I think we can all agree that Javier Vazquez did not deserve to win.

"We know by now that Joe Girardi treats each and every ballgame as a mountain to be climbed, a safe to be cracked, a war to be won."

Is that a criticism?

It's a nice change of pace from a manager who treated every game like a between-nap chance to provide free product placement for Bigelow tea.


"But there are days like this one when he should just take a deep breath and resist the urge to overmanage."

This better be good, because now you're going to criticize the in-game decision of a manager whose team possesses the best record in baseball and is in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.


"Here he was, trying to bring Javier Vazquez back to life as a starting pitcher, and with two outs in the fifth inning of a game the Yankees were winning 5-3, Girardi came striding purposefully out of the dugout to yank Vazquez and bring in Dustin Moseley."

Second day in a row Girardi removed the starting pitcher after 4 2/3 innings.

Wonderful stuff.


"Never mind that Moseley promptly gave up a game-tying double to Lyle Overbay. That's not the point."

I don't think you have a point. Never mind that Vazquez has given up 29 HRs in 143 2/3 innings this year, that the go-ahead run was at the plate, that right field in Yankee Stadium is 225 feet away, and that Vazquez had given up a HR to Overbay earlier in the game.


"Or that Moseley, the pitcher Girardi just bumped from the starting rotation in favor of Vazquez, is not exactly Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen."

Or that Vazquez, the pitcher whom Moseley replaced, is not exactly Bob Gibson.

Vazquez is sort of a poor man's Denny Neagle.


"Or that the Yankees, sailing along at 85-50 with a seven-game winning streak as the day began, are hardly in desperation mode."

Yeah, well maybe that's because their manager treats each and every ballgames as a mountain to be climbed, a safe to be cracked, a war to be won.


"So why didn't he see the potential benefit of giving Vazquez a chance to get out of the inning, qualify for a win and earn a much-needed boost to his psyche?"

Because there is no benefit, you dope.

An 11-9 pitcher on his way out the door isn't much different than a 10-9 pitcher on his way out the door.

Also, I wonder how Vazquez's psyche would have benefited from another upper-deck blast?


"Whatever the formula, the Yankees found a way to win their eighth straight game, and that's the bottom line.

Maybe they won't need Vazquez come October and none of this will matter. But Girardi can't know that just yet."

I think Harper is wildly exaggerating the importance of one at-bat to Javier Vazquez's psyche, the importance of Javier Vazquez's psyche, and the importance of Javier Vazquez in general.