The New York Yankees are in serious trouble. They just let Boston come to the Bronx and take the first two games of their crucial American League East series. That left the Yankees at 70-62 (-12.43 units), seven games behind the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card race with only 30 games left to play.

After the Sox finish their visit, the Toronto Blue Jays (68-64, -2.17 units) will pay their final respects to Yankee Stadium. Toronto won two out of three against the Yankees last week at the Rogers Centre; A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay were the winning pitchers for the Jays, and they’ll both get a chance to double dip in New York.

Burnett pitches the series opener Friday against Carl Pavano. He won his first start for the Yankees since April 2007, holding Baltimore to three runs in five innings of work on Saturday for the 5-3 victory. Pavano threw 91 pitches.

Marking the half-way mark of the baseball season, this year’s Monster MLB All-Star Game is being played on July 15 at Yankee Stadium in New York. Although it has little to do with the latest MLB power rankings, it is worth mentioning for a couple of reasons: the No. 1 team in the nation only has two players headed to the All-Star Game (the Tampa Bay Rays have won 11 of 13 games and picked up series sweeps over the Anaheim Angels, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox (twice), Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals this season); and it’s also a good reminder of who’s leading the pack heading down the stretch.

Here are your MLB Power Rankings:

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Anaheim Angels
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Chicago White Sox
6. St. Louis Cardinals
7. Philadelphia Phillies
8. Minnesota Twins
9. Milwaukee Brewers
10. Oakland Athletics
11. New York Yankees
12. Florida Marlins
13. Texas Rangers
14. Baltimore Orioles
15. Detroit Tigers
16. Arizona Diamondbacks
17. Los Angeles Dodgers
18. New York Mets
19. Toronto Blue Jays
20. Cincinnati Reds
21. Atlanta Braves
22. Houston Astros
23. Pittsburgh Pirates
24. San Francisco Giants
25. Kansas City Royals
26. Colorado Rockies
27. Cleveland Indians
28. Seattle Mariners
29. San Diego Padres
30. Washington Nationals

Curses just ain’t what they used to be. The Boston Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series, and the Chicago White Sox broke an 88-year streak of futility by going all the way in 2005.

That leaves Chicago’s neighbors to the north. The Cubs are trying to win their first championship since 100 years ago, when Tinker to Evers to Chance and Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown led the Cubbies to glory. The 2008 model is the best team in baseball heading toward the midway mark with a record of 48-29 at press time.

The Red Sox aren’t too shabby themselves at 48-32, which opens up the possibility of a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. The last one was 1918, which Boston won 4-2 in unusual circumstances. The betting market favors the Red Sox in the potential rematch; Boston is the 7-2 favorite to win this year’s Fall Classic, with the Cubs a close second at 4-1.

The folks at Major League Baseball keep coming up with new ways to separate your money from your wallet. But at least they don’t shoehorn fans into cookie-cutter stadiums anymore. These are my personal Top 10 favorite ballparks in the majors.

Fenway Park: Opened in 1912, wisely renovated instead of demolished.
Progressive Field:The former Jacobs Field is the best of the new parks.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards: Started the “retro” movement in 1992.
Safeco Field: Try the Ichiroll. It’s tasty, and it’ll distract you from how bad the M’s are.
AT&T Park: McCovey Cove and a giant glove. But where’s Rusty?
Miller Park: Hard to give Bud Selig credit for anything, but here you go.
PNC Park: The Pirates will eventually be worthy of their ballpark.
Wrigley Field: But not in April.
Yankee Stadium: One more year before the Yankees move.
Rogers Centre: Sometimes the best show isn’t on the diamond.

A few weeks ago Cleveland’s Rock-And-Roll hall of Fame and Museum opened up its new exhibit: Take Me Out: Baseball Rocks. The exhibit was in honor and in celebration of baseball and music. If you don’t live in or around Cleveland here are a few of the tunes you are missing out on.

1. Catfish – Bob Dylan
2. Centerfield – John Fogerty
3. Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio – Les Brown Orchestra
4. Right Field – Peter, Paul and Mary
5. Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen
6. Take me out the Ball Game – The Hold Steady
7. The Baseball Game – Sister Wynonna Carr

I had a dream last night that I was playing shortstop for the New York Yankees. We were in Boston playing the Red Sox and it was the bottom of the 9th, bases were loaded, A-Rod was up to bat. And then I woke up.

But that got me thinking…how much do these guys get paid anyway? And why was I playing for the Yankees and not the Red Sox? (I hate the Yankees!) Anyway, here are some numbers for you to chew on…

The total team salary for the New York Yankees is $195,229,045
The total team salary for the Boston Red Sox is $143,123,714
Alex Rodriguez makes $27,708,525
The average salary for a public school teacher is around $50,000

You’d think that if one player makes more in one inning of baseball than a teacher makes in an entire year, he’d be guaranteed to win the World Series for his team, right? Wrong. A-Rod and the Yankees are 6/1 odds to win the 2008 World Series. The Boston Red Sox, on the other hand, are the favorites at 9/2 odds to win.

Hey, I’m just saying…

There’s been a lot of baseball buzz around the water cooler lately following last week’s curve ball…AKA “The Mitchell Report“. But when I first heard about it one of the questions I had was, “What the heck is that all about?” And, “Who is Mitchell?” So here’s the scoop, courtesy of Wikipedia.org:

The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, also known as the “Mitchell Report”, is the result of former United States Senator George J. Mitchell’s investigation into the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone in Major League Baseball (MLB). The 409-page report, released on December 13, 2007, covers the history of the use of illegal performance-enhancing substances by players and the effectiveness of the MLB drug testing program. Mitchell also advances certain recommendations regarding the handling of past illegal drug use and future prevention practices. The report names 88 Major League Baseball players who are alleged to have used steroids or drugs.