MLB odds: Musical closers

This past weekend wasn't a good one for couple of National League Central closers.

The Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen and the Brewers' Eric Gagne both lost their jobs over the weekend, and those two new-look bullpens will see each other again Monday night in the finale of a four-game series in Milwaukee - the Cardinals opened as -125 money line betting favorites (over/under: 8.5) on WagerWeb.com.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa seemed to hint that Isringhausen's demotion was only temporary.

"He's not hurting, he's just pressing and lost his confidence," La Russa said. "You go back to the drawing board a little bit on his delivery so he can locate better, and you give him some appearances and hopefully he gets people out and his confidence goes back up."

Isringhausen, who has five blown saves this year, actually asked La Russa for the demotion.

"I'm just getting sick of embarrassing myself and letting my team down," Isringhausen said. "We should have five more wins in the win column in my mind, so we should be ahead in first place even more. But they can't keep sending me out there when I'm pitching the way I'm pitching. ... I'm just pitching like a 2 th grader."

For the time being, La Russa says he'll use Isringhausen in a middle relief role, looking mostly to Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer in save situations. Franklin got the save in Saturday's win.

"It needed to be done," said Isringhausen, who has four blown save opportunities in his past seven appearances and is 1-4 with a 7.47 ERA. "It's a mental break more than anything."

Yet the Cardinals enter Monday tied atop the Central with the Cubs.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee's Gagne has been even worse than Izzy.Gagne has nine saves, which is among the National League leaders, but also five blown saves and a 6.89 ERA. He has allowed 18 hits and 11 walks in 15 2/3 innings, with opponents hitting .400 off him.

Gagne, who allowed the go-ahead runs in the ninth inning Saturday and took the loss against the Cardinals, told reporters afterward he does not "deserve that ninth inning right now."

Well, manager Ned Yost agreed on Sunday by demoting Gagne and saying he will "mix and match" his relievers at the ends of games.

"He probably needs a little bit of a break, a little bit of a mental break," Yost said of Gagne, who will pitch in the seventh or eighth innings. "He's pushing himself really, really hard."

Salomon Torres has the most career saves - 30 - of any other Brewers reliever. Most of them came in 2006 and '07, when he picked up 12 saves each season. The other top candidate would seem to be Guillermo Mota, who has seven career saves, closing games with the Florida Marlins among others.

In Sunday's win over St. Louis, left-handed specialist Brian Shouse got the save for Milwaukee, relieving Torres to record the final out in the ninth with the potential go-ahead run at the plate.

"My whole thing was that I didn't want to give up a home run," said Shouse, who has five career saves in 373 career appearances. "I'm not going to get most of those things, it's going to be Mota and (David) Riske and Torres," Shouse said.

The Cards try for the split tonight behind their ace, Adam Wainwright (3-1, 2.25 ERA). He has allowed one run in 13 1-3 innings over his last two starts, but has not received a decision in either outing. The right- ander had been in line for the win in each of those starts, but the bullpen squandered leads in both games.

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun is 7-for-13 with two doubles in this series, and is batting .467 (14-for-30) with two homers, four doubles and six RBIs in seven games against the Cardinals this season. He is only 3-for-13 (.231) against Wainwright.

Dave Bush (0-4, 6.98) starts tonight for the Brewers, who haven't won consecutive games since April 22 and 23. Bush is 1-4 with a 6.98 ERA in five career starts vs. the Cardinals. On April 15 in St. Louis, Bush gave up three runs and six hits in six innings in a 6-1 loss.

Betting trends: Cardinals are 5-1 in their last 6 games vs. a right-handed starter. ... Cardinals are 5-0 in Wainwright's last 5 starts vs. NL Central. ... Brewers are 4-1 in their last 5 games as a home underdog. ... Brewers are 9-1 in Bush's last 10 starts as a home underdog. ... Under is 9-2-2 in Cardinals' last 13 vs. NL Central. ... Under is 6-0-1 in Brewers' last 7 home games. ... Under is 4-1-1 in the last 6 meetings.