After last night’s Yankees debacle-cum-Curtis-cum-HOLY CRAP MARIANO IS BETTER THAN YOU, one comment was voiced by a number of different people:

“The Yankees still haven’t hit their stride.”

The Yankees, at 45-27, are a game and a half better than anyone else in the Major Leagues (Texas, yes that Texas, is next at 43-28, followed by Tampa and Boston). Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes are having such decent seasons that there are arguments as to whether one or both of them ought to go to Anaheim in a couple of weeks. Robinson Canó is hitting like an MVP.

The team is second in runs scored and OPS in the Majors, and first in OBP. Their total pitching and starting pitching both have ERAs in the Major League top ten.

Perhaps most telling, the Yankees have a run differential that’s twelve points higher than the next closest team, and thirty points higher than any other division leader.

Yet, that comment from last night was repeated by a number of people:

“The Yankees still have not hit their stride”

The claim is not baseless. Mark Teixeira, the Yankees’ three hitter, has a season line of .229/.347/.405. Alex Rodriguez, the clean up hitter, has a line of .280/.358/.472 which would be maybe not so crazy except that A-Rod, a guy with almost 600 career home runs, has just nine so far–a pace to hit about 24 or so for the season. This is a guy that still hit thirty home runs last season after missing a month.

AJ Burnett, the team’s second starter, hasn’t won a game this month and has an ERA over 10.00. Until the 15th of this month, CC Sabathia hadn’t beaten a team not named Baltimore since April 16.

The Yankees have been playing, pretty much since the beginning of May, without a DH. Say what you will about Posada, but he’s still a catcher the Yankees are asking to DH, making Cervelli catch a lot, and thus become over exposed in the process. (In other words, the Yankees are playing a bit like a National League team).

Writ simple, the Yankees are on pace to win 101 games this season. That’s pretty darn good, even if it may not necessarily be enough to win the crazy AL East (which is a comment more on the alignment system than anything else).

So what happens when Teixeira starts hitting, A-Rod starts hitting home runs, Jeter stops swinging at so many darn first pitches, AJ remembers how to be good AJ, and Joba pretends it’s 2007 on a consistent basis?

If you’re not a Yankee fan, I’d be afraid. I’d be very afraid.