NL Beast

The Game: Pittsburgh Pirates (10-15, 6th place NL Central) vs. New York Mets (13-11, 2nd place NL East)

The Matchup: Johan Santana (3-2, 3.12) vs. Ian Snell (2-1, 4.45)

The Story: The Mets look to take their third in a row as their ace Johan Santana takes the mound. Santana goes for his third win in a row, and has collected a decision on each of his starts so far this year. In Pittsburgh, Santana faces a mediocre team that has gone 3-3 in its last 6 games. Notables on the Pirates include Nate McLouth, who has homered in back to back games, slugger Jason Bay, and former [and hopefully future] Met Xavier Nady, who has lit opponents up this year with 23 RBIs.

The big story for the Mets will be Carlos Delgado, who will probably be booed after “snubbing” Mets fans by not taking a curtain call Sunday after homering twice. Other than that, look for the Mets offense to return to form against a mediocre opponent.

Lineups:

Pirates: McLouth (CF), Gomez (SS), Sanchez (2B), Bay (LF), Nady (RF), LaRoche (1B), Bautista (3B), Paulino (C), Snell (P)

Mets: Reyes (SS), Castillo (2B), Wright (3B), Beltran (CF), Church (RF), Delgado (1B), Casanova (C), Chavez (LF), Santana (P)