Will a Second Baseman whose last name begins with a “U” lead the NL in Homeruns? Will Michael Young and Ichiro Suzuki fail to get 200 Hits? Can the Phillies make it three MVPs in a Row? Can the New York Mets and the Detroit Tigers get it together? Will anyone in the American League hit forty homeruns? These are just some of the compelling questions for the second half

The first of July is sort of the unofficial halfway mark of the baseball season. Three months are down, three left to go, and teams have hit the 81-game plateau. It also means that if a player or team hasn't gotten hot by now, he or it might struggle for the entire season.

Despite that fact, July is also a time of hope. If your team puts together a bit of a hot streak, and Jerry Reinsdorf isn't your owner, you might add a player or two before the fast-approaching deadline. If you're a team that's dead in the water, you have some juicy prospects and at least the requisite representation in the All-Star game to look forward to.

Because of these glimmers of hope, no new teams fall below the Line of Death this month. Any team can add a C.C. Sabathia and suddenly look real good. Except the Indians, of course, who would certainly settle for getting Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez back healthy and productive.

So whether you're a fan of one of the teams that figures to add a player this month or one that is looking to clean house, enjoy our July Power Rankings.

Shawn Chacon assaults Ed Wade, Jerry Manuel allegedly threatens to cut one of his players with a blade, J.P. Ricciardi and Adam Dunn get into a verbal fight, injuries to Don Cooper and Felix Hernandez... it's been a violent week, and Gregory has the details in his Weekly Pepper.

For some of us, this day seemed like it would never come. Others wonder what took so long. But one thing is clear: for the AL Central, the season starts today.

Why, you might ask? Simple. As of today, June 29th, the Detroit Tigers are a .500 ballclub for the first time this season.

But while the Tigers have come roaring back from an 0-7 start to the season, do they have enough pitching to maintain their current hot streak?

And if the season begins this week for the AL Central, history itself may begin this week for the AL East, where there is a significant possibility that the week could end with the Tampa Bay Rays owning as much as a six-and-a-half game lead in the AL East, a position reserved during the last ten years for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. We could be witnessing history, or even the birth of a real live, honest-to-God Major League Baseball franchise.

Bill James has long since insisted that expansion does not dilute pitching any more than it does hitting. Asher, as usual, immediately disagreed with Bill James. But upon the examination of our modern quartet of dominant hurlers, Asher may reconsider his position.

Eric regales us with news and notes from Game Three of the College World Series between underdog Fresno State and the favored Georgia in his Running Diary.

To Dante Bichette, Jim Rice, Dale Murphy, and all of the notorious home/road splits of the past, we may now need to bid adieu. For it appears that in 2008 we may be witnessing the most notorious home/road split season of all time.

As you know, Milton Bradley is a talented player whose home games are played in a hitters park, so you probably figured that his numbers are aided somewhat by playing at The Ballpark in Arlington.

But if you are like Asher, you had no idea as to how disparate his splits actually are.

After Asher took a look at the splits of the two notorious Texas Rangers, he decided to look around the league a little more, and discovered not only that Milton Bradley may have some history-making company, but also happened upon two of the most underrated players in baseball.

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