It will be a battle of two bright young pitchers, as the New York Mets (59-63) take on the San Diego Padres (55-69) in the finale of a three-game set in San Diego tonight.

The Mets have lost 12-for their last-16, hope that rookie-sensation Dillon Gee (10-4, 4.07 ERA) can regain his winning ways. Since opening the season 7-0 with a 2.86 ERA, Gee has hit a rough patch going 3-4 with a 5.61 ERA in the past seven starts.

San Diego will send out Matt Latos (6-11, 3.80 ERA), looks to reap the rewards of the Padres improved offense in this three game series.

The Padres are in a 7-5 stretch, hitting .304 while scoring 6.8 runs per contest-which are both NL highs in that span. Thus far in the two games against the Metropolitans San Diego has recorded 25 hits, with 15 of them coming in Tuesday’s 6-1 victory.

As for Latos, he has had a rough patch, suffering losses in the first four starts during the month. The right-hander has improved since then going 6-7 with an ERA of 3.58.

Lucas Duda has been a bright-spot for the Mets offensively, as the resident first baseman is batting .282 with five homers and 29 RBIs on the season.

New York looks to rebound after a four hit night on Tuesday, as Ruben Tejada led the offense with 2-of the-4 Mets hits in the loss. Tejada plated the lone run with his RBI double (8) in the top of the fourth

Right-handed pitcher Mike Pelfrey pitched 0.1 innings in a spot-relief start, as a warm-up for his potential start on Friday. Pelfrey gave up two hits and one run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

First pitch of the Mets/Padres finale at PETCO Park in San Diego, Ca. tonight, is slated for 6:35 p.m.

Written on August 17, 2011