NY Mets (75-61) at Washington (71-65)
When: Monday, September 7th, 2015
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
Time: 1:05 ET
TV: DirecTV 639, 641 Radio: XM 89
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Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals are suddenly hot again and the Mets better watch out. The Nats swept the Braves in 4-games yesterday and have now won 5 in a row and are only 4 games behind the Mets. This afternoon will begin an important 3-game series. Max Scherzer takes the mound for Washington coming off a 10 strikeout performance in St. Louis last week that started this current winning streak. He’s second to only Clayton Kershaw in strikeouts on the season with 219 and has only allowed 26 walks in 27 starts. He has been pushed around a little lately. Over his last 6 starts he has an ERA of 5.82 and that Nats are 1-5 in those games. He’ll need to be much better today and I think he will.
The Mets aren’t really in a tail-spin. This is more the Nationals getting hot than the Mets slumping. New York is really hitting the ball well and they might be getting Scherzer at the right time. They did drop 2 of 3 in Miami over the weekend, but scored 15 runs. Yoenis Cespedes has been tearing it up lately with 4 home runs in his last 5 games. He now has 30 on the year to go along with his 91 RBI and 90 runs scored. He also has 10 hits in those 5 games, so it’s not just the long ball. He’s hitting .301 since coming to New York with a .636 slugging percentage. The Mets will go with their struggling left-hander Jon Niese today. He has been awful lately. He has a 9.92 ERA in his last 3 starts and two of those were against the Phillies. He did pitch well in his only meeting with Washington this year, but that was way back in May.
The Nationals are starting to get hot at the right time and they’re facing a pitcher who is really struggling. I think Scherzer rebounds from his recent poor outings and shuts down the Mets today.
Pick: Nationals -1.5 +125
