The Yankees have jumped out to their best start since 2003. Boasting a 9-3 record with 60 runs scored and 47 runs allowed they Yanks are looking like the finely tuned machine that won it all last year. Granderson has meshed nicely into the Yankees providing power and speed at the bottom of the order, his hitting against lefties hasn't been dreadful either (4/16 .250). Jeter is being Jeter. Cano is actually on fire, batting .340 with 4 home runs though he is still a dreadful 3 for 16 with RiSP. Like the Yankees last year C.C. also started off slow in '09; Just like the 2010 Yankees this years C.C. is in top form (2-0 2.84 ERA). A.J.'s first two starts I would classify as lucky but third he looked in complete control. Pettitte is throwing the ball like it is 1996 again. Hughes has only one start but in that start his curve was dropping hard and he picked up a nice win. I could only count around 3 of the much talked about improved change-up that he worked on in the spring. The bullpen has looked great with opposing teams only batting .236 against them. In the title it says (Near) because as happy as Yankee fans are there are still some kinks that need to be worked out. Mark Teiexera has gotten off to the worst cold streak in his career. He showed signs of life last game belting a home run to right. Javy Vazquez who was coming off a great year with the Braves has looked flat. His stuff looks great and he is getting hitters into a lot of favorable counts. With 2 strikes this year players are hitting .346 against Vazquez. This is just a lack of closing; last year batters hit .154 with 2 strikes on them. Those stats are bolded so you can really see that this guy is just not trusting his stuff this year with 2 strikes. He is leaving pitches over the plate when he doesn't have to. I am sure that Eiland is all over this. Perhaps the shift from the easier N.L. to the big bad A.L. east shook Javy. His next start is tomorrow in the first game of the series vs the A's. Nick Swisher has been cold as ice, in contrast to his power surge last year. Batting just .200 (still sporting a good OBP of .347) and in the last 7 days Nick is 1 for 19. What is interesting to me is his numbers at Yankee Stadium. So far this year he is bating .053 at home and .333 when he is away.
In this upcoming late night series against the Athletics the Yankees who are struggling can try to bust out of their slumps. I would bet money that Nick hits over .300 in this series.
As for the standings, which are pretty meaningless at this point in the season, (if you remember last year the Jays were in first for most of April) the Yankees are a half game out of first:
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