MLB

Yankees likely to skip Vazquez against Red Sox

The early indication is that the Yankees will skip Javier Vazquez’s turn in the rotation on Friday, bypassing the struggling righty for this weekend’s Red Sox series.

Manager Joe Girardi said yesterday that the Yankees “have not discussed” Friday’s starter yet and said: “Right now we are on rotation.”

Vazquez will throw a bullpen session today.

Because the Yanks are off on Thursday, they can skip Vazquez against Boston. The next time they would need him would be a week from tomorrow in Detroit.

Vazquez is 1-3 with a 9.78 ERA and hasn’t had a good start yet.

“You can say it’s physical. You can say it’s psychological. You can say it’s mechanical,” Girardi said. “Whatever it is, we have to fix it.”

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who had Vazquez on his staff in Chicago, said of Vazquez’s outing on Saturday: “He did not look confident or aggressive.”

“Javy is going through something right now and it’s unfortunate because it’s tough enough to go out and pitch in a major league game,” Cooper said. “It’s tough to go out there and perform in any major league game. And when you have your own fans against you, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

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The White Sox stayed at the W Hotel on Broadway and 47th this weekend, and Chicago’s manager Ozzie Guillen called the near-attack in Times Square “kind of scary. But I think the police handled it the right way.”

Guillen, however, did say: “The people [nearby] were stupid. The police should have just said, ‘Hey, there’s a [suspicious] car here. Get out.’ But they were taking pictures.”

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The Yanks get another crack at Baltimore righty Jeremy Guthrie tonight.

Guthrie hit Jorge Posada last week at Camden Yards and also drilled Mark Teixeira and Francisco Cervelli in spring training. He’s plunked nine Yankees since 2008.

Girardi said last week he didn’t think Guthrie was throwing at Posada. But he said: “It’s somewhat of a problem. It could be he sees us a lot more than other clubs. He never misses us. And he could be trying too hard.”

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With Alex Rodriguez out and Ramiro Pena already in the game, Cervelli played two innings at third base, the first time he’s played anywhere other than catcher. Cervelli got a taste of third in spring training.— Additional reporting by Fred Kerber