The New York Mets are coming off a hugely disappointing loss when they allowed the Padres to come back from a 7-1 deficit to eventually claim last night's series-finale 8-7. The Washington Nationals meanwhile recorded a second straight win when they defeated the Marlins 1-0 and are currently sitting top of the NL East, three games ahead of the Mets in second. I like the Nats chances of pulling away even further with a win tonight.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Mets hand the ball to Matt Harvey (9-7, 3.16 ERA) who's off a quality start when he held the Dodgers to two runs on six hits in seven innings of a 15-2 home-win his last start. He allowed five runs (four earned) in seven innings at Nationals Park his last start prior though and odds are he'll struggle again as he's been unable to record back-to-back wins since winning his first five starts this season. The Nats will counter with Gio Gonzalez (8-4, 3.83 ERA) who's 6-1 with a 1.66 ERA in nine career road-starts against the Mets. This will be his second visit to Citi Field for the year after tossing seven scoreless innings there back in May.

2. Previous Meetings at Citi Field - The Nats have three shutouts in the last five games at New York and they're 38-13 in the last 51 meetings in the Big Apple.

3. X-Factor - The Nats Michael Taylor has three homers during a six-game hitting streak and was a perfect 2-for-2 last night. He's 3-for-10 with a double off Harvey lifetime.

Selection: This is a play on the Washington Nationals (10*)