Alex Rodriguez

Despite a sparkling record good for second place in the tough AL East, a number of Yankee hitters are off to poor starts.

Mark Teixeria, Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson and Alex Rodriguez are all struggling mightily.

So which of the four are likely to turn it around? Advanced statistics can help us with that one. All of this data is available at fangraphs.com or baseball-reference.com

Alex Rodriguez

The line: .250/.337/.440 2 HR's.

Prognosis : Good, but remember, he's getting up there in years.

The New York Yankees had started the season red hot but have cooled down as of late. Losers of four of their last five, the Yankees now sit 2.5 games back of AL East leading Tampa Bay. I decided to look back at the past five games and try to find a common theme.

Well, I found one at it was right at the top. The top of the batting order that is. The top four spots in the Yankees batting order have not had much success at all the past five games. These are the guys expected to carry the club and provide most of the pop.

Running your mouth, egging on the competition, or just being a flat out jerk are just some of the aspects of baseball we tend to forget. And while being the casual knucklehead trash talker is to be expected, some players are known for taking things too far.

I tried to gather 10 of the biggest trash talkers and/or agitators currently in the game. Some of these players are worse than others, while some of them are just your average jabber-jawer.

The New York Yankees are the most successful franchise in all of sports. Playing in the Bronx, the Yankees garner attention and support from millions of fans all over the world. These fans represent every race and social class.

Over the years, numerous celebrity and famous people have been spotted wearing Yankee apparel or catching a game in Yankee Stadium. Even though there are many famous Yankee fans, these are the top 10 Yankee fans that continue to proudly represent the Bronx Bombers!

Sliding Into Home deserves the credit for this one. Here is a video of the incident that took place between Alex Rodriguez and Dallas Braden that ended in Braden erupting at A-Rod because he walked across the back of the mound on his way back to first base on a foul ball.

Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden was on the hill to take on the 2009 World Series champions the New York Yankees on Thursday.

In the top of the sixth inning Alex Rodriguez jogged across the mound after a foul ball. Braden yelled at Rodriguez for trespassing immediately at the conclusion of the inning. Rodriguez brushes Braden off like a child.

The New York Yankees accomplished a rare feature in their 4-2 loss against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday afternoon. Pitcher CC Sabathia was pitching very well, but did not get enough run support to top the A's.

Sabathia pitched to Kurt Suzuki. The ball was chopped to Alex Rodriguez, who rushed to third and stepped on the bag to get Daric Barton out.

Rodriguez then beamed the ball nicely to Robinson Cano awaiting at second base to force Ryan Sweeney out.

The Yankees may have lost by 2 runs against the Oakland A's, but this afternoon's game will be remembered for one defensive play.

In the bottom of the 6th inning of today's game, Kurt Suzuki stepped to the plate with  Ryan Sweeney on 1st and Daric Barton on 2nd base and nobody out. Suzuki, in the first inning, drilled a 3-R Run home run against CC Sabathia to give Oakland the early lead.

You have to hand it to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. His taste in women is as varied as his hot zone at the plate.

He's been linked to women old enough to be his mom (Madonna) and he just reportedly let a 25-year-old loose for being too clingy.

He's gone Hollywood with Kate Hudson and high society with girls like Key West socialite Elaine Spottswood.

He's gone from Kate's chest impairment to Elaine's ample endowment.

Now he's going back to Tinseltown and going a little older.

The primary reason why athletes play the game, any game, is their competitive fire drives them to win. What helps drive the Major League baseball player is to obtain the World Series Championship ring.