Game 87: King Of All Of The World

Yesterday afternoon Javier Vazquez looked like surefire trade bait, as the heavily rumored Cliff Lee deal would have left the Yankees with six starters. Instead, Lee went to Texas, Javy takes the hill tonight, and it looks like his spot with the Yankees is secure for the rest of the season.

As you might surmise given our support of him from the time he was reacquired in December, I'm happy Javy is sticking around. Unloading him slightly more than halfway through the first season of his second go round in New York would only have been more fuel for those that say Vazquez is incapable of pitching in the Big Apple.

To the contrary, Javy has pitched quite well over the last month and a half. In his last seven starts he's 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA, has allowed just 45 baserunners in 46 innings, and has held opponents to a .179/.251/.327 batting line. One of those seven starts came ten days ago the Mariners, as Vazquez allowed three runs over six frames and the Yankee bats couldn't respond.

Felix Hernandez pitched for the Mariners that night, tossing a complete game, two hit, three walk, eleven K shutout. He'll oppose Javy again tonight. With Cliff Lee off to Texas, King Felix is the undisputed king of Seattle's rotation once again. With any luck for the Yanks though, Vazquez will prove to be king of the hill tonight.

I was in a real bad way
When you turned the power on
And you made me feel for all the world
Like I was the king of all the world

[Song Notes: I came across this one while looking for songs about "kings" this morning. It occurred to me that we used the Old 97s for the preview on the Saturday before the All-Star break last year as well. That one didn't turn out so well. Hoping for better luck today.]

-Lineups-

Not likely. Chad Jennings will have what you need.