Colorado @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 11, 2010 ) Colorado 6, NY Mets 2

The Colorado Rockies have waited a long time for something to go right for them in New York. With one swing of Melvin Mora's bat, it finally did.

Now the Rockies try to carry the momentum they gained from Mora's grand slam in the eighth inning of Wednesday's 6-2 victory into Thursday's series finale against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

The Mets have other ideas, as they go for their second series win since the All-Star break. New York has lost its last three series and eight of its last nine.

The Mets send out ace left-hander Johan Santana (9-6, 3.06 ERA) in hopes of changing that.

Santana is 4-1 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts since July 1, and he has allowed one run or fewer in six of those outings. Most recently, the two-time Cy Young Award winner shut out the Phillies for 7 1/3 innings in a 1-0 win Saturday in Philadelphia.

In his only start against the Rockies, Santana threw seven scoreless innings in a 7-0 victory July 30, 2009, at Citi Field, allowing four hits and striking out eight.

The Rockies look to 27-year-old right-hander Jason Hammel to pitch them to a series victory and help them keep pace in the NL West race.

Hammel (8-6, 4.38 ERA) snapped a string of three consecutive losses his last time out, holding Pittsburgh to three runs over six innings in a 6-3 win at PNC Park.

Hammel's only previous start against the Mets was one he would like to forget. He allowed five runs on seven hits and didn't get out of the second inning, taking the loss in the 7-0 game in which Santana and Co. shut down the Rockies on July 30 of last year.

That shutout was one of five the Mets have handed the Rockies in the teams' last eight meetings in New York. It seemed Colorado was on its way to being blanked again Wednesday when Jonathon Niese shut them out for six innings, but the Rockies erupted for five runs in the eighth inning – four of them on Mora's fourth career grand slam – to win for the fourth time in their last 26 road games against the Mets.

The Mets have their own offensive problems. They've managed only seven hits in the first two games of the series, and they're hitting .195 and averaging 2.4 runs over their past nine games.

Third baseman David Wright's struggles have been one of the biggest problems. Wright struck out four times Wednesday and is 2-for-33 with no extra-base hits in his past nine games.