Yankees dubbed winners for defeating losers

In the midst of their winning streak, the hot baseball topic is "are the Yankees back"?

The Yanks have won 6 in a row and 9 of their last 11, bringing their record to one game below .500 and their AL East deficit to 9 1/2 games. Crack open the bubbly! By the end of the week the Yankees could be above .500 and possibly even less games out of first place! Lookout Red Sox!

Here's an in depth look at the streak (including the 2 losses):

• Yankees have averaged 7.64 runs scored and 4.73 allowed
• Yankees have averaged 11.91 hits for and 9.64 allowed
• Yankee starters have averaged 5.91 innings per game, with a 6.46 ERA
  
• Yankees have averaged using 4.36 pitchers per game

The hitting numbers are what we would expect from the Yankee lineup (and finally they're living up to expectations). But the pitching? Well - also what we've grown to expect from the Yankee staff, shitty. And consider their competition: Boston, Toronto, White Sox, and Pittsburgh. They won 3 of the games against Boston and Toronto, and 6 of 7 against the White Sox and Pittsburgh (the current win streak).

Here's a look at the White Sox and Pirates' offensive ranks (all of MLB): (but before that, here's a creepy picture of Mariano Rivera!)

White Sox:

• Last in Hits
• Last in Runs
• Last in Avg
• Last in OBP
• Last in SLG
• Last in OPS

Pirates:

• 21st in Hits
• 24th in Runs
• 27th in Avg
• 29th in OBP
• 27th in SLG
• 28th in OPS

So while the Yankees have admirably thrived against 2 of the worst hitting teams in baseball, and won 3 from better competition (following a 5 game losing streak), let's hold off until they have a winning record and are within a week's games of being in first place before we declare them being "back".