MLB Picks - New York Mets at Washington Nationals Monday, June 27th, 2016

The finale of a huge three game series is set to go down in the nation’s capital will play out Wednesday night when Steven Matz gets the rough assignment of leading the Mets into battle against Max Scherzer and the division rival Nationals.

 

Following the Mets took two straight from the defending World Series champion Royals just after getting embarrassingly swept at home by the Braves, it absolutely was thought Terry Collins's squad rediscovered its mojo. That idea was quickly kicked to the curb after NY only were able to split a four game series against that same Atlanta ball club within the weekend. You realize, the one with the worst offense in all baseball!

Washington returns home from its longest road trip of the season in terrible form. Dusty Baker's squad opened it down with a couple of wins within the Padres in Petco, however proceeded to drop seven straight and pulled out a 3-2 win in Milwaukee on Sunday to prevent getting the brooms busted out in it there as well.

Something is not right with Steven Matz and it's likely he should already be resting his arm on the DL right now. He's complained of elbow stiffness after each of his last three starts. He just got shelled by the Atlanta Braves last time out to whom he allowed nine hits and 6 ER against and didn't pitch through the fifth inning. He's only reached the sixth twice in his last five starts, and for someone that routinely reached the 7^th inning earlier in the season, it is a tell-tale sign that something's not right.
He's been pretty decent on the way in going 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA, but he's allowed 48 hits through 42.2 innings pitched and currently looks ripe for the taking.

With Stephen Strasburg on the shelf, it’s up to ad Max Scherzer to take the reins of this pitching staff and keep things under control. While he logged his third straight start with double-digit Ks last time out versus Milwaukee, he also gave up a long ball for the third straight start. Allowing home runs has been an issue this season with him conceding 20 of them through his 107.1 innings of work.
That said, he’s been pretty darn good at home where he’s allowed just 24 hits through his 35 innings of work and checks in 3-2 overall with a .195 batting average against.

I just don’t like what I’m seeing out of New York’s camp of late. While the Nats have their warts as well, I can’t help but think they’re going to be super motivated to add a little more separation between them and the Mets throughout this series. Scherzer is the staff ace right now and he has to act like it. Look for the good Mad Max to show up in this one and lead his club to the dub. MLB Picks Washington Nationals.