Yankee fans not quick to forgive or forget Vazquez for past 
NEW YORK – While players may have very short memories, the fans do not.
We hold back stuff we do and don’t like for an infinite period. Those memories erased only by something better or worse that comes along.
The test case for this has become Javier Vazquez.
It was the second start of the season for old-new Yankee, six years removed from his last appearance in pinstripes. Angels first baseman Kendry Morales drove a changeup up the alley for a run scoring double to up their lead to 3-1 as the right-hander put his head down in disappointment.
As Manager Joe Girardi made the slow walk to the mound, he and everyone else know what to expect.
Vazquez gave his skipper the ball and began his walk back to the dugout. Along way, Yankee fans would serenade him with boos to end his afternoon.
You may wonder why this would be.
The Yankees, coming off a world championship, seem to have re-ushered in a new beginning, with a clean slate for players. Everyone associated with that 2009 team earns a special place in everyone’s heart at least until they fail in October.
For Vazquez, everything is a little different.
When last we saw him, he was the face of the worst moment in the history of the franchise. Simply throw out the year “2004” and the words “Game 7”, and it is enough to conjure up the horrific events of that historic and infamous night.
There was the dead corpse of Kevin Brown, the starter for the Yankees in that Game 7 started burning the coals in that game, departing in the second inning with Boston leading 2-0.
In came Vazquez out of the bullpen. Joe Torre chose him as an All-Star just three months prior, but pitched terribly in the second half to a 6.92 ERA in addition to two terrible starts in the postseason.
In he came, with the bases loaded and (now former Yankee) Johnny Damon at the plate. I remember saying at the time that if he grooved a fastball on the first pitch that the ball would leave the park.
On cue, Vazquez served up a grand slam to Damon, making the score 6-0, essentially cementing the Red Sox comeback from 0-3 down to win the pennant, starting the genesis for their mini-dynasty in Boston. Two innings later, Damon greeted him again with another homerun and the collateral damage from that series was that Vazquez needed to send into exile.
Six years later, he is no longer a wide-eyed pitcher brought with the expectations of being the staff ace. Instead, Brian Cashman brought him here to bring stability of innings and good production that he has performed to throughout his career, all while pitching as the team’s fourth starter, a (as they say) non-pressurized situation.
When the Yankees announced the trade, it was met with a quizzical and puzzling thought. Why would the Yankees bring back a man who lasting image in people minds is Game 7?
Last Friday against the Rays, things were going just fine for three scoreless innings, and then “boom”. By the bottom of the sixth, Girardi needed to pull Vazquez before the stat-line got worse. Eight runs in 5 2/3 innings was not the best way to reintroduce one’s self.
Yesterday, he had a chance to make amends for his poor first start. Instead, it started to look like more of the same. He was in trouble early but escaped. In the third inning, he was not so lucky. The amazing part of it was he was always ahead of the hitter 0-2 or 1-2.
It wasn’t this being a case of shaky nerves. He was throwing strikes. Yet, went it came to putting a hitter away (opposing batters hit .091 against him down 0-2 last season), he could not summon the ability in his four pitch arsenal to do so.
As the hits came and the runs scored, the boo-birds came out. For the fans, this wasn’t a new beginning, but rather a continuation of an old, checkered past.
The boos were indicative that 2004 was a scar that has yet to completely heal despite last season’s championship.
Did Vazquez deserve it? No. But as Derek Jeter eloquently put it, “They’re Yankee fans, they want to cheer for you. They come here to cheer for you.”
We want to cheer for him, but he has to give us a reason to cheer. Mediocre to ugly performances as we have seen the last two games are not going to have anyone break out pom-poms.
That is not how it goes.
Adulation is brought about by production. Anywhere else, less is deemed acceptable.
Here it is not.
No matter how well he does during the regular season, like Alex Rodriguez before him, his final exam will come when he makes, at maximum, three postseason starts.
In New York, the boos can turn to cheers as quickly as the cheers can turn to boos.
The years may have moved on, but the fans have not. All they see in Vazquez right now is the worst and it is up to his performance to change that.
This will not happen overnight.
