MLB

When Yankees fans woke up today and looked through the sports page of their local newspaper, they will see a friendly and familiar site. The New York Yankees are back in first place, albeit a tie with the Tampa Bay Rays .

While the Rays have gone just 5-5 in their last ten games, the Yankees won seven of their past ten to pull even with the Rays at 40-23 overall this season.

For all the heat Omar Minaya got over the off-season, it is about time we give him some credit.

While it was definitely warranted to question him in the past, Minaya has overseen a farm system that has provided some quality players for the big league team this season. I am talking about first baseman Ike Davis and starting pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Jonathon Niese.

Ike Davis has solidified first base for the Mets, a position that has not seen a full season of production since 2006.

Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu made a very odd decision at the end of the Mariners’ game on Sunday against the San Diego Padres. With two outs in the ninth, and with the Mariners leading 4-2, Wakamatsu removed starting pitcher Felix Hernandez to bring in David Aardsma to record a one-out save.

Despite the move working out, I didn’t understand the move then, and I don’t understand it now.

Last Week: 4-2
This Week: WAS (6/15-17); ARI (6/18-20)

So what happened?

You gotta love those Pittsburgh Pirates—Helping Teams Get Well Since 1993.

The Tigers were wheezing and gasping, having lost 12 of 18 after dropping two of three to the White Sox in Chicago.

Enter the Pirates...

The Pirates, who haven’t had a winning season since the ORIGINAL George Bush administration, came to town and all was good again in Bengal Land.

Going into the 2010 season, the White Sox starting staff of Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and Freddy Garcia was thought to be a top three pitching staff in all of baseball.

So far, however, the starting staff has simply been awful, sporting ERAs of 3.27, 4.82, 4.93, 5.62, and 5.64 in 377.1 innings pitched, while the offense has taken most of the blame for the 28-34 record.

Over the last five games, of which the White Sox won four, we may have seen a sudden awakening to the starting five.

Mike Puma of the NY Post is reporting that “a player friendly with Roy Oswalt ” said the Astros 32-year-old pitcher would approve a deal to the Mets.

The Yankees are back in first place after beating the Astros 9-5 yesterday behind a strong performance by Phil Hughes and another Jorge Posada grand slam.

Here are some notes:

Gregerson is having an All World year for the Padres.

I was watching the New York Mets-San Diego Padres series last week, and in two games of that series, Padres’ manager Bud Black summoned Luke Gregerson out of the bullpen. In those two appearances, Gregerson faced six Met batters and struck them all out.

He went through them like a hot knife through butter.

I thought to myself, "Wow, Gregerson is having himself a pretty good year."

Are you a Phillies or Dodgers fan who wants to ensure that your team will have the home field advantage if they make the World Series? Do you want to see the National League get revenge at the Midsummer Classic after going home empty-handed 13 years in a row? Are you a sadistic sociopath who likes messing with people for the pure schadenfreude?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you might want to reconsider how you fill out your All-Star ballot.

If you truly want to see the best players in baseball duke it out on July 13, then by all means vote for the superstars.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a great farm team, with the likes of Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Brad Lincoln, and Pedro Alvarez. As recently as early last year, that even included Andrew McCutchen. Not to mention, Garret Jones.

Now, with the exception of Alvarez, they've been called-up to fill some fairly big holes. Alvarez's arrival is anticipated as soon as he's ready

McCutchen replaced Nate McLouth, who was traded for pitching talent, and Jones was supposedly the "new Nady."