Are the Yankees just a bad team?

It took a five-game winning streak just to get back to .500. Since, the Yankees have lost two in a row and are back to a familiar position this season - last place and under .500.

This has been a season of ups and downs so far. In April, the Yankees had two three-game winning streaks, only to lose three in a row immediately after.

Part of that can be attributed to poor starting pitching. Peter Abraham crunched the numbers and noticed that the Yankees are 3-12 in games that Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes started and 22-15 in games started by others. Kennedy and Hughes also didn't start in any of the six wins against Seattle.

Another problem was the lack of hitting. Since Alex Rodriguez has been back, the offense has started to click. However, despite scoring nine runs last night, they still lost. That is just unacceptable.

June hasn't begun yet, so there is plenty of time to make the proper adjustments. Kennedy's trip to the disabled list can be a blessing in disguise, as Joba Chamberlain will presumably jump into the rotation. The Yankees will also get to experiment with the bullpen, because as currently constructed, it is miserable. Chamberlain made the bullpen look better than it really is when he was in it. Now that he is in his transition phase®, it is back to being mediocre.

Am I concerned? Of course I am. This team looked so good against Seattle and is now looking awful against Baltimore. However, all of that being said, they are only six games out of first place. On this date last year, they were 13.5 games out of first place. They were also seven games under .500.

On the other hand, they are 19-27 against teams not from the state of Washington. That is eight games under .500.