The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken two of the first three of this four-game set home at PNC Park and are now sitting only 3.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the top spot in the major-leagues. That should be enough of a wake up call for the Cardinals and I like the visitors to head into the All Star break on the back of a win.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Pirates hand the ball to Francisco Liriano (5-6, 2.99 ERA) who's 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last three starts. The 31 year old southpaw has a rather high ERA of 3.98 over nine starts home at PNC Park this season though and he was lit up for six runs (five earned) on six hits in 6 1/3 innings of an 8-5 home-loss on May 8 in his ls start against the Cardinals. St. Louis will counter with Tim Cooney (0-0, 3.95 ERA) who'll make his fourth start in the major-leagues this afternoon. He held the Cubs to just one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings at Wrigley Field his very last start, and I think the Pirates will struggle with this unknown quantity.

2. Run Line Heros - The Cardinals have covered the run line in 28 of their 46 road-games on the year while the Pirates have covered in only 19 of their 47 home in Pittsburgh.

3. X-Factor - Johnny Peralta is 4-for-10 over the last two games and has had decent success against Liriano batting .327 over 49 at bats in his career.

Selection: This is a play on the St. Louis Cardinals (8*)