The set-up: It's a week until the non-waiver trade deadline (looming July 31) and Mets like Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson and Addison Reed have all been mentioned as possible trade bait. The Mets saw their four-game winning streak come to an end with Sunday's 3-2 loss to Oakland and New York has now fallen 10 games back in the NL wild-card race, not to mention 13 1/2 games back in the NL East, New York opens a 10-game road trip Monday against the rebuilding San Diego Padres, who took three of four from San Francisco over the weekend. The Padres are three games back of the Mets in the wild card race and at 43-55 overall, are a whopping 24 1/2 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West.

The pitching matchup: Jacob deGrom (11-3 & 3.37 ERA) will start for New York and Clayton Richard (5-10 & 5.35 ERA) for San Diego. DeGrom comes in having won a career-high seven consecutive starts, posting a 1.51 ERA with a 50-10 KW ratio over that stretch. DeGrom is 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA over 20 innings in three career starts against the Padres (Mets are 2-1). Richard will need a bounce back performance here, after surrendering a career-high 11 runs (10 earned) on 14 hits over just 3 2/3 innings in an 18-4 loss at Colorado last Wednesday. "I have to take responsibility," Richard told reporters. "Unfortunately, it just seemed like mishit balls found the right spots. It was a Coors Field day." Methinks Richard is passing the buck some to bad luck! Richard is 2-3 with a 4.17 ERA in seven career starts versus the Mets (teams are 3-4)..

The pick: DeGrom is pitching as well as anyone not named Kershaw and no reason to expect the San Diego bats to solve him in this one. As for Richard, I'll buy into the fact that the vet will rebound from that last start and let's not forget that more than a handful of Mets are playing this week expecting a call from the front office. Make the Under a 10* play.