The 2009 baseball season is headed towards the All-Star break. Although there are a ton of teams in the playoff race, here are the teams that are ahead of the pack.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers held on with Manny Ramirez out of the lineup. Now that he’s returned from his suspension, the Dodgers will be difficult to stop.

2. Boston Red Sox
Although they’ve cooled off as late, the Red Sox are the one team no one in the American League wants to see in the playoffs. With their pitching improving, they’ll be a tough out in the postseason.

3. New York Yankees
All that money is starting to figure out how to win. Since Alex Rodriguez returned, the Yankees have been elite.

4. Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are trying to get past their emotional start to the season. As the campaign goes along, expect L.A. to grow their lead in the AL West.

5. San Francisco Giants
The Giants are the surprise team in baseball. They have great pitching — lead by Tim Lincecum. If they get enough hits, they’ll be in the race for the duration.

Getting the last four outs against the New York Mets, Mariano Rivera got the 500th save of his Hall of Fame career. His save capped a 4-2 win by the New York Yankees and improved the team’s record to 43-32.

Rivera is currently second on the all-time saves record list. Only Trevor Hoffman has more. Hoffman, who is currently with the Milwaukee Brewers, has 571 saves.

On the season, Rivera has a 2.93 ERA and has 18 saves in 19 save opportunities. In 30.2 innings, he has 39 strikeouts and only three walks. Even at 39, Rivera appears to be near the top of his game.

Rivera had another milestone on Sunday night. In the top of the ninth inning, Rivera drew a bases loaded walk to pick up the first RBI of his big league career.

Picking up the win for the Yankees was Chien-Ming Wang. In 5.1 innings, he gave up only two earned runs. The native of Taiwan has struggled mightily this season. The win improved his record to 1-6 and lowered his ERA to 10.06.

For the Mets, this is their third straight loss and they now stand at 37-37 on the season.

When the New York Yankees gave A.J. Burnett a big contract in the offseason, this was the type of production they wanted. On Saturday against the New York Mets, Burnett gave up only one hit in seven innings while striking out ten. His pitching effort led the Yankees to a 5-0 victory.

Burnett on the season now has a 3.93 ERA to go along with a record of 6-4. Although he got off to a relatively slow start, Burnett has gotten better and better. In his last three starts, the 32-year-old has given up one earned run in more than 20 innings.

The Yankees got a Nick Swisher solo shot in the third inning to get on the board. In the sixth, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and then Jorge Posada smashed a three-run homer later in the inning.

The win gives the Yankees a 42-32 record on the season. The Mets fell to 37-36 with the loss.

AJ Burnett - New York Yankees (Image: Zuma Press)

Alex Rodriguez, the future Hall of Fame third baseman for the New York Yankees, will not play in the next two games. The Yankees have decided to bench their slugger due to fatigue.

It’s already been a very tumultuous year for Rodriguez. Earlier in the year, he admitted to past steroid use. Rodriguez also underwent offseason hip surgery that forced him to miss the beginning of the 2009 baseball campaign.

So far this season, A-Rod isn’t hitting as well as usual. His batting average sits at .212 and he has nine homers, 26 RBIs and 18 runs. The 33-year-old hasn’t hit under .285 since 1995.

The Yankees insist that Rodriguez is simply tired and that this isn’t related to his offseason hip surgery. Whatever the case, his recent numbers have been extremely sub par. In June, he’s hitting just .145 — and he doesn’t have a hit in his last 15 at-bats.

Alex Rodriguez isn't happy about the benching (Image: Zuma Press)

Rumors surrounding the New York Mets indicate that superstar starting pitcher Johan Santana is dealing with an injured left knee. That knee has been blamed for Santana’s last outing, which was a disaster.

However, Santana is saying that he doesn’t have an injured knee. He says that the location of his pitches, not any injury, was the issue in his last outing.

That outing in question came over the weekend against the New York Yankees. In only three innings, he gave up a career-high nine earned runs on nine hits and two walks. His ERA jumped from 2.39 to 3.29 due to that single start.

At this point, there’s really no reason not to believe Santana. He says he’s healthy and is confident that he’ll be able to get right back on track. Keep an eye on him in his next start but chances are that he’ll be back to being one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Johan Santana Injury Update (Image: Zuma Press)

Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the New York Yankees trailed the defending World Series champions 4-2. The Philadelphia Phillies then put Brad Lidge on the mound to close out the deal. Not so fast.

Alex Rodriguez, who was hitless in his first three at-bats of the game, hit a two-run homer to tie the game. A few batters later, Melky Cabrera connected on a game-winning hit to send the Yankees to win another walk-off victory.

With the win, New York has now won 10 out of their last 11 ballgames. They are 25-18 on the year and 14-8 in the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees sit .5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.

