Mid-Summer Classic and Other Baseball Notes

It's the All-Star Break for Major League Baseball and there have been some big surprises indeed to this point in the 2011 season.
The All-Star Game between the National League and American League takes place tonight in Arizona, where the NL stars will be looking to make it two in a row after a lengthy losing streak to the American League in the game.
Roy Halladay, last year's National League Cy Young Award winner, will take the mound against Jared Weaver for the American League.
There should be excitement as the teams battle it out once again.
Sure, maybe the game doesn't have the same excitement it once had since inter league play came into existence in the majors in 1997.
However, the modern day stars of the game are just as idolized by today's kids and fans as they were many years ago when the All-Star Game was more revered.

As for the 2011 season at the midway point, the Pittsburgh Pirates have to be baseball's biggest surprise to date.
Languishing in last place for many years and with a losing record for 18 straight seasons, the Pirates find themselves at 47-43 this year and just one game behind St. Louis and Milwaukee in the National League Central division.
Pittsburgh has been nothing more than a glorified minor league baseball team in  recent years and lost more than 100 games in 2010.
But these Bucs have shown something special in 2011 and may not go away over the final 72 games of the regular season once the All-Star break is over.
They do not have  a single position starter on the NL squad this year, but then again neither do the Philadelphia Phillies, who at 57-34 own baseball's best record at the midway point.
Meanwhile, in the American League, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees (ho hum) are once again leading the way.
Along with Pittsburgh and mild surprise teams Washington and Arizona, the Cleveland Indians (47-42) are the AL version of the big surprise teams in the 2011 season.
The Indians were thought to be a last place team coming into 2011 and have been in first place or near the top spot from Opening Day to the present time. The Detroit Tigers have a half-game lead over the Tribe with disappointing Chicago White Sox  and Minnesota Twins still looming in the AL Central picture.
 What will happen in the second half of the 2011 baseball season remains to be seen, but so far it has been an exciting season with more to follow as we head into the dog days of August and then the stretch run in September.

Play Ball!