Winners of six straight games, the Mets appear to be sailing along smoothly.  Another way to put it is that the Mets have righted their ship. 

However, one could argue that a few international little league teams could beat both the slumping Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thus I like the Pirates +1.5 (-135) to temporarily sink the Mets ship and seize the booty!

Today's Mets starter is righty John Maine, 1.10 WHIP and 2.20 ERA over the last three games, who in his first start after a two week rotator cuff rehab, helped stomp the Nationals 12-0.  Maine has not faced the Pirates this year, but last year he went 2-0 against them, with an ERA of 3.75.  *It is worth noting that in both starts against the Pirates last season the opposing pitchers were the horrible Matt Morris and Ian Snell.  Today the Mets face lefty Paul Maholm, arguably the Pirates best starter: 1.19 WHIP and 3.00 ERA over the last three games.  Maholm had success against the Mets last year, 3-0 and a 2.37 ERA.

If the pitchers perform as expected, the game comes down to the offense.  Because the Mets are batting .323 against left handed pitching over the last 10 games and the Pirates only .227 facing right handed pitching over the same time span, the Mets clearly have the offensive advantage.  However, Mets skipper Jerry Manuel plans to rest Jose Reyes, who has a career batting average of .385 against Paul Maholm.  Only Ramon Castro and Damion Easley are batting above .500 when facing Maholm.  Pirate hitters with success against John Maine are Adam LaRoche (.400), Nate McLouth (.333), Jack Wilson (.300) and Freddy Sanchez (.273).  Also, even though the Pirate offense has been nauseating as the music of Clay Aiken, if John Maine only pitches five innings, as he did in his last start, the Met bullpen (5.51 ERA over the last three games) enters the picture.

Finally, while I tend to treat trends like superstitions, here are a few that stand out: Pirates are 4-1 in their last 5 Monday games.  Pirates are 12-3 in Maholm's last 15 home starts.  Pirates are 8-0 in Maholm's last 8 home starts vs. a team with a winning record.

I also recommend the under (8 runs).

Saturday: 2-1
Overall: 12-4

May the gambling muse be with you!