Jimmy Rollins thrives against the New York Mets, especially at Citi Field.

The Mets are proving to be very gracious hosts for any visitor.

Rollins looks to continue his success in Flushing and help the Philadelphia Phillies gain ground in the NL wild-card race in the middle game of this series Wednesday night after Tuesday's matchup was postponed due to inclement weather.

Rollins has a .333 average in his last 38 meetings with the Mets (66-81), hitting .358 with 14 RBIs and 14 runs in 19 visits to Citi Field.

In seven games there this year, the shortstop is 11 for 29 with two homers, while driving in eight runs and scoring another eight times.

Advertisement

That impressive production continued in the opener of this series Monday, when Rollins connected for a solo homer and scored twice in a 3-1 victory.

"He has streaks where he gets real hot," manager Charlie Manuel told the Phillies' official website. "A few years ago, when he got in that 38-game hitting streak (2005-06), Jimmy keeps it. Jimmy is capable of holding it for a while, when he starts going good, like a month or two. His hitting gets consistent and he'll hold it for a while, and right now he's swinging real good."

Philadelphia (74-74) could surely use another strong effort from Rollins since it's in the mix for the second wild-card position.

Two more meetings against New York may be just what the Phillies need as Tuesday's game was rescheduled for Thursday night, originally an off day for both clubs.

The Mets have dropped nine of 10 overall and are 4-23 in their past 27 home games. They're averaging 2.15 runs while hitting .223 during that stretch as hosts.

Cole Hamels (15-6, 3.06 ERA) will be looking to capitalize on punchless New York as he tries to set a career high for victories by winning his fifth straight decision.

The left-hander is 4-0 with a 2.44 ERA over his last seven starts, and he's 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA in three outings against the Mets this season after losing 10 of his first 13 career decisions versus New York.

Another loss will clinch the Mets' fourth consecutive losing season, their longest such streak since a six-year run from 1991-96.

Matt Harvey (3-5, 2.92) will try to stave off that eventuality.

This will be the rookie right-hander's final appearance of the season as New York is keeping him on an innings limit. Harvey was scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but the Mets scratched him hours before the game was called because they didn't want his outing to be shortened due to the potential for poor weather.

"We made the switch because we were concerned if we played that if the rains came and (Harvey) only pitched two innings, I didn't want him to pitch two innings and then have to shut him down," manager Terry Collins told the Mets' official website.

Harvey could use some help from his teammates if his season is going to end with a victory. He can't be blamed for losing his last two outings since the offense has failed to generate a run of support, while he's yielded four runs and fanned 14 in 10 innings.

Harvey battled through 106 pitches in five innings last Wednesday but allowed one run and struck out 10 in a 2-0 defeat to Washington.

It seems Collins has seen enough for Harvey to start 2013 in the Mets' rotation.

"I don't think there's any more that I need to see," Collins said. "There's always room for improvement, as we know ... but he has shown us so much."

Harvey allowed two runs and struck out six over 6 1-3 innings of a 3-2 win at Philadelphia on Aug. 29.