MLB, half way point

Tomorrow, we start the second half of the baseball season. (it's just over the halfway make as teams have played around 85 of 162 games)  The first half has featured some great pitching, (first Met No-hitter in history (Johan Santana), 2 perfect games (Matt Cain and Philip Humber)) some good hitting, (Josh Hamilton 4 2-run home runs) and some great defense.  If the first half of the season was an indication, we are in for a treat in the second half.
In the American league Cleveland has been holding their own and now Detroit is getting healthy and Chicago is getting stronger with the acquisition of Kevin Youkilis.  In the East, arguably the best division in baseball the New York Yankees are winning the battle.  The Yankees have been able to overcome injuries to Brett Gardner, (has been out since april) Michael Pineda, (lost for the season before it began with a torn labrum) Mariano Rivera, and (the greatest closer of all-time, torn ACL) Andy Pettitte. (broken leg)   Veterans have come off the bench to fill in, the starting pitching has been good, and they didn't miss many beats in the bullpen with being able to replace the greatest closer with a guy (Rafael Soriano) who had 45 saves for Tampa Bay.  If I was to pick a surprise player for the Yankees in the first half, it would be Rafael Soriano because it's not easy to close out games, and they were able to replace the best with a guy who had done it before an embraced the challenge.  The Baltimore Orioles I knew would be better and have been surprising in being able to hang on to an over .500 record at the break.  The Boston Red Sox have had injuries all over the diamond, with notable injuries at shortstop, the outfield, the starting pitching, and the bullpen. With Boston barely hanging on to a .500 record, it looks like it may be the Yankees, Rays, and Orioles at the end.  We have a lot of division play remaining so every team in the division may beat up on one another.
In the National League we knew the Washington Nationals would be good but we didn't know the New York Mets would play over their heads for this long, although I don't see the Mets playing this much over .500 for the rest of the year.  Washington might come back to the pack and make the division interesting, if they shut Strasbourg down.  The Pittsburgh Pirates who have had 19 straight loosing seasons are in first place in the NL central.  I think Pittsburgh can hang in there with Cincinnati and St. Louis if they can add some offense at the deadline, so far in Pittsburgh it's been Andrew McCutchen and pitching.  There are some good stories to follow in the second half and we should be in for some good baseball.