Javier Vazquez

The Yankees have been doing so well lately, but no matter how good they play there is still going to be a small faction of fans who are just never going to be happy. It’s sad in a way, especially when these fans have latched on to Javier Vazquez and are looking for blood.

Due to financial reasons, a highly-paid pitcher moves from a solid team and comes to the Bronx with high expectations.

People spoke on how he comes from a weaker division, and wonder how this right hander, who is a control specialist but strikes out his share of batters, will fare in the mighty American League East, a division which had four of the top five hitting teams in the AL.

This starter is a workhorse, rarely missing a start and throwing 200-plus innings with relative ease.

Javy Vazquez started his second game in his second stint for the New York Yankees yesterday.

Pitching against the Angels, Vazquez was just as abysmal as he had been against the Rays last Friday night.

He's only two starts into the 2010 season, but Javier Vazquez is not providing the depth promised when the Yankees acquired him via a trade in December.

After a 5 2/3-inning debut in which he surrendered eight runs against the Rays, the right-hander once again failed to escape the sixth frame on Wednesday, when he yielded four runs in a 5-3 loss to the Angels.

Vazquez is now 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA.

Los Angeles pitcher Joel Pineiro (1-1) limited New York to one run over seven innings, as the Angels earned a 5-3 victory Wednesday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Pineiro only allowed five hits while striking out seven and walking none. Javier Vazquez (0-2) suffered the loss after allowing four runs in 5.1 innings.

Someone once said: "Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore."

Last night, Javier Vazquez at times looked as though he might have been looking for his ruby slippers.

Javy, you're not in Atlanta anymore.

Many Yankee fans and most of the Yankee brass have trumpeted the return of Vazquez as just what the Yankees needed. They've pointed to the Yankees' lack of a fourth starter in the playoffs last season and proclaimed that Vazquez solves that problem.

The Tampa Bay Rays saw two Javier Vazquez's tonight.

In innings one, two, three, and five, they faced a pitcher whose velocity and command made him difficult to hit. The Rays went down in order in the first, third, and fifth, and couldn't score off Vazquez after putting two men on base to begin the second.

During those four innings, Vazquez fanned five Rays, who simply couldn't hit the ball hard against the right-hander.

Once the obvious first two rounds are drafted, the GM of your tiny team must begin to look deeper into your own knowledge of the sport.

Players begin to be less of stars and more of knowledge. The stats from previous years can often lie, you often try to stay away from losing records by pitchers and hitters that were injured or didn't hit more than 20 home runs or hit over .275.

Heres a hint for you. If the pitchers switch teams, the ERA will stay the same but the Win column will improve.

If the hitter is hurt, 75% of the time he will get better.

Javier Vazquez is the luckiest man in baseball right now, and he probably doesn't even know it.

Imagine a World Series where Bad A.J. shows up instead of Good A.J. in Game Two, or Johnny Damon is thrown out trying to take that extra base in Game Five, or Hideki Matsui rides the pine with a bum knee in Game Six.

Had the Baseball Gods seen things differently, the Yankees may have entered a new decade riding the same ghost train that departed the Bronx in October 2004.