The Padres and John Maine will be formally introduced Wednesday night, pleasantries exchanged at 60 feet, six inches. Maine has pitched 248 innings in his career, none against the team that represents San Diego. And only two Padres -- Adrian Gonzalez and Michael Barrett -- have faced Maine elsewhere.

The pitcher they engage has been quite effective on the road this season. Maine has a 7-1 record and 2.25 ERA in nine starts away from Shea Stadium. Moreover, he is a difficult pitcher to hit on first sighting. Maine's fastball is different from most, with later movement.

He will be a challenge for the Padres, a team that runs on pitching and is more productive against left-handers than right-handers. Not only that, but Maine is getting better -- other than Billy Wagner and, to a lesser degree, Jose Reyes, Maine is the only Mets player who has performed well with any degree of consistency this season.

Pitching matchup
NYM: RHP John Maine (10-5, 2.91 ERA)
Three of the four National League starting pitchers with ERAs lower than Maine's 2.91 are Padres.

SD: RHP Greg Maddux (7-7, 4.35 ERA)
Maddux has a 3-3 record in six starts against the Mets since the beginning of the 2004 season.

Player to watch
Shawn Green has a .424 batting average, three home runs and a .788 slugging percentage in 33 career at-bats against Maddux.

Tickets
 Buy tickets now to catch the game in person.

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• SNY

On radio
• WFAN 660, WADO 1280 (Español)

Up next
• Thursday: Mets (Tom Glavine, 8-6, 4.15) at Dodgers (Derek Lowe, 8-8, 3.05), 10:10 p.m. ET
• Friday: Mets (Oliver Perez, 8-6, 3.13) at Dodgers (Brett Tomko, 2-7, 5.88), 10:40 p.m. ET
• Saturday: Mets (Jorge Sosa, 7-4, 3.84) at Dodgers (Brad Penny, 11-1, 2.33), 3:55 p.m. ET