Whenever a team is on a winning streak, or has won 10 of 12 or 18 of 22, cynics always point the record of the teams that were beaten. In this specific case, Yankee-optimist Steve of waswatching.com pointed out the team was 22-12 since May 20th, however the Yankees are 9-0 against the Mariners, Padres and Astros. Therefore, they are essentially a .500 team otherwise, according to Steve. Excuse me? Didn't the Mets just lose 2 of 3 to these Mariners? At home? Aren't good team supposed to destroy inferior competition, and just stay afloat against the rest of the league?

Good baseball teams don't have winning percentages of .700 like the NBA. Sure, if the Yankees played every series against the Red Sox, Angels, Cubs, White Sox, Phillies, and (gulp) TB Rays, of course their record wouldn't be as good. The Yankees can't be expected to play .800 ball against the worst teams AND play .600 ball against the best, it just doesn't work that way.

I don't understand how people can complain when the Yankees (or any team) destroys inferior competition and plays around .500 ball against the top teams. Sure, throughout the season the Yankees need to be a few games over .500 against the good teams, but most of their 'games over .500' will come from sweeps of inferior opponents, and simply holding ground when they play the fellow big guys of the league.

The same goes for any team in baseball whose fans and writers complain about sweeps of bad teams. Be thankful we swept the Mariners, the Mets couldn't win the series, and lost the game Santana threw.