NL Central: Holliday heating up in Cardinals' new-look lineup

Baseball Betting Lines

06/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Holliday's insertion into the middle of the St. Louis' Cardinals batting order last season helped result in a National League Central title. The heavy-hitting outfielder has provided a spark once again for the reigning division champions, this time from a more unfamiliar spot in the lineup.

Now hitting second in St. Louis' recently re-shuffled alignment, Holliday has produced a scorching .560 average (14-of-25) with five homers and 11 runs batted in over a six-game hitting streak. The three-time All-Star was named the NL's Player of the Week on Monday after a monster performance against his former Oakland Athletics team this past weekend, with Holliday collecting eight hits in 12 at-bats and going deep four times while knocking in eight runs over the three-game series.

The three-time All-Star has also come through in the clutch during his torrid tear. Holliday singled home the deciding run in the top of the ninth inning in Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Toronto, one day after collecting three hits and homering for a fourth straight game in a 9-4 besting of the Blue Jays in that series opener.

The shift from the cleanup slot to the No. 2 hole has enabled Holliday to regain his power stroke, and the Cardinals to return to the winning form that Tony La Russa's squad displayed over the season's initial two months. St. Louis had lost six times in a seven-game stretch that preceded La Russa's lineup switch on June 14, but have gone 6-3 since and overtaken Cincinnati for first place in the Central standings.

Holliday, who batted .353 with 13 homers in 63 games after being acquired from the A's in a trade last July, had just six long balls over St. Louis' first 66 outings of this season.

"The season, sometimes there's highs and lows," Holliday told the Cardinals' official site. "But I feel like I've found something that I can consistently maintain. Hopefully I will consistently hit the ball hard."

St. Louis currently holds a half-game edge on the Reds for the division's top spot.

REDS REBOUND ON TRIP; RHODES STILL GOING STRONG

Cincinnati has also gone through a rough patch as of late, losing six of seven games between June 13-20 to fall out of first place. That poor stretch culminated with a three-game road sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners in which the Reds' usually-formidable offense mustered a mere one run in three consecutive defeats.

The Reds were able to bounce back on the second leg of that Western swing by winning all three of their meetings with slumping Oakland. Cincinnati had the dominant pitching this time around, holding the Athletics to six runs over the course of the series. Bronson Arroyo fired eight innings of two-run ball in Wednesday's 4-2 triumph, and Johnny Cueto teamed up with two relievers on a seven-hit shutout to complete the sweep the following day.

Both Arroyo and Cueto have now won seven of their last eight decisions as the anchors of a suddenly-solid Reds rotation. Neither's numbers can compare to those of teammate Arthur Rhodes, however, with the battle-tested reliever in the midst of the best season of a big-league career that began in 1991.

Rhodes struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth inning of Monday's 6-4 win over the A's, which extended a career-best streak of scoreless innings to 29. The 40-year-old has given up just one run over 31 frames in 34 overall appearances as Cincy's primary setup man in front of closer Francisco Cordero.

The grizzled left-hander has never made an All-Star team in an otherwise accomplished 19-year tenure that's contained residences in seven cities. Rhodes has yielded 15 hits and struck out 29 in his 31 innings of work, resulting in a paltry .149 batting average against.

"Yeah, Arthur's an All-Star," Reds manager Dusty Baker told mlb.com. "Between he and Cordero, they're our most consistent guys in our bullpen. It's one of the best years I've seen out of anybody in the bullpen."

NEW FACES BRING BOOST TO BREWERS' BULLPEN

Although they still have quite a bit of ground to make up in the NL Central race, the Milwaukee Brewers have at least created hopes of a possible postseason run with their improved play during the month of June. The club has won 10 of its past 16 tilts and enter this weekend's series with visiting Seattle having matched a season high with four consecutive victories, the last three of which coming against current American League Central front-runner Minnesota.

A marked improvement in the pitching department has fueled Milwaukee's surge, and a relief corps that was grossly ineffective during the team's slow start to the season has particularly turned things around thanks to the addition of a couple of castoffs from the minor leagues.

Rookie John Axford has solidified the back end since moving into the closer's role in late May, with the hard-throwing right-hander having successfully converted all six of his save opportunities in addition to garnering three wins. He's also struck out 22 batters in 19 innings.

The 27-year-old has become an unlikely success story, especially in a bullpen that still contains baseball's all-time saves leader in the regressing Trevor Hoffman. Signed as an undrafted college free agent by the Yankees in 2007, Axford was released after one season in the organization before being picked up by the Brewers the following March.

"In a sense it's been a fairy tale for me so far," Axford said after finishing off Milwaukee's 5-3 win over the Twins on Wednesday.

The bridge to Axford has been provided by another surprising source, journeyman Kameron Loe. The Texas Rangers reject has been superb since being promoted from Triple-A Nashville on June 1, surrendering just one earned run and seven hits in 13 1/3 innings over 10 appearances and limiting opposing hitters to a .159 average.

Loe seemed to have found a niche as a reliever following a failed stint as a starter with the Rangers in 2007. The 6-foot-7 right-hander spent all of last year out of the majors, instead pitching briefly in the Japanese Pacific League.

