Case of the Mondays: Cardinals, Braves Limping into the All-Star Break

by Ricky Dimon - 7/13/2015

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha

The dog days of summer are upon us, with the NBA over and football still a ways away from beginning. Even baseball is on break right now, and the all-star festivities could not have come at a better time for some forlorn teams. The National League Central-leading Cardinals stumbled to a three-game losing streak at the end of the season's proverbial first half, while the Atlanta Braves have dropped five in a row.

Odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook unless otherwise indicated.

St Louis Cardinals . The Cardinals enjoyed a 5.5-game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central after winning the first of four games last Thursday. Poised to storm into the break with a comfortable cushion in the standings, St. Louis promptly dropped the last three to Pittsburgh-including the last two each by 6-5 decisions in extra innings. Thus, the Pirates are within 2.5 games at the intermission. In those two contests, the Cardinals blew extra-inning leads a total of three times. They scored in the 10^th on Saturday only to give one up before Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen won it the 14^th with a two-run bomb. The Cards crossed the plate twice in the 10^th on Sunday then gave up three in the bottom of the inning. They are +325 co-favorites to win the National League Pennant and +750 to win the World Series.

Atlanta Braves . Teams-especially ones that have for the most part hovered around .500 from start to finish-are rarely streakier than the 2015 Braves. Since late June, Atlanta has endured two losing streaks of five games while also producing a winning streak of four (the latter came during a stretch of seven wins in nine games). One of those five-game skids is still in progress, mercifully interrupted only by the all-star break. The latest series was a flat-out disaster for the Braves, who lost four straight at the Colorado Rockies-who are still 10 games under .500 and in last place in the NL West. Atlanta will also be without closer Jason Grilli for the remainder of the season after he went down with a ruptured Achilles' on Saturday. The National League is a -117 favorite to win the All-Star Game in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Mark Cuban . Not long ago, the Dallas Mavericks' owner had a center of both the present and the future for his franchise. Now he is left with no max-money center and one meek apology. DeAndre Jordan, who had verbally committed to sign with Dallas, had a change of heart last week and is going back to the Los Angeles Clippers. He publicly apologized to Cuban only via Twitter, a gesture that the owner is not accepting. The Clippers are +1000 to win the NBA title next summer.

Dalvin Cook . Florida State is no stranger to off-the-field issues when it comes to its football program, but this offseason has been particularly troublesome (and you thought Jameis Winston's departure would end all of the extracurricular nonsense?). Cook, the team's star running back, was charged with misdemeanor battery after allegedly punching a 21-year-old woman outside a bar sometime in June. Florida State promptly issued a statement saying that Cook has been suspended from the Seminoles indefinitely. This comes in the wake of quarterback De'Andre Johnson's dismissal from the team after surveillance video showed him punching a 21-year-old student in the face. FSU is +2000 to win the College Football Playoff; Ohio State is a +300 favorite.

Roger Federer . This year's Wimbledon may have been considered Federer's "last best chance" to win another major, the 18^th of his illustrious career. And what a chance it was. The 33-year-old Swiss rolled through his first six matches in daunting form, losing his serve only once. He went into Sunday's final as just a slight underdog against defending champion and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The game's two best players were on level terms after splitting the first two sets in tiebreakers, but Djokovic seized control following a rain delay and surged to a 7-6(1), 6-7(10), 6-4, 6-3 victory. Federer is a +600 third choice to win the U.S. Open.

Danica Patrick . Patrick got into multiple altercations with Dale Earnhardt Jr, during Saturday's Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Earnhardt, citing faulty breaks, tapped the back of Patrick's car with 60 laps remaining and sent it into the outside wall. The No. 10 Chevrolet retaliated shortly thereafter, intentionally bumping the back of Earnhardt's Chevy as it entered pit road. Patrick stumbled to 34^th, two laps off the pace. The No. 88 car, which triumphed at Talladega the previous week, finished in 21^st position. Earnhardt admitted afterward to driving too close to Patrick before the initial incident given that his breaks were unreliable.

Tom Gillis . Looking for his first PGA Tour win at 46 years old, Gillis led most of the way on Sunday at the John Deere Classic thanks to a final-round 64 that included six birdies in his first eight holes. But then an ill-timed bogey on 16 happened. Most importantly, Jordan Spieth happened. The Masters and U.S. Open champion birdied four of his last six holes after playing the first 12 in 1-over, thus forcing a playoff with Gillis. Following a push with pars on the first extra frame, Gillis found the water on hole two and Spieth won with par. Gillis could have become the oldest first-time winner on the PGA Tour in 20 years. Spieth is a +500 favorite to win this week's British Open.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 2:30 PM
Expert:	Tony George
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