Joe Girardi was heavily criticized, most of it self-inflicted, in the morning papers today for not trusting his gut instinct and making a pitching change that cost the New York Yankees any chance at beating the Los Angeles Angels and preserving their streak of winning series in 2010. But the real mistake was trading for Javier Vazquez, yesterday's starter and loser, in the first place, something Brian Cashman and Girardi will soon have to concede.
The loss in Anaheim was not a surprise given the Yankees history of struggles there. But they had a chance to overcome that history, thanks in large part to a dominating performance by the old man of their rotation Andy Pettitte, and probably would have if Vazquez had not been on the mound. After a decent outing last week, Vazquez was unable to build on any confidence that victory had given him.
I said back when the trade was announced in December that I wanted no part of Vazquez and nothing I've seen so far has changed my mind. At some point, the Yankees will have to acknowledge that they made a mistake bringing him back. Out of hope, desperation or sheer arrogance, they will keep sending him out to the mound every five days for a while. But you can't keep letting Vazquez interrupt the team's momentum.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment