AL East

According to Josh Norris of the Trentonian , the Yankees have promoted their 2007 first-round draft pick RHP Andrew Brackman to Double-A Trenton and he will start tonight.

The Bombers are barely leading the pack.

What started out as a four-horse race with the Yanks playing second fiddle is now a crowd of three with the Yanks on top.

With Toronto currently down seven games, the Yankees are preoccupied with keeping the Rays (two games back) and Red Sox (two and a half games back) at a distance.

I must admit, I am a bit disappointed to see Toronto fall out of the race (for now at least). Sure, everyone knew that four teams weren't going to be fighting over first place for the season's entirety, but it was still fun to watch.

Fans of Jose Bautista's former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, would laugh at the idea. (Except for yours truly.)

But the former "tail-ender" now leads the Toronto Blue Jays in four out of five offensive categories, according to ESPN.

With the season almost halfway over, it's a great time to start thinking about the end-of-season awards, so this week, Bleacher Report's featured columnists have prepared a mock Cy Young vote.

Using a scoring system identical to that of the BBWAA, we have determined an idea of not only the best pitcher in the AL, but how the other top arms rank. The top five vote-getters are featured here with commentary submitted by different writers.

The Yankees beat the Diamondbacks 9-3 last night behind a strong seven-inning performance by Andy Pettitte and a big home run by Alex Rodriguez . The score was a lot closer until the eighth inning when the Yankees broke it open with six runs in the inning.

Here are some notes:

The atmosphere felt like October, the weather like the beginning of summer.

The Gulf Coast League is a little talked about league because they are below even Single-A.  It is rookie ball, and often the players are so far away from the majors that it makes little sense to discuss them.

Only one half game separates the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays from the New York Yankees. The once red-hot Rays have finally cooled off after owning a six game lead over New York in late May. The division is up for grabs for the first time in two months.

In 2008 the Rays and Red Sox battled for the division all the way to the last week of the season.

With the Yankees alive and kicking this year, it should make for an even more exciting finish this season.

Which team can address its flaws? Who could they make a play at the deadline?

Earlier in the year, everyone was writing stories about Derek Jeter and what it would take to resign the New York Yankees all-star shortstop after the season, when his 10-year contract finally comes to an end.

I’m not sure why there's been such an obsession over this. Everyone knows that Jeter is more likely to retire than to sign somewhere else.

The Yankees have the second-ranked offense in all of baseball this season, slightly behind the Boston Red Sox and way out in front of whomever is the third-place team on any given day. Still, with all of the injuries they’ve been experiencing, they’ve had a problem with getting consistent offense. Buster Olney of ESPN has reported that the Yankees have been on the lookout for a bat.