St. Louis Cardinals (38-31) @ Toronto Blue Jays (38-32)

Date: Tuesday June 22nd, 2010

Time: 7:07 pm EST

Preview: The St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays will start a three game series north of the border on Tuesday evening. The Cardinals come into the series at 38-31, in first place in the National League Central. St. Louis leads the Cincinnati by 1.5 games coming into Monday’s action. The Cardinals are coming off of winning four of six over Seattle and Oakland at home in interleague play. St. Louis is led by Albert Pujols’ .306 batting average, along with his 15 homeruns and 50 runs batted in. The Cardinals as a team are batting .260, which is 12th in all of baseball. Their pitching has been the story, as they are 2nd in all of baseball, only behind San Diego with a 3.19 earned run average. Their top pitcher has been big right hander Adam Wainwright with his 10 wins. Cardinals’ rookie left hander Jaime Garcia will make the start in this one. Garcia in his rookie season is 6-3 with a 1.59 earned run average in 13 starts. He is coming off a 2-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners on June 16th.

The Blue Jays, despite being six games over .500, are in fourth place in the American League East. Toronto is 5.5 games behind the first place New York Yankees. Toronto has struggled at the plate, batting .240, which ranks 27 out of 30 major league baseball teams. The Blue Jays have shown plenty of pop, hitting 106 homeruns, which is the most in baseball. Jose Bautista leads the team with 18 homeruns and 46 runs batted in. On the mound for Toronto will be left hander Brett Cecil. Cecil is 7-3 with a 3.58 earned run average in 11 starts in 2010.

Our prediction for this game: The Cardinals offense tees off against Cecil and gives Garcia some run support. Cardinals 9-3.