The Yankees have now played 23 games, with a record of 13-10 after Tuesday night's 7-1 loss to the Orioles.

Before the game on Tuesday, manager Joe Girardi was asked to assess his team as it left April and entered the month of May.

"You can look at it half-empty or half-full," Girardi said. "With the struggles that our starting pitching has had, are we lucky to be 13-9? Probably."

"I’m pleased with where we are," Girardi continued. "I think we’re swinging the bats pretty good. There’s still some guys that we need to get on track. ... We’ve had struggles in the rotation, our long man (David Phelps) is gonna step in on Thursday, we haven’t gotten a ton of production from Robby Cano, and we’re still 13-9. So I think it tells you the depth of our club."

On the half-full side, Derek Jeter had the best April of his career, and is currently batting .400 at the top of the lineup. Curtis Granderson has already hit nine home runs, tied for the major-league lead. Nick Swisher already has 23 RBIs, second-most in the American League. And the bullpen has been outstanding -- highlighted by David Robertson, who has yet to give up a run in 11 innings.

On the half-empty side, the middle of the Yankees' lineup has been very underwhelming: Alex Rodriguez is batting .256, Cano is at .255 (with a paltry one home run and four RBIs), and Mark Teixeira is at .233.

Also, the rotation -- expected to be a strength in the spring -- has instead turned into a weakness, with Michael Pineda gone for the season, Freddy Garcia demoted from the starting five, and Phil Hughes in danger of losing his job at 1-4 with a 7.48 ERA.

How good should Yankees fans really feel about their team at this point? See our Question of the Day below, and please weigh in, folks.

UP NOW: Andrew Marchand wrote a piece on Hughes and his precarious spot in the Yankees' starting rotation, despite his best performance of the season on Tuesday night. I have a blog post on Eduardo Nunez's adventures in left field Tuesday, A-Rod's interesting at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings, plus other notes from last night's game -- it's all posted at ESPNNewYork.com.

ON DECK: The series finale is tonight at 7:05 p.m. Ivan Nova (3-0, 5.18 ERA) goes for the Yankees, opposed by Jake Arrieta (1-2, 4.45). Check out Marchand's new "Bombers Beat" video on the blog at 10:15 a.m., and Mark Simon will have your daily Yankees W2W4 (What To Watch For) posting at noon.

IN THE HOLE: Marchand and I will be back in the Bronx on Wednesday afternoon/evening, before Wallace Matthews takes over in Kansas City on Thursday. The blog will be updated throughout the day, thanks for reading.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How do you view the Yankees about a month into the season -- is the glass half-empty, or half-full?