Milwaukee relievers have still combined for a 5.69 ERA as a unit, surpassed by only Arizona for the highest in baseball this season.

FRUSTRATIONS CONTINUE TO MOUNT FOR CUBS

While the Brewers have shown signs of making the NL Central race a three-team affair, the Chicago Cubs continue to languish in mediocrity as the season nears the halfway point. The expected division contenders have lost eight of their past 13 tests and fell to a season-low nine games under .500 (31-40) following an 8-1 loss at Seattle on Wednesday.

That defeat followed an agitating 2-0 setback to the Mariners in Tuesday's series opener, which came two days after the Cubs pounded out 18 hits in a 12-1 home rout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Chicago was also shut out in a lopsided loss to the Angels last Saturday.

"It's been a problem for us as far as scoring runs consistently," Cubs manager Lou Piniella remarked after Tuesday's game. "You give up a couple of runs, you expect to win."

Inconsistency has been a trademark for Chicago, which presently sits in a third-place tie with Milwaukee in the standings. The team has not won more than four consecutive games all year long and hasn't had a winning record at any point in 2010, a startling development for a team that's posted 83 victories or more in each of the past three campaigns.

There have been a couple of trends that continue to remain constant in regards to the Cubs, however. When Chicago scores three runs or less in a game, the team is a woeful 6-29 for the year. Piniella's charges are also an unwanted 11-16 in one-run games this season.

The Cubs were able to reverse form on both occasions in their most recent outing, however, coming through with a 3-2 verdict over the Mariners in Thursday's series finale on Marlon Byrd's RBI single in the 13th inning.

Byrd has been one Chicago player who's been steady all throughout the year. The offseason addition is hitting an impressive .324 at the moment, which trails only Atlanta's Martin Prado for tops in the NL.

ASTROS GET HEAD START ON SHAKEUP

The Houston Astros are expected to undergo a significant house-cleaning by the time the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline rolls around. The team offered a preview of its impending transition phase this past weekend, making a flurry of roster moves following a 5-4 extra-inning loss to Texas on Sunday.

Four players -- catcher Kevin Cash, reserve outfielder Cory Sullivan and relief pitchers Casey Daigle and Wesley Wright -- were taken off the active roster after the game, with catcher Jason Castro, third baseman Chris Johnson and outfielder Jason Bourgeois all called up from the club's Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock. Veteran reliever Chris Sampson was activated from the disabled list to fill the final spot.

The most notable of the transactions is Castro, Houston's first-round choice of the 2008 draft and one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball. The former Stanford University star quickly showed he can handle the promotion by going 3-for-10 with a pair of walks and scoring four runs in the Astros' just-completed three-game series with San Francisco. In Thursday's finale, the 23-year-old had two hits in three at-bats and hit his first major-league home run to help Houston to a 7-5 win over the Giants.

"It was very special," Castro said about his solo blast off Matt Cain in the second inning. "It was exciting and I'm glad I can kind of get it out of the way, along with the first hit. It's a good feeling."

Johnson, ranked as Houston's No. 5 overall prospect by Baseball America in 2009, will also receive an extended look at third base as the Astros shift disappointing veteran Pedro Feliz into a utility role. The 25-year-old was batting a robust .329 with eight homers and 33 RBI in 38 games with the Pacific Coast League's Express at the time of his recall.

The Astros' biggest moves are yet to come, with the team likely to ship off a number of experienced players by the upcoming deadline. Speculation remains that one of those will be staff ace Roy Oswalt, with the three-time All-Star figuring to be one of the most coveted commodities among this year's available pitchers.

ROAD WOES RESUME FOR FADING PIRATES

The Pittsburgh Pirates handed out contract extensions to both field manager John Russell and GM Neal Huntington prior to the start of this 2010 season. It's a good thing for the duo, considering the team's performance over the past few weeks would have most men in their positions feeling more than a little nervous in regards to their job security.

The Pirates have lost 15 of their past 17 contests to sink back into their customary spot in the NL Central basement, 15 games in back of first-place St. Louis. The perennial doormats had dropped 11 in a row, the franchise's longest skid since 2006, before finally breaking through with back-to-back wins over the equally-inept Cleveland Indians on Saturday and Sunday.

The Cleveland series offered only a temporary reprieve for Russell's club, as the Pirates were handed three straight defeats by the red-hot Texas Rangers to open up a nine-game, three-city road trip. Pittsburgh has now endured 14 consecutive road losses, its worst slide away from home since a 19-gamer from July 23-August 30, 1985.

The Pirates haven't prevailed on the road since May 25 and are now an NL-worst 9-28 as the visitor this season.

"They are a young team," Rangers manager Ron Washington noted after his team's 6-5 win in Thursday's finale. "They've got some young talent even if it hasn't blossomed. But they fight. In three games we played better than them, but those kids play hard. That's all you can ask."

Pittsburgh may have a chance to end its winless drought when the team visits the Oakland Coliseum this weekend to take on an Oakland squad that's lost 10 of its last 12 matchups. However, the Pirates have gone a dreadful 2-10 in games against the American League so far this season.

On a more positive note, first baseman Garrett Jones went 3-for-4 with a run- scoring single in Thursday's loss and is batting .423 (22-for-52) with 11 RBI over his last 14 games.