Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Golden opportunity for Vazquez to start over


Javier Vazquez has a golden opportunity to win the affection of New York Yankees fans and put an end to the booing.

If he can use being skipped over in the rotation as a positive, motivating factor, Vazquez can really turn things around for himself in New York. All he has to do is pitch decently. Not great, just well enough to win, which is basically three runs in five or six innings. With the Yankees lineup, that should be enough.

Hopefully being skipped gave Vazquez and pitching coach Dave Eiland enough time to work out the kinks in his mechanics and in his mind. His first test comes tonight against the Detroit Tigers. A decent outing will go a long way toward restoring the pitcher’s confidence in his ability to get batters out.

If Vazquez can somehow string together a couple of adequate starts, including one against the cross-town rival Mets next week, he can win back some good will from the fans. If the Alex Rodriguez situation has taught us nothing else, it proves that success and victory in the most critical moments will ultimately lead to forgiveness from the vast majority of fans. Vazquez should keep that in mind.

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