- Oliver Perez makes his much-anticipated return to the rotation versus the Dodgers. Of course, most of the anticipation comes from National League hitters, rather than Mets fans. Perez had a 9.97 ERA in five starts before the Mets shelved him for nine weeks with a knee injury. The left-hander had a 3.12 ERA in four rehab starts, but his one particularly strong effort came in the short-season New York-Penn League. Overall, he allowed 17 hits and walked 11 in 17 1/3 innings. The Dodgers will throw Hiroki Kuroda.
- Both failed last time out, but Zack Greinke and Tim Wakefield will again have chances to become the AL’s first 11-game winners tonight. Wakefield has the advantage of facing an A’s team that’s 12th in the AL in runs, 13th in OBP and dead last in slugging. Greinke, though, has already manhandled his opponent, Detroit, twice this season, throwing a pair of compete games that resulted in identical 6-1 victories. He’s 10-4 with a 2.69 ERA lifetime against the Tigers.
Game of the Night
Texas vs. L.A. Angels - The Rangers and Angels entered the three-game series with identical records, and nothing has been decided through two games, as the Rangers were able to bounce back from a 9-4 defeat to win 8-5 on Tuesday. Tonight’s matchup is made more interesting in that both starters are dealing with questions about their arms at the moment. Vicente Padilla will work on eight days’ rest after complaining of shoulder soreness. He lost to the Angels after giving up five runs and two homers over five innings on June 29. Ervin Santana and his still iffy elbow ligament will face the Rangers for the first time this season. He lost Friday in his return from the DL, leaving him 1-4 with a 7.43 ERA in seven starts for the season. The Angels will probably be without the services of Vladimir Guerrero after he suffered a strained leg muscle last night.