First a confession, I didn't watch most of this four-game series with Detroit that from the looks of it and accounts in the paper was not the Yankees' finest hour of the first 29 games. First it represents their first three-game losing streak of the year and secondly it is a continuation of the offensive slump that seems to be two weeks old.

You might remember two weeks ago. That was when the Yankees went from Toronto to Baltimore. After a rainout on April 22, the Yankees scored 15 times on 14 hits the next night.

Since that time, the Yankees have split their 12 games and the reason is mostly at the plate. The Yankees have scored 46 runs (3.8 per game), which is not great, but also not terrible. Yet it is a dip from the six averaged through the first 17 games.

The most noticeable dip from a team standpoint comes within the batting average. After that game in Baltimore, the Yankees had a .264 team average but as they head to Texas, the average has dropped to .251. That means the Yankees have hit .232 (89-for-232) in that period and that is despite averaging nearly one home run per game in the last two weeks.

When the team numbers slide down, it is natural to look at the individual numbers of various players, so with that in mind, let's examine the every day lineup.

Russell Martin - After April 23, Martin was at .333 (18-for-54) and now he is at .279 (24-for-86) by virtue of getting six hits in his last 32 at-bats.

Mark Teixeira - After April 23, Teixeira was at .279 (17-for-61) and now he is at .253 (25-for-99) by virtue of getting eight hits in his last 38 at-bats.

Robinson Cano - After April 23, Cano was at .324 (23-for-71) and now he is at .304 (34-for-112) by virtue of getting 11 hits in his last 51 at-bats.

Derek Jeter - After April 23, Jeter was at .221 (15-for-68) and his numbers have been better in this period as evidenced by his .250 average (27-for-108) caused by a 12-for-40 stretch.

Alex Rodriguez - After April 23, Rodriguez was at .370 (17-for-46) and seemingly locked in. It also was right after his oblique injury and since then his average has dipped to .273 (24-for-73) by going 7-for-27 since that point.

Nick Swisher - After April 23, Swisher was at .254 (15-for-59) and now he is down to .214 (21-for-98) by virtue of getting six hits over his last 39 at-bats.

Curtis Granderson - After April 23, Granderson was at  .267 (16-for-60) and now he is down slightly to .262 (27-for-103) due to getting 11 hits in his last 43 at-bats.

Brett Gardner - After April 23, Gardner was at .154 (8-for-52) but now has climbed to .225 (18-for-80) by getting 10 hits over his last 32 at-bats. More importantly is that 10 of Gardner's 14 walks have been drawn in this span.

Jorge Posada - After April 23, Posada was at .164 (9-for-55) but has dropped to .154 (14-for-91) by going 5-for-36 in that span.

So there you have it. When most of your regular players have slumped, this is what can happen even as the team ERA decreases from 4.33 to 3.73.

On the flip side you have the Tampa Bay Rays, who now sit one game back in an AL East where four games is the difference from first and last.

In the same amount of games as the Yankee slide, the Rays have won has won eight of their last 12 by doing the inverse of the Yankees offensively, though you could go back four more games and says the Rays have won 11 of their last 15.

Since the Yankees have officially slumped for 12 games, it's better to look at the Rays in the same span.

Thirteen games ago, the Rays held a .232 team average (145-for-624) but it has spiked up to .240 (248-for-1033) as the team is hitting .252 (103-for-409) in that period.

John Jaso - Thirteen games ago, Jaso held a .189 average (7-for-37) but has gone 8-for-22 since and is up to .254.

Ben Zobrist - Thirteen games ago, Zobrist held a .197 average (13-for-66) but has gone 17-for-49 since and is up to a respectable .261.

B.J. Upton - Thirteen games ago, Upton held a .210 average (13-for-62) but has gone 12-for-47 since and is up to .229.

Johnny Damon - Thirteen games ago, Damon held a .233 average (14-for-60) but has gone 15-for-50 since and is up to .264.

That's four players who have experienced nearly a 20-point increase in batting average to counter a pitching staff with a 3.32 ERA and that's how you might arrive at this juncture if you're the Yankees.

Also, there was some recent talk about struggling against off-speed pitching and here are some numbers for you to chew on based on the inside edge feature of ESPN.com (numbers through 5/4)

Brett Gardner .210 vs. curveballs

Curtis Granderson . 195 vs. sliders

Derek Jeter .217 vs. curveballs

Those are some examples, but you get the idea. For a further idea, just look at the amount of off-speed pitches thrown at the Yankees by starting pitchers over the last 12 games.

Rick Porcello - eight hits, 88 fastballs, 32 off-speed
Max Scherzer - four hits, 72 fastballs, 37 off-speed
Brad Penny - six hits, 60 fastballs, 38 off-speed
Justin Verlander - eight hits, 76 fastballs, 51 off-speed
Jesse Litsch - six hits, 51 fastballs, 43 off-speed
Kyle Drabek - seven hits, 69 fastballs, nine off-speed
Ricky Romero - five hits, 74 fastballs, 35 off-speed
Edwin Jackson - four hits, 46 fastballs, 45 off-speed
Mark Buehrle - six hits, 68 fastballs, 38 off-speed
Gavin Floyd - four hits - 64 fastballs, 38 off-speed
Philip Humber - one hit - 41 fastballs, 59 off-speed
Jake Arrieta - five hits - 50 fastballs, 47 off-speed

That's 64 hits on 759 fastballs and 472 off-speed pitches for a total of 1,231 pitches. So in their last 12 games, opposing starters have averaged 103 pitches and 39 off-speed pitches.

Of course none of this could matter if the Yankees start hitting again. Based various track records, business at the plate is something that will likely pick up sometime in the near future.