After a day off to travel back to the East Coast and New York City, the New York Mets and San Diego Padres will conclude an interesting season series in which began with a mini-war of words between tonight’s starter Chris Paddock and Mets rookie sensation Pete Alonso.

After Pete Alonso initially won the Rookie of the Month Award in April, Paddock had some words for the media in which made it sound like that he felt that he deserved the award. To put it short, he sounded jealous.

Now to be honest, I actually like Chris Paddock and his psychopath attitude, I mean, he reminds me of WWE’s The Undertaker mixed with Noah Syndergaard. While I’d obviously never root for him to win during a Mets series, he’s fun to watch and that adds excitement for the youth watching.

Paddock is 6-4 with an ERA of 2.70, a WHIP of 0.87, and has rung up 95 batters in an even 90 innings pitched. However, the 23-year old righty hasn’t been as effective in his last seven games as he owns a 3.72 ERA with 39 strikeouts over a 38.2 inning stretch.

The Mets will send their “Craftsman” lefty to the mound in Jason Vargas. This is going to be an interesting start for veteran because it very well may be his last in a New York Mets uniform. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, Vargas has emerged to be a candidate for trade and I’m quite positive Brodie Van Wagenen is fielding a few offers.

Vargas owns a 4-5 record with a 4.25 ERA, a 1.28 WHIP, alongside 68 strikeouts in 82.2 innings pitched. Unfortunately, he has a 5.06 ERA in his last seven games and 37.1 innings pitched.