The only sign left that Red Sox-Yankees is a big series is that the Yankees do not want Javier Vazquez starting in it.
And the Yankees even are trying to defuse that. Yankees officials insist they are not skipping Vazquez tonight out of fear that he cannot emotionally handle all that comes with facing the Red Sox. Instead, they claim that in the short run they need Vazquez to serve as a long reliever to protect a bedraggled bullpen. And in the big picture, skipping Vazquez now will enable CC Sabathia, a strong hitting pitcher, to start in a DH-less game Sunday night at Citi Field, and Andy Pettitte to be in line to start later this month against both Minnesota and Cleveland, teams you would want to start lefties against.
So barring an early ouster of Phil Hughes or Sabathia, or an extra-inning marathon, Vazquez will be a spectator for what sets up as the Yankees’ least intriguing series of this week.
For it is hard to see how The Rivalry — with all its pomp and lore — comes close to the drama, meaning and storylines that will be provided by the Yankees’ next two series: against the rising Rays and reeling Mets. At this moment, Red Sox-Yankees feels like Law & Order, only it cannot be cancelled. It keeps ending up on a national TV schedule out of habit, out of hope that it can recapture what existed in the gladiatorial heyday of 2003-04, when every inning, every pitch was invested with Game 7 poignancy.
Now the conversation is mainly about if loose-lipped, look-at-me umpire Joe West was right that Red Sox-Yankees games are too long, and if anyone west of New England cares much about this Rivalry.
The Red Sox arrive as a fourth-place, .500 team. Maybe the Yankees can further the notion that this is not Boston’s year over the next two days or the Red Sox can reinvigorate their season by coming into The Bronx and doing some damage. But Pedro flipping Zimmer it is not, and it is not even the rest of the dang week.
After the Red Sox, the Yankees itinerary reads: Attempt to stop the speeding train that is the Tampa Bay Rays and go across the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge to potentially participate in the ritual sacrifice of Jerry Manuel.
At this moment, the Yankees have to look down to see the Red Sox, and as organizational DNA goes, the Yankees are constructed to fixate on what is ahead of them, not behind them. And what is ahead of them is a Tampa Bay squad currently on a 114-win pace. The Yankees might want to remind the Rays that the AL championship goes through The Bronx or risk having Tampa Bay continue to develop its team-of-destiny muscle.
As for the Mets, perhaps the Yankees are saying everything that they think about their cross-town frenemy by whom they plan to have open the series Friday night: Javier Vazquez.
Because with all the reasons offered for why it was best for the whole pitching staff to skip Vazquez against the Red Sox — and the Rays, too — general manager Brian Cashman did say, “He has been by far our fifth-best guy in the rotation, so for now he gets the short straw.” These days the Mets are the short straw, the easiest mark on a schedule. Citi Field is the kind of place where you look to rebuild Vazquez’s stuff and confidence.
Vazquez can’t hide in a Subway Series, but Friday night is the lone game that is not being nationally televised. And, from the looks of current events, the Mets’ teetering season and Manuel’s even more tenuous job status are going to be the topics that swallow New York this week — unless Vazquez has an opinion on where LeBron James might be going.