Preview/Prediction

Oliver Perez pitched in front of Jerry Manuel and Dan Warthen, and Manuel said "He's healthy and ready to go."

Perez may be activated as soon as after tonight's game. Josh Thole is in tonight's lineup, but may be sent down after the game in Perez's place.

Perez has been on rehab, and if the Mets do reactivate him, it's not a given he'll start on Thursday. He may be used as a lefty specialist and long reliever to eat up innings.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel did say he'll advocate keeping Thole in the majors.

It has been reported, via Foxsports.com, that talks between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies regarding catcher Chris Iannetta have re-opened. 

Boston's front office has been interested in Chris Iannetta for a while. He's a relatively young catcher who is about to enter his prime. 

Iannetta has been bouncing back and forth from Triple A and Colorado this season and he's batting a .220 with seven homers and 14 RBI. 

According to the Miami Herald's Clark Spencer, the Boston Red Sox are interested in acquiring righty reliever Leo Nunez and outfielder Cody Ross. 

Boston's major issue is health. They have suffered an tremendous amount of injuries this year, but they are still alive in the strong American League East. But, the one part of the team that has struggled and has been relatively healthy is the bullpen.

The trade deadline is a little over a week and a half away and, surprisingly, there hasn't been a whole lot of action over the past month.

The only big move that has taken place was the Texas Rangers landing left-hander Cliff Lee. Next to that, it seems teams are holding their cards close to their vests and not letting anyone else know what they're about to do.

The other problem may be the expensive price tag on a lot of players that could be had on the trade market.

The Cubs came out of the All-Star Break playing pretty good baseball.  They started the second half by taking 3 of 4 against the Phillies, capped by a pounding of Cy-Young candidate Roy Halladay.  And if it weren’t for a Marmol implosion on Saturday, the Cubs would have swept the four game set with the Phillies.  The good news is that the Cubs are now 3-1 in the 2^nd half.  The bad news i

MLB's second-half of the season is officially in full swing

Thus far, in 2010 is proving to be one for the books. With so many tight division races, fans will have plenty of excitement to keep them occupied.

Fantasy Baseball’s Pitching Line of the Week:

Paul Maholm (SP-PIT) 

PHOENIX—After a disappointing start to the road trip for the Mets, losing three of four in San Francisco, the Mets will try to fatten up on one of the league's worst.

The Arizona Diamondbacks find themselves in last place in an extremely competitive NL West, with the second-worst record in the National League, 34-58. If there's anything the Diamondbacks can lean towards to feel positive, it's their home record. Although not great (21-25), it's still a complete 180 of what their road record is (13-33).

After beginning the second half with a three-game sweep against the Kansas City Royals, the Oakland Athletics are ready to make a run at their first American League West title since 2006.

The A’s are currently 46-46 and seven games back of the division-leading Rangers. This may seem like a lot of ground to make up, but Oakland has their schedule and their pitching on their side.

SAN FRANCISCO: Since the All-Star break, or maybe even before that, the Mets have suffered from a team-wide slump.

Every team goes through them. Just ask the Phillies, who went through something similar from late May through early June.

The Mets even swept the Phillies at Citi Field in May, shutting them out in all three games.

The Mets came within three innings of being shut out three straight games to the same opponent for the first time in their history.