That was an embarrassment. There are no other words for it. Losing three of four at home to the Washington Nationals, reduced the Mets’ (20-19) record over the last homestand to 3-4. Against a pair of lowly teams. Now the Mets “hit the road” to take on the Yankees (20-22) in the Bronx. The Yankees have been about as disappointing as the Mets have, as neither their starting pitching nor their high-powered offense have met lofty expectations.

Both teams are throwing their three best pitchers: Johan Santana (4-2, 3.10), Oliver Perez (3-3, 4.61), and John Maine (5-2, 2.81) for the Mets, and Darrell Rasner (2-0, 3.00), Andy Pettitte (3-4, 4.40), and Chien-Ming Wang (6-1, 2.90) for the Yankees.

Game 1: Darrell Rasner, RHP

What’s the Story? Rasner was expected to serve the Yankees either as a long man in the pen or as an emergency starter down in Triple-A in 2007. That plan was disrupted in May when a broken index finger—sustained in last season’s Subway Series—landed him on the disabled list. The surgery that followed kept him there. This season, it was hoped the Yankees would have no need of Rasner at all. He was absolutely dominating the International League, when the Yankees called him up to replace the injured Philip Hughes. Since then, he’s been very effective. Rasner throws a high-80s sinker, a cutter, a decent 12-to-6 curveball that sits in the low 70s, and a mediocre change.

Last Year: Rasner made a start against the Mets last season, but the aforementioned injury cut it short after just two batters. Both batters reached base via hits.

What to Expect: Rasner added the cutter this season, and it seems to be a big reason for his success thus far. In the past, Rasner only had one good offering: the sinker. Because of this, hitters were laying off the sinker and sitting on the curveball, which isn’t a good enough pitch to consistently generate swings-and-misses when the hitter knows it’s coming. The addition of a cutter has prevented hitters from doing the same this year. It’s been especially helpful in helping him control left-handed batters.

Game 2: Andy Pettitte, LHP

What’s the Story? Pettitte had a pretty successful return to New York in 2007, going 15-9 with an ERA 10% better than the league average. He was especially effective after the All-Star Break, going 11-3. This season, he’s been a little inconsistent, as he’s posted game scores of 36, 59, 49, 74, 33, 40, 60, and 29 over his first eight starts of the season. He’s had some uncharacteristic difficulties with the longball, which is probably just poor luck; his groundball rate is at a career high. Pettitte’s got a high-80s four-seamer, an excellent cutter, a very good change-up, and a good curveball. He doesn’t have great velocity these days, but he does have four quality offerings to keep batters guessing.

Last Year: Pettitte made one start against the Mets last year and pitched very well. He went seven strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He walked only one and struck out four, but he did give up a two-run homer to Endy Chavez.

What to Expect: Pettitte doesn’t like to give hitters anything he doesn’t have to. He has good control and doesn’t like to put runners on base if he can help it. Instead, he works laterally and vertically, while trying to make hitters chase cutters and curveballs out of the zone to generate weak contact. He won’t strike out very many hitters, however; he’s averaged less than six strikeouts per nine innings since returning to the Yankees last season. As always, baserunners should be careful with Pettitte on the mound.

Game 3: Chien-Ming Wang, RHP

What’s the Story? In 2007, Wang entrenched himself as the ace of the Yankees’ staff by posting his second-straight 19-win season. In truth, he isn’t quite a dominating pitcher—his ERA was only 3.70, and he doesn’t strike batters out at all, garnering just 104 in 199 innings. However, he doesn’t walk very many either, and his low-90s sinker gets a lot of groundballs, which help him keep the ball in the park. He also throws a good mid-80s slider, and a decent forkball he uses as a change-up.

Last Year: Wang pitched a gem against the Mets last year, falling just one out shy of a complete game. He allowed just two runs on six hits and one walk. Most surprisingly, he struck out a career-high ten batters.

What to Expect: Expect Wang to throw a ton of sinkers—almost 80% of the time, in fact. When he gets ahead of hitters, he’ll unleash the slider against righties, the change-up against southpaws. There won’t be many surprises out of Wang, who’s pretty predictable. He’s got the game plan of your standard sinkerballer. He’ll live low in the zone and try to get as many groundouts as possible.

Overall: I’m not very optimistic about the Mets’ chances. After failing to beat the Nationals, the team seems to be in a funk. The offense looks absolutely flat, managing to score only three runs in two days against the likes of Tim Redding and Jason Bergmann. Considering the Yankees are throwing their best trio of pitchers, I’m picking the Mets to take only the first game—and that might be assuming too much. Santana is coming off a sub-par outing, and Rasner has looked great so far. I do have the sinking feeling in my stomach that Perez and Maine, no matter how well they pitch, won’t be enough to overcome the Mets’ total lack of offense.