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The excitement of tonight's All-Star Game in Anaheim has been somewhat silenced with the passings of Yankees announcer Bob Sheppard and today's announcement of the death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

Even with the Mid-Summer Classic happening across the country, the baseball world sympathizes with the New York Yankees.

However, the city of Los Angeles, mainly the Angels organization, still has a heavy heart and a fresh wound from the loss of pitcher Nick Adenhart last season.

It's hard to sum up the history of arguably the most influential sports figure of the last 50 years, but we'll give it a try.

It's hard to believe that George Steinbrenner once thought he'd be a meek and hands-off owner.

Some would say he was a meddling micromanager that ultimately hurt himself more than he helped.

You can't argue with the results. Steinbrenner returned a once-great franchise to glory and became a billionaire in the process.

This years Midsummer Classic is filled with great talent from both leagues. However, one of the biggest differences that the two leagues have are the pitchers available to them.

The National League have the edge in the pitching department. They possess the best pitchers in the game at the moment, but will that win them the ball game?

I say yes it will. 

Both teams have great lineups and I really can't say that one teams offense is better than the others. 

In the same week, the New York Yankees have suffered two heart breaking losses. The first to pass away was long time public address announcer Bob Sheppard, at 99 years old.

Sheppard passed away on July 11th, and two days later long time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner followed him. Heading into the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star break, Yankee fans and the organization will have heavy hearts.

Remembering the life of George Steinbrenner is a monumental challenge. Steinbrenner lived a full life that was not just confined to being the owner of the Yankees.

The New York Yankees sent seven players to Angel Stadium for the All-Star game. This past week they've sent two legends to Angel heaven. Baseball lost a legend today and he's looking down on us now.

The problem is, most people looked down on him during his ownership career that began in 1973. What a career it was. As a young Yankees fan I sit here and try to write this but something doesn't feel right. As I watch current players Andy Pettite and Alex Rodriguez along with current coach Joe Girardi speak about Mr. Steinbrenner's passing one thing stands out to me.

The cries are audible. "In my day, the All-Star game meant something." Baseball purists hearken back to the days of yore when the All-Star game stood on its own merit. The players hustled, the nation stopped to watch.

For various reasons, that just wasn't the case anymore until the past few years. An embarrassing tie game in 2002 led to Bud Selig's decision to attach meaning to the "Midsummer Classic."

I never liked George Steinbrenner.  As a fan of a different team in the AL East, it was virtually impossible to like the man who helped keep every other team in that division out of the playoffs.

I also could never hate him.  If anything, I was jealous.  Who wouldn't want all those championships sitting in a case in their stadium?

No, there was only one true feeling I had for "The Boss":

Respect.

With all the talk seemingly centered around guys like Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt, another big name that will make its rounds around the rumor sheets is current Washington Nationals' first baseman Adam Dunn.

While Dunn has made it well known that he would rather not be traded and would like to sign a contract extension with the Nationals, the likelihood of that seems slim to none at this point.

ESPN's Buster Olney talked about Dunn losing interest in signing an extension over the last few days and cited the fact that the Nationals have no sense of urgency to get anything done.

Not only that, b