The set-up: Colordo's road woes have hurt them (went 3-16 away from home from Jun 11 thru July 26) but they open August holding down the second wild card spot in the National League (just a half-game back of the D'backs for the No. 1 spot) and 5 1/2 games inside the NL palyoff 'cut line.' A few days after shoring up their bullpen with the acquisition of Pat Neshek, the Rockies obtained veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy on Sunday in a deal with Texas. Colorado opens the new month by hosting the New York Mets in a three-game series beginning on Tuesday. The 48-55 Mets are out of the NL East race and also find themselves 10 1/2 games behind Colorado in the wild-card race.

The pitching matchup: Steven Matz (2-4 & 5.51 ERA) starts for New York and Jeff Hoffman (6-3 & 5.58 ERA) for Colorado. Matz, whose season has been limited due to injury, was 2-1 with a 2.12 ERA through his first five starts but he's gone 0-3 with a 14.18 ERA over his last four outings with opponents batting .479 against him (Mets are 1-3). The second of those difficult starts came against Colorado on July 16, when he was shelled for seven runs on nine hits in an inning of work. Matz is 0-2 with an 11.57 ERA in two career starts against Colorado but will pitch at Coors Field for the first time. Hoffman's season has had a similar arc as Matz's, although with more work. He owned 2.25 ERA through mid-June but has given up 35 ERs in 37 1/3 innings (8.44 ERA) over a span of seven starts since (he's and teh team). Among his better outings in the stretch was a win opposite Matz at Citi Field on July 16, as he surrendered four runs in six innings, his lone career outing vs. the Mets.

The pick: It's two struggling pitchers in this one but considering the Rockies have reached Matz for 19 hits in just seven career innings (11.57 ERA) at Citi Field, why would anyone think he'd have any more luck at Coors Field, where the Rockies have averaged 6.32 RPG in 2017? Make Colorado an 8* play.