New York Yankees

We begin the season's second half tonight living in a post-Boss world, and I for one am a little uneasy about it.

We heard from Hal Steinbrenner's people on Thursday that the family doesn't plan on selling the Yankees. But since Hal kind of looks like a bad guy from an Eighties ski movie, I'm not quite buying it just yet.

A sample conversation:

Alex Rodriguez is currently three home runs from becoming the seventh member of the elite 600 Home Run Club.

Allow me to introduce you to two mystery pitchers, Player A and Player B.

In their last eight starts, dating back to the beginning of June, both pitchers have been very good. Player A has been all but impossible to beat, having completed almost every game he's started, and going fewer than eight innings only once, when he went seven. He almost never walks anyone, generally keeps the ball in the yard, strikes batters out...everything you could want in a pitcher.

The New York Yankees enter the second half of the 2010 MLB season with the best record in the league and to much to complain about other than the inconsistent bullpen.

More sad news arrives for the New York Yankees as fans will never be able to see Jon Weber don the Yankee pinstripes at Yankee Stadium. This comes after the sad news of the passing of George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard. 

Weber was at the center of the Yankee Spring Training story-lines as fans were hoping this man's journey have a happy ending. He was arrived to the Yankees camp at 5'10", 190 pounds, and with hopes as high as Mount Everest. He donned the No. 79 for the Yankees, but his odds of even making the team on Opening Day were higher than that. 

The Double G Sports Expert Panel and it's baseball writers have once again been polled to come up with our Major League Baseball Power Rankings for July.

This is our fourth installment of our power rankings this season, for last months rankings, click here .

As usual there was some movement up and down the rankings. The Yankees and Rays were fortunate enough to hold onto the top two spots.

To kick-off the second-half of the baseball season the New York Yankees will play host to the Tampa Bay Rays

It is the number one team vs. the number two team of not only the AL East, but all of the MLB.

Entering the All-Star break the Yankees lead the Rays by two games, but this series will be watched because it will set a tone for the two teams. It's a great reality check for the Rays to show their stuff, as this battle might go down to the wire.

Pitching will dictate the series, so let's break down the two AL East Rival weekend matchups:

George Steinbreners greatest impact was on the fans of the New York Yankees.

On the day that "The Boss" passed away after a massive heart attack I had the the opportunity to chat with numerous fans who came out to pay their respects at "the house that George built." After talking to fans of the Bronx Bombers it was evident that Steinbrenner would be in their hearts and minds forever.

Sports fans knew George Steinbrenner for 37 of his 80 years, ever since he bought the New York Yankees in the early 1970s. But the legacy Steinbrenner leaves behind will permeate throughout the offices of sports owners for years to come. George Steinbrenner set the standard for just about all of today’s franchise owners.

Embodied within one man were many different qualities; not all flattering. Charitably, he’s been described as complex. But he was always larger than life, and not to be forgotten.

When news broke out that Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner had passed Tuesday morning, I predictably got a few texts from friends asking if I was planning on writing about “The Boss.”

At first I hesitated; too much had happened before I was even born. I had never met him in person. What perspective could I possibly give, that a million other writers couldn’t?