Boland: Javy gets first shot at reeling Red Sox

Javier Vazquez didn't say it then, but he readily admits it now.

Getting skipped earlier this season for a Friday night game at Fenway Park was the best thing for him.

"The way my mind was at that time, I think it helped me," Vazquez said before Wednesday afternoon's game against the Blue Jays. "Helped me relax a little bit."

Vazquez, already with little rope from slow-to-forgive Yankees fans after his brutal relief appearance in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, had an opening month he called "the toughest of my career."

Fans were ready to cast Vazquez overboard and declare the offseason deal that landed him a bust. And with Vazquez off to a 1-3 start with a 9.78 ERA, manager Joe Girardi skipped him in favor of Phil Hughes May 7 at Fenway.

Oh, the difference a few months can make.

Although it probably would take an outstanding October for fans to fully embrace Vazquez, he has been among the Yankees' most consistent pitchers the last month (3-0, 3.34 ERA in five starts). He's now 9-7, and he'll start Friday night against the Red Sox, the first of four games at the Stadium that present an opportunity for the Yankees to all but put their wounded rival out of its misery.

"I feel ready for it," Vazquez said of facing the Red Sox. His teammates had better be, too.

This is the second straight year the Red Sox have visited the Stadium for a four-game series in August, and the scenarios are similar but different. Similar for the Yankees in that they're fighting for a division title; different in the stakes for the Red Sox.

Last August the Red Sox came in trailing by 2½ games but knew that even if the series didn't go well, they were all but assured of the wild card.

And things did not go well for Boston in the Aug. 6-9 series. The Yankees swept them out of the Bronx and increased their lead to 6½ games, for the most part sealing the division title. The closest Boston got the rest of the way was five games.

This season the Yankees bring a half-game lead over the second-place Rays into the series. They are six games ahead of Boston and will begin this weekend's series trying to keep the AL East from becoming a three-team race.

With a difficult schedule ahead, the last thing the Yankees want is to give hope to the Red Sox, who have been besieged all season with injuries. Kevin Youkilis became their 15th player to land on the disabled list Tuesday and will undergo season-ending thumb surgery today. The Yankees end the regular season at Fenway and can go a long way toward making those three games irrelevant by crushing Boston's wild-card hopes in this wraparound series, which concludes Monday afternoon.

Not that the Yankees, who generally despise the Armageddon-like perspective given these series by media and fans, are looking at this weekend that way. But that doesn't mean the players don't enjoy the amped-up atmosphere.

"It's the closest thing that you have to the playoffs," Nick Swisher said after Wednesday's game. "Being fortunate enough to be part of that last year and seeing how all of it goes down, it's fun."

Lance Berkman, acquired last Saturday, had spent his entire career with the Astros but said he followed Yankees-Red Sox from afar.

"It seems like it's the center of the baseball universe when the Yankees and the Red Sox get together, and that's fun," Berkman said. "I'm glad to say I'll be able to participate in it. I think that's something every player kind of wonders, what it's all about, and I'm anxious to see it."

Vazquez said his experience against the Red Sox in 2004 and the lasting reaction might have caused him to try to "do too much" early this season. "I was trying to win 10 games in a couple weeks," he said.

Yankees fans will be happy with just one Friday night - the start of a process, they hope, that puts the Red Sox in their 2010 rearview mirror for good.

Farm report: Cito Culver

Yankees first-round draft pick Cito Culver, taken 32nd overall, signed as soon as he graduated from West Irondequoit High School in Rochester, enabling him to start his professional career almost immediately.

The Yankees assigned the shortstop, who turns 18 later this month, to the Gulf Coast League, and he's gotten off to a decent enough start. Entering last night, the switch-hitting Culver was hitting .276 with a .336 on-base percentage in 33 games. He had 29 strikeouts and 12 walks.

In high school, Culver's arm was considered his strength. The Yankees aren't looking at him as a pitcher, but some scouts were reported to have seen him throw up to 94 mph off the mound. Scouts have said he has a ways to go before becoming a consistent defender. Of course, he's still just 17.