The Cubs have beaten the Mets seven consecutive times, have the better offense and the superior pitcher going in a matchup of Jon Lester versus Bartolo Colon.



Chicago has a lot of young, promising hitters while the Mets rank in the bottom four in runs, batting average and OPS. New York has scored two or fewer runs in 10 of its last 12 games.



Lester is far better than his pitching numbers have shown so far this season. He's been hurt by the switch to the National League where he has to bat and deal with more running teams. The Mets, though, are not a running team lacking stolen base threats. The Mets are just average against lefties.



I see Lester holding the puny Mets offense in check while the Cubs do damage against 42-year-old Colon. By now we know Colon's pattern. Start out strong and then fade as his body and velocity wear down.



This is holding up again this season. Colon had a 3.31 ERA in April. But his ERA climbed to 6.00 in May and was 5.40 in June with batters hitting .303 against him for the month. Colon has surrendered 11 runs on 19 hits during his last 10 1/3 innings.