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Giants, Mets begin set at Citi Field

May 3, 2011 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Mets were over 100 miles from their home field when news broke that the most wanted terrorist on the planet had been killed. They probably couldn't wait to get back to Queens and join in the celebration.

Looking to win a second straight game, the Mets welcome the Giants to Citi Field for the first of three meetings in a row.

New York was last in action on Sunday night in Philadelphia, where it blew a late 1-0 lead before claiming a victory in 14 innings on an RBI double by Ronny Paulino, who had five hits in his first start of the season.

Of course, the game had long taken a backseat at that point as word began to spread that Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 terrorist attacks, had been killed. Usual chants around the ballpark morphed into "USA! USA! USA!" even as the Mets pulled out a victory to snap a three-game slide and pick up their seventh victory in 10 games.

"This is a good win for us and obviously a huge win for America tonight," Mets manager Terry Collins told New York's website afterward."

The Giants have also been able to watch this historic event unfold from up close. They just concluded a four-game series at Washington, meaning they were in the area when President Barack Obama gave his speech announcing bin Laden's death on Sunday night.

San Francisco now heads to New York following Monday's 2-0 loss to the Nats in which they managed just three hits. Two of those were from Aaron Rowand as the Giants lost the series and for the eighth time in 11 games despite Madison Bumgarner giving up just two unearned runs over seven innings to take the loss.

"It's a shame we couldn't get him a win tonight," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He threw great. But there's not much you can do if you don't hit."

Now 3-4 on a 10-game road trip, the Giants will give Ryan Vogelsong his second straight start due to Barry Zito's sprained right foot. Vogelsong made his first start since Sept. 29, 2004 on Thursday in Pittsburgh and got a win, yielding two runs on four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.

It was the 34th career start for the 33-year-old righty and 123 career appearance.

"He did a great job, first start, happy for him, proud of him to get a win in his first start," Bochy said about Vogelsong. "He did a great job."

Vogelsong has faced the Mets three times, including once as a starter, and is 1-0 with a 1.00 earned run average having allowed one run over nine innings.

Knuckler R.A. Dickey counters for the Mets and he did not factor into the decision of his last outing in Washington on Wednesday. The right-hander gave up two runs on eight hits over 6 2/3 innings of his team's 6-3, but remained without a win since April 3.

Dickey, a 36-year-old righty, is 1-3 with a 3.82 ERA in six games (five starts) this season and has faced the Giants just once before. He took a loss on July 15 of last year to Giants ace Tim Lincecum even though Dickey was charged with just a run on five hits over seven innings of a 2-0 setback.

The Giants won four of seven over the Mets a season ago, but are just 3-7 in Flushing since the start of 2008.