The 2008 All-Star game is going to be a very special one for New York Yankees fans. The MLB has decided to send Yankee Stadium out with a bang by choosing to host the All-Star game in the Bronx. In addition to the grand stage being set in “The House that Ruth Built”, several Yankees’ stars are vying to make a splash while helping the A.L. win for the 11th time in a row (they tied in 2002).

Yankee starters include captain and shortstop, Derek Jeter, who the fans voted in despite a less-than-stellar first half. Jeter will be making his ninth appearance in the All-Star game. Joining Derek in the infield will be Alex Rodriguez, who will be making his 12th appearance in the All-Star game, and his ninth in a row.

For the first time in years, the Yankees are without representation on the A.L. bench, as no Yankee players were chosen as backups in the All-Star game. However, veteran closer Mariano Rivera will be making an appearance in the bullpen for the ninth time in his prolific career.

The American League has been unstoppable since the game began to secure home field in the World Series for the winning league. With the A.L. East always wide-open, the Yankees would love another victory and the opportunity for home field advantage should they make the Fall Classic once again.

There are still All-Star game tickets available, as well as plenty of NY Yankees tickets for the second half of the season. This is bound to be a legendary All-Star game, and an exciting season.

In a division that will probably be the most intriguing in all of baseball by season’s end, things just got a little more exciting.

Trailing the division-leading Rays going into Wednesday’s afternoon slate, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees were each able to pull out victories to tighten the division race just a little bit more heading into the final weekend before the All-Star Game. The Red Sox saw their bats come alive in an 18-5 thumping of the Twins while the Yanks finished off the two-game sweep of league-leading Rays 2-1.

The Red Sox and Yankees now trail the Rays by two and six-and-a-half games, respectively as Boston takes a day off before facing Baltimore in a three game series while New York faces off with Pittsburgh for a make-up game before challenging Toronto for a weekend series.

The two teams face each other again in two weeks, when the Yankees will venture to Boston for three games that could play a major role in ultimately deciding the division.

If you don’t already have your NY Yankee tickets, don’t hesitate. There’s still a lot of great baseball left to be played and, as usual, this division is sure to go down to the wire.

After losing the first two games of the weekend series against the arch-rival Red Sox, the Yankees rebounded with two one-run victories to close out the first series against Boston since mid-April.

In game three, the Yankees held on to take the win 2-1 as veteran Mike Mussina out dueled Boston’s young Justin Masterson, while Mariano Rivera closed the game out with his 23rd save of the season. In a game in which each team only garnered six hits each, it was timely hitting by the Yankees that ultimately made the difference.

In yesterday’s series finale, it took 10 innings for the Yankees to edge the Red Sox 5-4. In a game where Joba Chamberlain and Tim Wakefield were ultimately non-factors, it was the closers for both teams who were involved in the decision. For New York, Mariano Rivera garnered his third win of the season, while Boston’s star closer, Jonathan Papelbon took this loss for his third of the year. Timely hitting, again made the difference as Brett Gardner made the game winning hit, a single up the middle, with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Currently the Yankees stand nine games out of the division lead as the Tampa Bay Rays continue their improbable run at the top of the AL East. The Red Sox are in second place in the division, five games behind the Rays.

As we continue to approach the final game ever at Yankee Stadium, NY Yankee Tickets will continue to be hot commodities, and even more so as the division heats up heading into the All-Star break.

Right now we’re featuring tickets to the MLB All Star Game 2008 at Yankee Stadium on SelectATicket.com. Here are some of the festivities that are going on. Remember that since Yankee Stadium is being replaced next season, this is the last time you can see an All Star game at this legendary location.

Some of the biggest news besides who is or isn’t participating in the Home Run Derby, is a free concert. Legendary rock band Bon Jovi will perform for free on Saturday July 12th at New York’s Central Park.

Here are the All Star game events going on:

1) MLB All Star Fan Fest
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Friday July 11 - Tuesday July 15
MLB All Star Sunday
Yankee Stadium
Sunday July 13

MLB All Star Sunday
a) The Futures Game
b) The Celebrity Softball Game

3) MLB Home Run Derby
Yankee Stadium
Monday July 14

4) MLB All Star Game
Yankee Stadium
Tuesday July 15

Here’s where you can get MLB All Star game tickets. Enjoy your 4th of July holiday  - see you at the game!

Joe Girardi tends to be one of the more positive managers. He likes to see the silver lining on bad performances. But there was no silver lining to the Yankees overwhelming loss to the Pittsburg Pirates on Tuesday night. His response was without equivocation—“We stunk!” This loss was then matched by an equally great performance Wednesday by the same team and Joba Chamberlain on the mound.

Tuesday’s loss was their third loss in four games. All of those teams, I might add, have losing records. Hitless Alex Rodriguez, when being interviewed about the game, felt that Girardi’s expression of disgust was unnecessary. But being a leader is about stating the reality, and the reality is that the Yankees grossly underperformed Tuesday. They missed multiple chances for victory.

Wednesday’s win shows the Yankees in all of their promise and capacity. They won 10-0. Chamberlain proved Girardi’s decision to move him to starter. Girardi is quoted in the Daily News as saying:

“Joba has the ability to pitch games like this; that’s the kind of stuff he has. When you lose three out of four, you want to get back on the right track. Joba was up to the task.”

It’s hard to know who Yankees fans are going to see from one night to the next. Are they going to see a powerful winning team, or a team that throws all of it’s opportunity down the toilet?

