MLB Don't Look Now But ...

... The New York Yankees are sitting pretty with the best record in baseball at 46-28.

For those of us that dislike (to put it nicely) the Yankees season started out pretty promising. Off-season acquisition SP Michael Pineda went down with a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. Out for the season. Then on May 3rd the swan song season for uber-closer Mariano Rivera came to a sudden halt. Rivera tore his ACL shagging fly balls in batting practice. Many expected the 42-year old Rivera to retire at the end of the season even though he himself had been mum on his future. Most now seem to think he'll return for another season.

Things couldn't have been worse for the Yankees. They were mired in 4th place in the AL East 4.5 games back of division leader Tampa Bay.

But since that time the Yanks have regrouped and have gone a Major League best 33-16 averaging 4.7 runs scored per game. During that span the Yankees are holding opponents to 3.6 runs per game.

Setup man turned closer Rafael Soriano has come in to replace Mariano Rivera and has put up a sub 2.00 ERA. He had 88 career saves prior to signing with the Yankees to be their setup man before the 2011 so it wasn't as though he was without experience. As the Yankees closer this season he's putting up Riveraesque numbers converting 17 of 18 saves with a 1.88 ERA.

They've also received great pitching from the un-retired Andy Pettitte. Pettitte missed the entire 2011 season after retiring but decided he wanted to come back to the Yankees. They gave him another shot and since rejoining the team on May 13th the 40-year old Pettitte has a 3.22 ERA with 59 Ks compared to 15 BB in 58.2 IP. The Yankees will be without Pettitte for at least 6-8 weeks though as he did fracture his ankle recently and has gone on the 60-day DL.

Helping out on the offensive side of the ball Yankee Captain Derek Jeter has seen his power swing return this season. He has 7 HR in 316 AB after hitting only 6 all of last season (546 AB).

It doesn't seem to matter what troubles the New York Yankees face each season they find a way to overcome them ... much to the dismay of the rest of baseball

Note: The Yankees lost 4-3 to the Chicago White Sox tonight thus giving them a 46-29 record on the season and dropping them a 0.5 game behind the Texas Rangers for the best record in baseball.