NL West

1. Jose Reyes, SS
2. Luis Castillo, 2B
3. Angel Pagan, RF
4. David Wright, 3B
5. Carlos Beltran, CF
6. Ike Davis, 1B
7. Jason Bay, LF
8. Henry Blanco, C
9. Johan Santana, LHP

This is the Mets' best chance to turn this slump around. Johan Santana is 2-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his last four starts.

This is a good lineup no matter what anybody says, and they should be able to score enough runs to win every time Santana starts.

With baseball’s trade deadline just 10 days away, rumors are running rampant around the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mired in last place for much of the season, the Diamondbacks are seen as sellers hoping to add prospects and players that will return them back to contention in 2011.

Amid the center of the rumors is staff ace Dan Haren who took the mound for the D-Backs last night in their final game against the New York Mets.

The way the pitching rotation is playing out, Haren will have two more starts before the trade deadline.

The Los Angeles Dodgers head into next week's trade deadline looking to add a piece that will vault them back into serious contention in the National League West.

Entering Thursday's action, the Dodgers find themselves six games back of the first place San Diego Padres having lost seven of their last 10 games.

That is a bad recipe for a team that entered the season with loftier expectations. However, the Dodgers are also in a tricky situation.

A heated divorce between owner Frank McCourt and his wife has left the team very much cash strapped without the ability to add a big money player.

Rivalries have always played a huge role in sports, and we all know the fun in rooting against a team we hate.

In the past, rivals have been compared in a number of ways, from who has the best current team to who has won the most championships to who has the best fans.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are quickly letting the 2010 season slip away. They have few options for trade bait and haven't been seriously included in many trade talks.

Perhaps the biggest name on the roster, left fielder Manny Ramirez, is currently sitting out with his third stint on the disabled list this season, diminishing his trade value even more.

It is clear Ramirez is showing his age.

Ricky Nolasco is not an easy pitcher to beat.

San Francisco Giants fans who have spent Bruce Bochy's entire tenure as manager calling him names and blaming him for much of what troubles the club have to step back now.

The Giants rallied from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Dodgers, in Los Angeles, 7-5 on Tuesday night. Bochy deserves credit for putting a club that has done everything right since the All-Star break in position to come back, then win.

When we moved to Arizona in 1994, Phoenix was clearly a basketball town. The Phoenix Suns were continuously sold out and you heard stories of people spending hours on the phone the day single game tickets went on sale hoping to score tickets to a single game during the season.

Since his call up from AAA Sacramento in mid-May, A’s outfielder/DH Jack Cust has seemingly reinvented himself as a hitter.

For those of you who don’t follow the A’s closely, Cust was a 4-A thumper who Billy Beane obtained from the Padres back in 2007 for a box of Cracker Jacks.

Cust immediately became a minor star for the A’s, hitting 26 HRs in fewer than 400 ABs and posting a .912 OPS as a 28-year-old rookie.

However, since his huge 2007, Cust declined the next two seasons, with his OPS dropping to .851 in 2008 and .773 last season.

For a Padres team that has surprised many this year, some of the best news they've gotten all year came on Monday, in the form of a three-year extension for manager Buddy Black. This move shows the Padres that the front office believes that what they're doing this year is sustainable, and also shows the rest of baseball the Padres are unlikely to be dealing away any stars come July 31.

Many will tell you that Black's extension was well deserved. It's true, he has done an excellent job of handling a bullpen and starting rotation that have been the best in baseball.