FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Mets look to guarantee themselves no worse than a one-game playoff for the National League wild card when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the regular-season finale this afternoon at Shea Stadium.

	SEASON SERIES
	May 24 May 25 May 26 Jul. 26 Jul. 27 Jul. 28 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3	at Pittsburgh 7, NY Mets 4 NY Mets 8, at Pittsburgh 3 NY Mets 5, at Pittsburgh 2 at NY Mets 7, Pittsburgh 5 Pittsburgh 5, at NY Mets 1 at NY Mets 9, Pittsburgh 2 at NY Mets 3, Pittsburgh 2 at NY Mets 7, Pittsburgh 0 Pittsburgh at NY Mets, 1:40pm ET

Two games out with three games left to play entering this weekend series, the Mets have pulled even with the Cincinnati Reds for the NL wild card. If the teams remained deadlocked after today's action the club's would meet Monday at Cinergy Field. Cincinnati meets Milwaukee at 2:35 pm EDT today.

Rick Reed tossed a three-hitter and struck out a career-best 12 to give the Mets a 7-0 victory over the Pirates on Saturday.

New York can advance to the postseason with a victory and losses by Houston and Cincinnati. That scenario would create a three-way tie, with the Reds and Astros meeting in a one-game playoff for the NL Central title. The loser would finish behind the Mets since the game would be counted as a regular-season contest.

Mike Piazza hit his 40th homer on Saturday, leaving him one short of the club and NL record for catchers established by Todd Hundley in 1996.

The Mets are in search of their first postseason appearance since 1988 while the Pirates are hoping to play the role of spoiler by avoiding their third straight loss.

Rookie Kris Benson (11-14, 4.22 ERA) has won just once in his last nine starts for the Pirates, but pitched masterfully against the Mets here on July 27. Benson tossed a complete-game six-hitter to lead the Bucs to a 5-1 win.

The Mets will counter with 40-year-old Orel Hershiser (13-12, 4.66), who hopes to rebound from a dreadful outing. The righthander surrendered four runs and five hits while retiring just one batter in a 9-3 loss to Atlanta on Tuesday.

Mets manager Bobby Valentine likely will have lefthander Al Leiter and righthander Octavio Dotel ready if Hershiser falters early.

PITTSBURGH 10-game log	NY METS 10-game log
Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Sep. 29 Sep. 30 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 @ Milwaukee @ Milwaukee @ Milwaukee @ Milwaukee @ NY Mets @ NY Mets @ NY Mets null W 7-5 L 2-5 W 3-2 L 2-3 L 0-7	Sep. 26 Sep. 28 Sep. 29 Sep. 30 Oct. 1 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 @ Philadelphia Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh L 2-3 L 3-9 W 9-2 L 3-4 W 3-2 W 7-0

Pittsburgh regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF

17 15 29 30 5 6 28 24 37

Joe Oliver Keith Osik Kevin Young Warren Morris Ed Sprague Mike Benjamin Al Martin Brian S. Giles Brant Brown

6-3 6-0 6-3 5-11 6-2 6-0 6-2 5-10 6-3

220 198 224 185 205 169 214 200 205

R-R R-R R-R L-R R-R R-R L-L L-L L-L

131 167 580 508 490 368 538 521 339

27 31 172 147 131 91 149 164 79

8 3 41 20 27 26 35 33 20

0 1 6 3 2 7 8 3 3

1 2 26 15 22 1 24 39 16

13 13 105 73 81 37 63 115 58

.206 .186 .297 .289 .267 .247 .277 .315 .233

Complete Pittsburgh roster

New York regulars

POS

NO

PLAYER

HT

WT

B/T

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

AVG

C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF

31 5 13 4 10 24 18 50 19

Mike Piazza John Olerud Edgardo Alfonzo Robin Ventura Rey Ordonez Rickey Henderson Darryl Hamilton Benny Agbayani Roger Cedeno

6-3 6-5 5-11 6-1 5-9 5-10 6-1 6-0 6-1

215 220 187 198 159 190 192 225 205

R-R L-L R-R L-R R-R R-L L-R R-R B-R

528 572 620 581 514 429 497 276 446

162 170 187 175 133 135 156 79 141

25 38 40 38 23 30 18 18 23

0 0 1 0 2 0 4 3 4

40 19 26 32 1 11 9 14 4

124 96 105 119 60 41 44 42 36

.307 .297 .302 .301 .259 .315 .314 .286 .316

Complete New York roster

Regulars Statistics source: STATS, Inc.

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