A cold stretch with only two victories on their past eight contests have seen the New York Mets drop 2.5 games behind the Nats for the NL East top spot. They did however defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 last night and I think we'll see an even bigger Mets win in Game 2 of this series Saturday afternoon.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Mets hand the ball to Jacob deGrom (3-1, 2.50). deGrominator is 3-0 with a minuscule 0.44 ERA in his last three starts against Milwaukee and he has won each of his starts home at Citi Field this season with just one one allowed in 12 innings of work. The Brew Crew counter with Zach Davies (1-3, 5.58 ERA) who is coming off his best start of the year when he held San Diego to a pair of runs in 6 1/3 innings home in Milwaukee. Davies has struggled on the road though with an 8.59 ERA and 13 hits and six walks issued in just 7 1/3 frames.

2. Home Cookin' - The Mets are 6-2 in deGroms last eight home starts and 8-2 in their last 10 home games when facing a right-handed starter. Milwaukee has lost 10 of its past 14 on the road.

3. X-Factor - Milwaukee's Ryan Braun has missed three straight games with lower-back stiffness, and may not be much of a threat if he was to return to the lineup today as he is 0-for-10 in previous match-ups against deGrom.

Selection: This is a play on the New York Mets -1.5 (10*)