Postgame notes: Vazquez gets back to .500
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Jul 06, 2010 
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Mark Teixeira can relate to Javier Vazquez. After a dismal month of April, the Yankees seemed to have a bust on their hands. Vazquez wasn’t locating his pitches, he wasn’t winning games and he wasn’t even giving the Yankees innings, one thing he had reliably done throughout his career. Vazquez was so bad that loyal Joe Girardi skipped him twice in the month of May.
Since then, he’s been one of the Yankees best pitchers, and tonight he was outstanding through seven innings. He allowed just three hits, and when he had 92 pitches through five innings, Vazquez got through the sixth and seventh on just 18 total pitches.
“Had a tough month, but there are a couple of other guys who had a tough month in April,” Teixeira said. “That’s baseball. You’re not going to be successful all season long. You’re not going to be successful every time out. The best players bounce back from adversity.”
At 7-7, Vazquez is a .500 pitcher again, and his 4.89 ERA is less than half what it was on May 1.
“I think his confidence is back,” Francisco Cervelli said. “And everybody is going to see the good Javy the rest of the season.”
• The reason for Vazquez’s early pitch count was obvious. “They were hitting a lot of foul balls,” Cervelli said. “He threw a lot of good pitches. If they didn’t hit so many foul balls maybe he could have thrown a whole game or one more inning. He became more aggressive in the last few innings and the guys put the balls in play.”
• Speaking of foul balls, Cervelli took one off his chest. With Jorge Posada unavailable, Joe Girardi went to the plate to check on Cervelli and joked with trainer Steve Donohue that Donohue needed to get the gear on. “We don’t have anybody else, you’re out there,” Girardi remembered saying. Cervelli, of course, says he’ll be fine. “100 percent,” he said. “150 percent.”
• Girardi didn’t completely rule out using Posada tomorrow. “He told me it felt a lot better today than he thought it would,” Girardi said. “Hopefully it feels a lot better tomorrow than he thought it would too.”
• In a two-run game, Girardi got Dustin Moseley loose in both the sixth and seventh innings. That seemed significant because Chan Ho Park didn’t pitch last night. This might be the kind of role Moseley is ready to step into right away.
• Very good eighth inning from Joba Chamberlain. “Joba has had some hiccups, there’s no doubt about it,” Girardi said. “People talk about the hiccups, especially when they’re late in the game because a lot of times there’s no recovery time. But he was very good tonight.”
• What’s the difference when Chamberlain pitches well? “A lot more strikes,” Girardi said. “Not long counts. Getting ahead of hitters.”
• Couldn’t agree with Teixeira any more: “I like to play two hours and 40 minutes,” Teixeira said. “Have a great pitching outing like we had from Javy, play good defense, get a couple of big hits and call it a night.”
Associated Press photos of Vazquez and Granderson.
Lee went yesterday so he did start ahead of felix. Nothing changed to the M’s rotation
After his 0 for 6, 5 K game in Toronto Tex has quietly put up this line: .309 .411 .564 .975
if he keeps that up he is going to end up around a .270 average, which is fine for him.
# Mickols Sandwich July 5th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Ugh I don’t like the way these announcers pronounce “Jorge Posada” all PC and latino like. Spare me the rolling “R’s” and the soft “D’s” dude.
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Um, Mickols… Posada IS Latino!.. and, it’s OK for all of us to celebrate our ethnic heritage. America is a “melting pot”, but that doesn’t mean we all need to look alike and talk alike. The country benefits from the contributions of the many backgrounds and many perspectives.
Oh, and his first name is pronounced “Hor-hay”… It always bothers me when someone wants to call him “Georgie”.
if he keeps that up he is going to end up around a .270 average, which is fine for him.
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Nice to see Tex coming around, but I wouldn’t call a .270 average “fine for him”.
.03: .259
’04: .281
’05: .301
’06: .282
’07: .306
’08: .308
’09: .292
For a guy in his prime and the expectations we’d like to have for him, I’d say around .285 is fine. .270 is still below average for him.
SportsGeek, shouldn’t that comment go on the relevant thread???
Chad, I am not going to recommend Roma Pizzaria for you — not worth the trip.
For a guy in his prime and the expectations we’d like to have for him, I’d say around .285 is fine. .270 is still below average for him.
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The difference between .270 and .280 is only 5 hits. In the prime of his career I expect Tex to put up monster lines, but given his horrible start finishing at .270/.380/.520 would be great.
Just want to see the OPS at .900
Javy’s pitched very well lately. Like the player we traded for.
New highwater mark? Great job. Next goal, 25 games over .500.
For all my gripes about how many home games the Sox have played, they’re only 12 games over .500 compared to the Yankees who are 15 games.
It would be great for the Yankees to have a good west coast swing before most of the team gets a little respite.
Jerkface July 6th, 2010 at 2:59 am
The difference between .270 and .280 is only 5 hits. In the prime of his career I expect Tex to put up monster lines, but given his horrible start finishing at .270/.380/.520 would be great.
Just want to see the OPS at .900
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Don’t really want to be argumentative here because I actually agree with just about everything you’re saying, but I never loved that 5 hits argument. You can also go the other way and say 5 less hits isn’t so bad, and that’s 260.
