on the first game. I am stuck at work and haven't checked the lines for this one till i get off tonight. Here's my insight though.

The temperature is supposed to be in the 50s or low 60s. Almost 30 degrees colder than game one. Don't know what this does for you but there you have it.

In case you weren't aware of the Mulder trade this last off season, it was purely for the playoffs. The cardinals had numerous other options that were cheaper and still would have given them a high probability to win the division. The Mulder trade was made so that we could have a 1,2 punch with carp and mulder. Look for the combo to give the Cards a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Cards know that this win is critical with the worst starting pitcher in the rotation coming up for game three in Morris. If we lose game two we could easily be facing a 2-1 deficit going into game four and needing to use Carpenter again messing up the rotation going into the next critical series against Houstan/Atlanta. If we win game two we can still lose game three and use either Marquis or Suppan in game four and preserving our rotation.

Mulder had the worst start of his career his last time up. Hopefully that will keep the lines somewhat good for us Cards fans.