Even with the loss, the Phillies are on top of the NL East at 23-18. They had built their lead in this game thanks to a Raul Ibanez solo shot and a John Mayberry three-run homer, but Brad Lidge wasn’t able to hold on to the save.

Last year, Lidge didn’t blow a save all year long. This was already his third blown save and he has a massive ERA of 9.16 to go along with a record of 0-2.

Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (Image: Newscom)

Alex Rodriguez’s rehab from his offseason hip surgery is going well. So well, in fact, that his surgeon thinks that Rodriguez can be back on the field within the next ten days. The plan all along has been for Rodriguez to return to the New York Yankees by May 15th.

“He’s looking good,” says Dr. Marc Philippon, “looking awesome.”

In a simulated game, Rodriguez recently hit against Kai Liu and Christian Garcia — both minor leaguers. Not only is Rodriguez swinging the bat, he’s also running and sliding.

Sources close to the Yankees insist that Rodriguez looks very good swinging the bat. Once he returns, Rodriguez will likely go directly to third base, although he might spend a few games at DH to get him back into the groove of things.

Rodriguez, who has won three American League Most Valuable Player awards in his career, is desperately needed by the Yankees. Currently, New York is 11-10 and in third place in the very competitive AL East.

Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (Image: Newscom)

The New York Yankees are currently a disappointing 9-10 on the 2009 baseball season. Two reasons why they’ve struggled is the fact that both Alex Rodriguez and Chien-Ming Wang have been missing in action. If those players two players can return healthy within the next few weeks, the Yankees should be able to make a run up the standings.

Rodriguez has missed the entire season due to hip surgery. He had the surgery in the second week of March and is expected to return on May 15th if his rehab goes smoothly. So far, Rodriguez is reportedly feeling good and on track to return in that time frame.

Wang, on the other hand, was just recently put on the disabled list. Unfortunately for the Yankees, he’s been very active this season — in terms of giving up runs. After three starts, Wang is 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA. In six innings of work, he’s given up 23 earned runs.

Wang’s officially injury is weakness in his hips. Team official blame the foot injury that caused him to miss almost four months last year. The Yankees think that Wang can return to form if he strengthens the lower half of his body to give himself more velocity on his pitches.

There’s no definite time table for when Wang will return to the starting rotation for New York.

Chien Ming Wang, New York Yankees (Image: Newscom)

Sometimes pitchers get roughed up. However, Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees is struggling at a historic level. After three starts, Wang has a 34.50 ERA. The 29-year-old from Taiwan insists that everything is okay. The numbers, though, suggest otherwise.

Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees (Image: Newscom)

In his first start of the season, Wang gave up seven earned runs in 3.2 innings. In that outing, which was actually his best outing of the season so far, he gave up nine hits and walked three batters.

In his second game, Wang gave up eight earned runs in one inning. In that showing, he allowed six hits and three walks. In his last outing, Wang gave up eight earned runs in 1.1 innings, while giving up eight hits.

On the season, Wang has allowed 23 earned runs in six innings. He’s given up 23 hits and six walks while only striking out two batters.

In the last three seasons, Wang has been the Yankees’ best starting pitcher. He had back-to-back 19-win seasons in 2006 and 2007 and last year had eight wins in only 15 starts. Prior to this year’s debacle, Wang’s career-high ERA was last season’s 4.07.

The Yankees haven’t announced any plan of action to try to get Wang back on track. Sources close to the team think that the Yankees may opt to have him miss a start while they review film and do a medical checkup.

In the offseason, the Baltimore Orioles signed Koji Uehara to a two-year, $10 million deal. After one start, it looks like the Orioles got a bargain. The 34-year-old Japanese born Uehara pitched five impressive innings as he helped the Orioles knock off the New York Yankees for the second straight game to begin the 2009 baseball season.

Koji Uehara, Baltimore Orioles (Image: Newscom)

In his five innings of work, Uehara scattered five hits and allowed only one earned run. Although the Yankees made a push after Uehara had left the game, Baltimore was able to escape with a 7-5 victory.

Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang wasn’t nearly as impressive. The native of Taiwan gave up nine hits and seven earned runs in only 3.2 innings of work. Last season, Wang was 19-7 with a 3.70 ERA.

The big bopper at the plate for the Orioles was Nick Markakis. The third hitter in the Orioles’ lineup was 3-for-3 with two runs, three RBIs and a walk. His two-run homer in the first inning got Baltimore off on the right foot and gave the team a lead they would never relinquish.

For the Yankees, $180 million dollar man Mark Teixeira continues to struggle. After two games, Teixeira is now 1-for-9 with eight runners left on base.

The Orioles and Yankees play again on Thursday at 1:35 PM EST.