I think I just disagree with your wording. But I definitely agfree that after his lousy first half, 270 would mean the 2nd half we’d expect from Tex, and that’s all we can hope for at this point.
I’ll gladly take the .270 (AVG means very little to me; as Jerkface said, OPS is the key stat) especially if Teix produces in the playoffs this year.
I think I just disagree with your wording. But I definitely agfree that after his lousy first half, 270 would mean the 2nd half we’d expect from Tex, and that’s all we can hope for at this point.
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Yea I hear you, and I agree that .270 for Tex is a disappointment overall. I think the last part is what I’m getting at. Tex at .270 means he hits .300 or better the rest of the way. Thats all you can ask from him.
I’ll just take anything better than the first half. From everyone.
I’ll just take anything better than the first half. From everyone.
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A-rod has quietly dropped down to a .345 OBP
Just think:
Tex’s horrendous start. Less production from Jeter. ARod’s numbers aren’t exactly exquisite. Posada can barely stay in the lineup. Lost our DH/#2 hitter. Underwhelming numbers from Granderson.
And we’re still second in baseball in runs scored.
Not to mention a slow start from CC, excruciating start from Vazquez, Burnett’s issues and the bullpen injuries/inconsistency.
And we still have the best record in baseball.
I mean, how is that possible? How is our “struggling” team still better than every other team in baseball? How much better can this team get if it ever functions on all cylinders?
Bottom line: It’s good to be a Yankee fan.
Couldn’t resist (the name, that is).
Nice game by Vazquez. Wendlestat had a pretty small zone for both teams, but Javy still managed a nice 7 innings.
Also, Granderson had a good game: triple, walk, and a hard liner that happened to be right at the SS.
Finally, good stuff from Joba as well. Wish he could find that 97 mph FB at Yankee Stadium as well as on the road.
Well I’m going to pay for staying up last night today but at least it was a good game and the Yanks won.
Great job by Javy. Teixera is looking much better at the plate…and BTW if he gets to .270 then that means he’s had a great 2nd half which is all anybody should care about. How he hit in April and May is irrelevant now.
Sweeping a series on the road is always difficult but sure would be nice with the Sox and Rays playing each other…Second step is taking care of business witn CC on the mound tonight.
That lineup from Granderson was good to see cuz he stayed on a ball away and hit it hard. Other than the Alex HR that won the 4-3 he has not done that for two or three weeks and that’s when he gets into funks. Of course that’s true of a lot of hitters…. when things go poorly hit it the other way!
To me the key for Joba is and always will be bringing the heat. Hitters are sitting on the slider because he throws it too damn much. Both K’s were on big time fastballs. 75 % minimum big fella!
That line-OUT is what I meant to type about Granderson
a whole week of late night games…ugh. I get up way to early to watch the whole game. I went to bed w/ the Yankees winning and the sox losing. Watched the recap this am and was happy to see it stayed that way!
86,
I agree on Joba. He has a man crush on that slider. Its a great pitch but loses effectiveness when he throws it too much and it also contributes to him getting behind in counts. If he would just concentrate on getting ahead with well located fastballs and save the slider for an out pitch when ahead in the count then he could be really good.
A good start to the final regular season western road trip for the year.
I fell asleep during the 6 th and 7th inning, and woke in time to see Joba and Mariano close it down. I’d already been up since 5:30 am that morning. Mariano needed only 10 pitches to get the save.
A’s made a cheap shot revenue scheme out of the Alex and Braden altercation, even Braden and Cust warned against the T-shirts.
they showed those shirts on the broadcast…they looked pretty tame…the fenway faithful could come up w/ something better than that!
maybe Braden would rather be known for his perfect game
If it had happened in a Red Sawx game there probably would have been a real altercation.
Then some Red Sawx fan would have created a song parody, using the Stones’ hit, renamed “Hey, you get off of my Mound”
THAT could have been funny.
Dallas Braden is appaled at the T Shirt because of the lack of tact, so does that include the way his grandmother acted too? I wonder if his grandmother was apprised of his disdain for being tasteless…
that is good 86
Braden hasn’t won a single game since the perfect game in May, and now he’s on the DL, so apropos .
Did we forget to note the sox are now in 3rd place, a b e a u t i f u l thing!
TB wants a sweep as payback for the sox sweeping thm in May. I say it’s all good, just sit back and watch the boston beat down.
Braden is just a whiney punk. I loved how the media jumped all over the perfect game being “justice” for Alex daring to answer back to a pitcher like him. Notice that since that game he is showing what he really is.
I think he used the non-event to fuel himself, but instead he’s showing that he just fooled himself into being something more than he is.
Good morning.
Just give me some more of that.
Great pitching.
Timely hitting.
And plus D.
Time to create some separation before the ASB.
I am happy for Javy. You can tell the guy really wants to do well here.
At All Star Break:
NYY 58-32 -
TB 53-36 4.5
BOS 50-38 6
sorry BOS 50-38, puts them 7 games back:
NYY 58-32 -
TB 53-36 4.5
BOS 50-38 7
Why was Gardner in the lead off slot (Jeter batting second?)