This is a 10* PITCHERS DUEL on the UNDER between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets.

A couple of red hot hurlers face off in the opener of this series and when the smoke clears at the end of this one, I am expecting the total to fall below the posted number. John Lackey (2-2, 3.22 ERA) gets the nod for the visitors; Lackey gave up two runs on five hits over 5 1/3's innings of working, but came up on the wrong side of a 2-0 defeat to the Indians on Wednesday. Lackey has been a pleasant surprise for the Cardinals, but his counterpart is clearly going to give him a run for his money as Matt Harvey is 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA this season, most recently giving up one run over seven innings, striking out nine with three scattered hits in a 2-1 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday. So far Harvey has given up more than three earned runs just once this year. "Recent performance" is always a factor that I take into consideration when handicapping staring pitching, both of these guys come in on top form, I look for these starters to battle deep into the latter frames and for this total to ultimately fall UNDER the posted number.

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