Coming into this game, Javier Vazquez had a lifetime 1.50 ERA at Roger’s Centre.  Today he has certainly lived up to that stat.  Vazquez went seven innings and only gave up one hit.  That one hit didn’t even come until the sixth inning when Vernon Wells belted a two run homerun into left center.  Vazquez also struck out nine batters:  a season high.

When asked about getting back on track, Vazquez said, “I felt like that my last few starts.  I feel much better with my command.  I feel good that I can do it against an offense like the Blue Jays.”

“Javy’s really smart.  He knows what he’s doing,” says Francisco Cervelli.  “I think in his last four starts he’s shown he’s Javy Vazquez.  Javy’s a great pitcher and he can do it.”

On the Blue Jay’s side, Brandon Morrow also pitched very well against the Yankees.  He went seven innings, gave up four hits and one run and he struck out eight.  The Jays bullpen, however, could not come through.  Between Downs, Frasor, and Lewis they gave up two hits, three runs, and four walks.

The Yankees bats took a while to get going in this game.  In the second inning, Alex Rodriguez was the first to get a hit, but because of a base running mistake he was thrown out at second.  Robinson Cano reached on a double when the ball boy picked up the hit and tossed it to a fan in the stands.  Fortunately for the Jays, the Yankees were unable to score.

Nick Swisher had a tough time at the plate today.  He struck out three times and, in my opinion, they were bogus calls.  It seemed to me that when Swisher was at the plate the strike zone seemed to widen for the homeplate umpire Bruce Dreckman.  Swisher got really heated on the second strikeout in the eight inning.  He checked his swing, but Dreckman struck Swish out saying he went around without even looking to the third base umpire.  Joe Girardi came out to get Swisher away from Dreckman so he doesn’t get ejected.  Joe took over in the arguement and got tossed right away.  Bruce made a bad call and got an earfull.

After the ejection was when the Yankees bats started to pick up.  With Brett Gardner at third and Derek Jeter at second the Jays decide to intentionally walk Mark Teixeira to load the bases for Rodriguez.  I was SHOCKED when this happened for two reasons:  1.  Teix has been struggling in the series so why not pitch to him?  and 2.  HELLO?!?! Have the Jays ever looked at the stats in these situations??  Only a little damage was done.  Because of a wild pitch, Brett Gardner was able to score and tie the game.

When asked what he thought about that decision, Joe Girardi said, “He’s playing the percentages.  Managers are going to do that.  He’s trying to get the double play.  We got the wild pitch and the strike out.  It didn’t work out for them.”

Robinson Cano put the Yankees ahead in the eight inning with a two run double scoring Jeter and Teixeira.  Cano was asked if he was surprised they pitched to him.  “It was two outs,” he says.  “I didn’t think he would’ve walked me with two outs so I had to get a good pitch to hit.”

Francisco Cervelli gave us a scare in the eight inning.  He was hit by a pitch on the left shoulder.  It is scary to see Cervelli get hit after his spring training concussion, which was also against the Blue Jays.  “Another hit by pitch in my career.  It’s part of the game,” says Cervelli.  “We started scoring runs after so I’ll take it.”

One bizzare moment that happened in the game was bringing in Mariano Rivera….or so we thought.  When Tony Pena, who took over for Joe, signaled to the bullpen, Mo started jogging out but they were looking for Damaso Marte.  “I don’t know what happened,” laughed Mo.  “I know I was ready.  You guys had your laugh.  We won the game.”

When asked about using the phone after the incident, Mo said, “I was going to call somebody but I hung up.  We lost connection.”  Mo steered off furthur questions and said, “Javy pitched amazing.  We won the game.  That’s the most important thing.”