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Peavy, Padres look to bounce back vs. Mets

Apr 16, 2009 - 5:33 AM By Brett Huston Stats Writer

San Diego (6-3) at NY Mets (4-4), 7:10 p.m. EDT

FLUSHING, New York (AP) -- The New York Mets earned their first win at their new home in their latest game. Leaving with their initial series victory at Citi Field could be considerably more difficult.

Ace Jake Peavy will take the hill for the San Diego Padres on Thursday in Queens, looking to help his team bounce back from its first loss in a week in the finale of a three-game set with the Mets.

New York (4-4) debuted its sparkling ballpark on Monday night, but five combined hits from Jody Gerut and David Eckstein spoiled the Mets' home opener in a 6-5 Padres' win, their fifth in a row.

When the series resumed Wednesday, New York made sure it wouldn't fall to 0-2 at the $850 million facility. The Mets broke open a one-run game by scoring four times in the seventh, then Carlos Delgado homered in the eighth to help seal a 7-2 win.

"We kind of learned the hard way the last couple years that a win in April is just as important as a win in late September," third baseman David Wright told the team's official Web site. "We've narrowly missed the playoffs the last two years and we need to keep the focus now and really concentrate on winning these games."

Delgado and Wright will have a more taxing challenge in Thursday's series finale with the Padres (6-3), facing Peavy (1-1, 3.52 ERA), the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner.

Peavy said he'll "just have to be better" after giving up four runs - three earned - over seven innings in a 4-1 home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on opening day, and in his last start he was. The two-time All-Star finished two outs shy of a complete game in a 6-3 victory over San Francisco on Saturday, yielding three runs and striking out 10 without a walk.

"He was outstanding," said catcher Henry Blanco, whose only three hits of the season - including two homers - came in that win. "His breaking stuff was working pretty good, he was aggressive. He kept pounding the strike zone all night."

Peavy is 4-2 with a 3.32 ERA in nine career starts against the Mets, whom he hasn't faced since striking out 11 over six innings in a 7-5 win at Shea Stadium on Aug. 22, 2007.

Delgado and Wright were a combined 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in that game, and are 4-for-24 (.167) with nine strikeouts in their careers against Peavy.

John Maine (0-0, 3.60) will start for New York after a solid if shortened season debut Friday at Florida. Maine allowed solo homers to two of the first five batters he faced, but didn't yield another hit in five innings, though the Mets ended up losing 5-4.

Maine is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two career starts against the Padres.

One hitter he'll have a tough time getting out Thursday is first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who's homered in both games he's played at Citi Field. Gonzalez is batting .300 (9-for-30) during an eight-game hitting streak, and he has at least one RBI in his past six contests.

Gonzalez is 2-for-8 with a homer in his career against Maine.

The No. 1 overall pick of the 2000 MLB draft, Gonzalez has hit .307 since 2007 in day games as opposed to .271 at night.