Entering this weekend’s series against the Cincinnati Reds, it looked as if the Yankees were salvaging a mediocre season. Things weren’t looking bad. But the loss of Chien-Ming Wang seemed to boding ill-fate for the Yanks. The only consolation to going down the first two games was a resurgent win on the third.

Game one was their first loss after a 7 game winning streak. It came, in part, from a controversial call by Joe Girardi. He told Mike Mussina to intentionally walk Jay Bruce. This was followed up by a Jolbert Cabrera’s double down the left field, setting the pace for a three-run inning for the Reds which culminated in a 4-2 loss.

Game two provided opportunities for the Yankees that never came to fruition, with the Reds again handing them a loss 6-0. The New York Post quotes Johnny Damon who managed to walk three times without scoring:

“It’s just a shame because we had so many opportunities to score runs and we didn’t. We didn’t find a way to put any pressure on them.”

Game three’s win owes a lot to Andy Pettitte. His time on the mound ended in the 6th inning with a rain delay. But it ended 19 straight innings without allowing a run. Additionally, he’s only allowed one run in his last three starts, all of which ended in Yankee victory.

Let’s hope that the rest of the New York Yankees season looks more like game 3, rather than game 1 and 2.

The big news in New York sports this week was the class-defying firing of Willie Randolph from his Mets Manager post. But other big events have been happening with the other team in the city. It’s both good and bad.

Let’s start with the bad. Chien Ming Wang, one of their best starting pitchers, hurt himself running bases in Houston on Sunday. It was a right foot injury sustained rounding the third base in the sixth inning of the Yankees 13-0 victory over the Astros.

This has raised serious questions about the league requirement for pitchers to bat.

Although Joe Girardi admits that he would never play a pitcher in an American League game, he was somewhat defensive of the tradition in the New York Post:

“Contrary to some people’s belief, baseball players are athletes, and running should be a part of their athletic endeavor. I haven’t seen [an injury while running the bases] happen to another pitcher.

“I think it’s somewhat of a freak accident. It’s unfortunate that it happened to us.”

Now the good news. The Yankees are doing kind of awesome these days. They’ve won five straight. They’re five games above .500. They’re 18-9 since Alex Rodriguez returned to the line-up. Things were definitely going there way before the Wang accident, but with Mussina, Chamberlain, and Pettitte doing well, things could very much continue for the New York Yankees.

As far as I know, there isn’t a tradition for baseball players to give a gift to their team on their birthday. I don’t even believe it’s a Japanese tradition. But in the case of Hideki Matsui, his 34th birthday was last night and he delivered a big gift to his Yankees team.

The bases were loaded in the sixth inning. Derek Jeter got himself on base with an infield hit. Blanton then walked Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez. There were zero outs. It was the perfect opportunity for a home run, which Matsui turned into a grand slam.

Just hours earlier, the Japanese media, which has a tradition of giving gifts, brought Matsui a large strawberry shortcake birthday gift. He graciously accepted the gift, blowing out the candles, but declined eating a peace of the cake with his game coming up. Talk about focus.

But that focus paid off with a gift of his own to a team very much in need of a win over the Oakland A’s. Andy Pettitte also contributed with a strong performance, allowing one run and five hits in eight innings. It’s his sixth win this season.

When all is said and done, I don’t think that a birthday had anything to do with the win. Matsui simply got a great opportunity to do something great, and he delivered.

Let’s hope for more great moments this season. To make sure that you don’t miss these great games you’ll want to buy your Yankees tickets online here.

Mike Mussina gave a great performance last night. And his team still managed to lose. It’s the heartbreaking reality that every fine pitcher must face. You can give it all you got and your team can still let you down.

For Mussina, the 39-year-old veteran starter, it meant giving 8 innings of superb performance. It meant only giving up 2 runs in that entire time. And it meant watching Mariano Rivera give up a ninth-inning home run handing the Kansas City Royals the win.

And I do mean handing it to them. The Royals are the third worst team in the league. The Yankees should have had this home game locked up.

If the Yankees had won, it would have given Mussina his tenth straight win. Joe Girardi is quoted in the New York Post as saying:

“(He was) great again. He threw the ball outstanding. It would’ve been nice to get his 10th win, but it wasn’t meant to be. Moose was so good. He went back out and did a nice job in the eighth. Two runs in eight innings, usually that’s going to win a game. It just didn’t.”

All of those fans who purchased New York Yankees tickets to watch the game in 94 degrees expected more from their middling team. It’s summer and time is ticking. Let’s hope that the Yankees can rebound with some last minute achievement in what’s turning out to be a disappointing season.

Joe Girardi says that he doesn’t mind Johnny Damon criticizing his decision to move Joba Chamberlain to the starter position. That’s a nice response for the media but I can’t imagine that any leader appreciating public displays of disagreement. Everyone knows that differences occur in every organization, but you always want to communicate an attitude of solidarity to the media, to your opponents, and to your ticket buying fans.

The problem that Damon has when he shoots his mouth like this is that he opens himself up for the exact same public discrimination. If Girardi is at all displeased with Damon’s recent play, he should make it well known. It’s fine to talk smack, but you better be ready to take it when it comes back to you.

The argument that Damon makes is that the Yankees are losing games by not having a strong pitcher like Chamberlain in the bullpen. Giardi vehemently disagrees.

In the Daily News, Girardi is quoted as saying:

“I want to know the games that we’ve sacrificed by doing what we did . . . It doesn’t always work that way.”

Damon is then quoted as saying:

“Yeah, we could have used (Chamberlain) on the last road trip. No doubt about it. Would we have won those games? Maybe. Maybe not.”