Hopefully he knows that.
NEW YORK – While players may have very short memories, the fans do not.
We hold back stuff we do and don’t like for an infinite period. Those memories erased only by something better or worse that comes along.
The test case for this has become Javier Vazquez.
It was the second start of the season for old-new Yankee, six years removed from his last appearance in pinstripes. Angels first baseman Kendry Morales drove a changeup up the alley for a run scoring double to up their lead to 3-1 as the right-hander put his head down in disappointment.
As Manager Joe Girardi made the slow walk to the mound, he and everyone else know what to expect.
Vazquez gave his skipper the ball and began his walk back to the dugout. Along way, Yankee fans would serenade him with boos to end his afternoon.
You may wonder why this would be.
The Yankees, coming off a world championship, seem to have re-ushered in a new beginning, with a clean slate for players. Everyone associated with that 2009 team earns a special place in everyone’s heart at least until they fail in October.
For Vazquez, everything is a little different.
When last we saw him, he was the face of the worst moment in the history of the franchise. Simply throw out the year “2004” and the words “Game 7”, and it is enough to conjure up the horrific events of that historic and infamous night.
There was the dead corpse of Kevin Brown, the starter for the Yankees in that Game 7 started burning the coals in that game, departing in the second inning with Boston leading 2-0.
In came Vazquez out of the bullpen. Joe Torre chose him as an All-Star just three months prior, but pitched terribly in the second half to a 6.92 ERA in addition to two terrible starts in the postseason.
In he came, with the bases loaded and (now former Yankee) Johnny Damon at the plate. I remember saying at the time that if he grooved a fastball on the first pitch that the ball would leave the park.
On cue, Vazquez served up a grand slam to Damon, making the score 6-0, essentially cementing the Red Sox comeback from 0-3 down to win the pennant, starting the genesis for their mini-dynasty in Boston. Two innings later, Damon greeted him again with another homerun and the collateral damage from that series was that Vazquez needed to send into exile.
Six years later, he is no longer a wide-eyed pitcher brought with the expectations of being the staff ace. Instead, Brian Cashman brought him here to bring stability of innings and good production that he has performed to throughout his career, all while pitching as the team’s fourth starter, a (as they say) non-pressurized situation.
When the Yankees announced the trade, it was met with a quizzical and puzzling thought. Why would the Yankees bring back a man who lasting image in people minds is Game 7?
Last Friday against the Rays, things were going just fine for three scoreless innings, and then “boom”. By the bottom of the sixth, Girardi needed to pull Vazquez before the stat-line got worse. Eight runs in 5 2/3 innings was not the best way to reintroduce one’s self.
Yesterday, he had a chance to make amends for his poor first start. Instead, it started to look like more of the same. He was in trouble early but escaped. In the third inning, he was not so lucky. The amazing part of it was he was always ahead of the hitter 0-2 or 1-2.
It wasn’t this being a case of shaky nerves. He was throwing strikes. Yet, went it came to putting a hitter away (opposing batters hit .091 against him down 0-2 last season), he could not summon the ability in his four pitch arsenal to do so.
As the hits came and the runs scored, the boo-birds came out. For the fans, this wasn’t a new beginning, but rather a continuation of an old, checkered past.
The boos were indicative that 2004 was a scar that has yet to completely heal despite last season’s championship.
Did Vazquez deserve it? No. But as Derek Jeter eloquently put it, “They’re Yankee fans, they want to cheer for you. They come here to cheer for you.”
We want to cheer for him, but he has to give us a reason to cheer. Mediocre to ugly performances as we have seen the last two games are not going to have anyone break out pom-poms.
That is not how it goes.
Adulation is brought about by production. Anywhere else, less is deemed acceptable.
Here it is not.
No matter how well he does during the regular season, like Alex Rodriguez before him, his final exam will come when he makes, at maximum, three postseason starts.
In New York, the boos can turn to cheers as quickly as the cheers can turn to boos.
The years may have moved on, but the fans have not. All they see in Vazquez right now is the worst and it is up to his performance to change that.
This will not happen overnight.
Hopefully he knows that.
No comments:
Post a Comment