The first half of the baseball season officially comes to an end today with a full slate of Sunday games.

So far, the season has had few surprises.

Will the leaders finish up with a flourish and enjoy the glow of victory until play resumes Thursday?

Click “read more” and check out today’s top match ups.The A’s face Paul Byrd who threw 126 pitches in his last start. Manager Tony Pena came out to the mound late in Byrd’s last start and told the righty the game was his to win or lose. Byrd responded to the vote of confidence and held Seattle scoreless until Mike Sweeney and Raul Ibanez could homer off Kazuhiro Sasaki in the ninth to win the game.

Byrd should have been an all star. The A’s are in another hitting funk and don’t have the luxury of playing small ball to get out of it. Barry Zito has pitched well at home and should win before heading to Milwaukee. After all these one run games this week, you would think this one is due to be a blow out. With these two going, I see another nail biter for the A’s. Expect another low scoring game.

Rick Helling left his last start with an apparent injury. Helling has been the most pleasant surprise this season for Bob Brenly’s staff. The Giants are asking a lot of Ryan Jensen to hold Arizona down at home. Trouble for SF today looms ahead.

Jeff Weaver makes his first Yankee start today in the Stadium. Toronto lit Weaver up on June 2nd. Will the pinstripes make a difference? Expect the Blue Jays to be in a close game before the Yankee charter leaves for Milwaukee as Cris Carpenter has thrown well lately.

Todd Ritchie has been a major disappointment for Chicago for the last two months. Can he handle the Tribe? Why not, he pitched well against them in his only tries earlier in the year when Cleveland actually was a threat in the AL. Ritchie went 15 innings, giving up 2 runs in his two starts against Cleveland in April. Ryan Drese will keep it close as Chicago limps toward the break.

Tanyon Sturtze won his last start. Ramon Ortiz, slight righthander is on his way to 230 innings pitched this season. The Angels are not hitting righties now. This one will be low scoring and Tampa Bay may win 3-2.

Minnesota is making a believer out of me. After knocking Jamie Moyer around last night, Minnesota is certainly capable of beating John Halama, another soft tossing lefty. Rick Reed threw extremely well against the A’s in his last start. The Twins bull pen is for real and Ron Gardenhire mixes them up pretty well.

Boston needs the break to regroup. Sunny Kim beat the Blue Jays Tuesday, Adam Bernero for Detroit is inconsistent. This one looks like a Sunday slugfest in Fenway.

Greg Maddux and Jon Leiber assure fans of one thing. This game may be over in less than two hours. The new Maddux only goes six innings, then turns the game over to the pen. Leiber is on the block for some reason. This one looks like 4-3 Braves with John Smoltz closing out the game.

Bartolo Colon will have his all star start today against the Phillies. Terry Adams will have a new employer very soon. Colon shines in Philly, then rests until his next start Friday against the Braves.

Omar Daal better pitch nine today because Jim Tracy has to give Eric Gagne the day off, doesn’t he? St. Louis is in a slump, they need the break badly.

Houston is flexing their muscles. Wade Miller is finally pitching well again. Pittsburgh is failing faster than the NASDAQ. Houston will feel good after beating Pittsburgh, knowing they are back in the race.

Actually, any team within five games of .500 has a chance to contend in the second half.

Joey Hamilton is a gamer, unfortunately the rest of his body is in trouble. The Brewer players will clear out early today in order to make room for the all stars. Bull pens will decide this one with 8-7 looking like a reasonable score.

If Bobby Valentine goes and he probably should, take Steve Phillips with him because the GM put this mess together. Pedro Astacio has been a pleasure for this team. Brad Penny is still coming back from the DL for Fla. Over 20,000 showed up yesterday probably thinking the Dolphins were scrimmaging instead of the Fish playing the Mets.

Nice Sunday to end the first half. Who knows what will happen after the players meet in Milwaukee next week?

Stay tuned.