Washington (73-71) at NY Mets (71-72), 7:10 pm EDT

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Two slumping teams with fading wild card hopes begin a three-game series Tuesday when the New York Mets host the Washington Nationals .

After losing six consecutive games, the Mets posted a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday and are 5 1/2 games behind Florida in the National League wild card race.

New York is 8-5 against Washington this season and trails the Nationals by 1 1/2 games in the National League East.

Tom Glavine (10-12, 3.89 ERA) can tie his personal single-season high for victories as a Met. He gave up one run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings against Atlanta last Wednesday but did not get a decision.

Washington counters with John Patterson (8-5, 2.74), who faces the Mets for the fourth time this season. He was tagged for seven runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings of last Thursday's loss to Florida.

After scoring five runs in the eighth inning Sunday, the Nationals gave up three in the ninth in a 9-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves , falling to four games out in the wild card chase.

The Nationals have dropped five of their last six and are 22-39 since they were 19 games above .500 on July 5.