(Sports Network) - The final edition of the Subway Series at the current Yankee Stadium gets underway this afternoon, when the Yankees and Mets vie for bragging rights in the Big Apple with the opener of a now rain-shortened two- game interleague set in the Bronx.

This set was supposed to kick off on Friday, but was postponed due to rain.

Adding even more intrigue to this series will be tonight's starter for the Mets, Johan Santana, whom the Yankees came very close to trading for this past winter before their crosstown rivals snagged him.

Yankee management, namely general manager Brian Cashman, opted to stay the course with its young pitchers rather than trade them for a known commodity in the two-time Cy Young Award winning Santana, who also signed a six-year, $137.5 million extension upon his deal to the Mets.

While the young pitchers Cashman had counted on have struggled, Santana has started to hit his stride with the Mets, winning his last three decisions. The left-hander improved to 4-2 on the season on Saturday, as he held the Cincinnati Reds to three runs and 10 hits in six innings to get the win.

Santana, who has pitched to a 3.10 earned run average this season, has flourished in interleague play, going 16-4 with a 2.27 ERA in 35 games (24 starts). That ERA is the lowest among pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings in interleague play.

The 29-year-old hurler has also had success against the Yanks in his career, posting a perfect 3-0 mark to go along with a 2.66 ERA in eight games, five of which have been starts. He's also 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in four regular season appearances at Yankee Stadium.

Willie Randolph's crew comes into today's series opener reeling after having dropped three of four to the lowly Washington Nationals, losing Thursday's finale, 1-0, at Shea Stadium.

The Mets wasted a brilliant outing from Mike Pelfrey (2-4), who carried a no- hitter into the seventh inning and was charged with three hits and the run over 7 2/3 innings. He also walked three and struck out four.

Luis Castillo had two of the five hits for the Mets, who had the tying run on third in the ninth, but Carlos Beltran was doubled up on a line drive off the bat of Carlos Delgado to end the game.

The Yankees also have their share of problems, as they dropped three of four to the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays, falling 5-2 in Thursday's capper at Tropicana Field.

Ian Kennedy (0-3), one of the young pitchers being counted on by Cashman and the organization, absorbed the loss after he was touched for five runs on five hits in five innings of work. Kennedy saw his earned run average jump to 8.48 in his first start back from a Triple-A assignment.

Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with an RBI and recorded the 2,400th hit of his career for the Yankees, who failed to score more than two runs in any of the contests in the four-game set and have managed just six runs in their last 42 innings.

Getting the call for the Yanks today will be veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte, who is winless in his last four starts. Pettitte had his worst outing of the season in his last trip to the hill on Monday against Tampa Bay, as he gave up five runs and eight hits in four innings to drop him to 3-4 on the season, while raising his ERA to 4.40.

Pettitte has faced the Mets 16 times and is 7-3 against them with a 3.42 ERA.

These teams have split their six-game season series in each of the last three seasons. The Yankees, though, have baseball's best all-time interleague record at 113-79.