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(Sports Network) - New York's prize of the free agent market Johan Santana seems to have found his groove in the Big Apple, and will try to lead the Mets once again tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Shea Stadium.

Monday's opener of a three-game series was postponed due to rain, and will be rescheduled for August 11 at 1:10 p.m. On Wednesday, Oliver Perez of the Mets is scheduled to pitch against Pittsburgh's Tom Gorzelanny.

Santana has won back-to-back starts since a personal two-game slide, and is 3-2 with a 3.12 earned run average in five starts this season. Santana has adjusted nicely to the National League, and hurled seven strong innings of two-run ball on Wednesday at Washington.

In his first and only start at Shea Stadium on April 12 versus Milwaukee, Santana was booed off the mound after he gave up five runs -- four earned -- and six hits, three of which were homers, in a 5-3 loss. The lefty, who has lasted at least 6 2/3 innings in each of his outings in 2008, is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two career games (one start) against Pittsburgh.

New York has won two straight and took two of three games from the Atlanta Braves to open a six-game homestand. In Sunday's 6-3 victory in the finale of the set, Carlos Delgado hit two solo home runs to silence early boos and Raul Casanova belted a two-run shot to power the Mets.

Casanova finished 3-for-4 at the plate, while Luis Castillo added three hits and a run scored in the win. Starter Nelson Figueroa surrendered three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, with three strikeouts and three walks. Closer Billy Wagner then recorded his sixth save with a scoreless ninth inning.

Pittsburgh completed a seven-game homestand with a 3-4 mark, and ended a three-game losing streak with Sunday's 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the final contest of a three-game set at PNC Park. The Bucos got a huge lift from starting pitcher Paul Maholm, who hurled a two-hit complete game and threw just 99 pitches over nine innings of work. The left-hander walked four and struck out just two in the third complete game of his career.

Nate McLouth clubbed a pair of homers and finished with three runs batted in, blasting a leadoff homer in the first and a two-run shot in the fifth. Jose Bautista went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche and Luis Rivas had two hits apiece for the Pirates, who will open a seven-game swing at New York and Washington on Monday.

The Pirates will send Ian Snell to the mound this evening, and he is 2-1 with a 4.45 ERA in five starts this season.

Snell is 0-1 in his last two starts since a personal two-game winning streak, and did not factor in the outcome of his previous outing on April 23 versus St. Louis. The righty was reached for four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Snell, who has pitched no less than six innings a game this season, owns an 0-1 mark with a 6.11 earned run average through four career appearances (three starts) against the Mets.

In team news for the Bucos, veteran right-hander Matt Morris was released after posting an 0-4 record with a 9.67 ERA in five starts this season.

New York went 4-2 against Pittsburgh last season, including a 2-1 mark at Shea Stadium. The Mets are 9-6 over the previous 15 matchups in this series.