Sidney Ponson and young Sean Marshall are on the mound today for the St. Louis and the Cubs respectively. Both pitchers make their debut but more is on the line for Ponson as he comes from Baltimore with a 7-11 record last year with over a 6 era. If we know something about the Cardinals is that they are winners and don't tolerate lack of performance long as this might be the last run for the veteran South African if he does not perform in first few games. Thus, I expect a good performance from Ponson. Marshall makes his debut for the Cubs in front of his hometown crowd and I expect him to show up well as well. The Cards have been on a under trend of late going under their last 4 games and the Cubs have gone under to the tone of 4-0-1 in their last 5 while the last 5 meetings between these clubs have gone under 5-1-2 in their last 8. Thus, 2 offenses that are struggling and 2 pitchers that have a lot to pitch for, we will ride the under 9.5 in this game.