The 3-7 Mets travel to meet up with the Astros on Monday. Both teams are underachieving this year; the Mets more-so I suppose. They are 16 -23 on the road and very poor when facing an above.500 team. The Astros, also 3-7, were swept by the Reds, so should be primed for a better effort. Scherzer has struggled in his last three starts. He still gets his strikeouts but he has been hit at a .333 clip in June. He'll face another strikeout pitcher in the Astros' young right-hander Hunter Brown. Brown has at times been uneven, but is definitely trending in the right direction this season. He is giving much needed innings in his appearances. His last start was a seven inning shutout.

The offenses are average at the moment. Houston is certainly missing Alvarez. On "defense" it is no contest. The Astros are second in the league in runs allowed, and while their pen struggled on Sunday, that has hardly been the norm. The Mets still have a long list of injured pitchers. Time was, Scherzer was close to a sure thing, however I'm wagering on the rookie Brown and the home team Astros to win on Monday.