The Mets go for a sweep of the Brewers this afternoon as Oliver Perez faces Dave Bush. A sweep puts the Mets one game behind the Brewers, which of course is important should New York find itself in the wild card rather than division winner position. Perez brought his home runs allowed under control since the all-star break, allowing just four in 58 innings. That helped lower his ERA to 2.95 in the time period. It's not clear why Dave Bush's ERA dropped since the break. Yes, he's pitching a little better, but the biggest difference is stolen bases. Runners were 11 for 15 against him pre-break, 3 for 7 since.

Carl Pavano continues to work for a new contract as he faces Edwin Jackson and the Rays. Five of Carl's six strikeouts came with men on base, preventing any advancement. His control is good as he's only walked two in 11 innings. Edwin Jackson's ERA is down almost two runs from 2007. His hits per nine dropped from 10.9 to 8.9 despite a drop in his strikeout rate. With more balls in play, he's benefiting from the improved Rays defense.

The Astros go for their ninth win against the Cubs this season with Randy Wolf facing Ryan Dempster. The interesting thing is that the Astros haven't hit well against Chicago this season. They've posted a .236 BA and a .296 OBA. Their slugging percentage is high for their BA, at .379. The Cubs have outscored them 67-55! But Houston tossed two shutouts against Chicago and held them to 1 or 2 runs three other times. Dempster is a Houston victim, going 1-2 against the Astros despite a 2.84 ERA.

Enjoy!

Get all your MLB baseball odds at Bodog Sportsbook!