Davidoff: Vazquez issue takes away from win over Jays

Your team owns baseball's best record and an eight-game winning streak, and in the post-mortem news conference, your manager sounds more irritated than someone trapped in a cage filled with porcupines.

You, naturally, are a Yankees fan.

It's always about the big picture in the Bronx, especially with only 31 days between Sunday and American League Division Series Game 1. So even though the Yankees outlasted Toronto at Yankee Stadium, 7-5, the true score looks more like this:

One up, with Andy Pettitte.

And one down, with Javier Vazquez.

(Quick aside: How amazing is it that the rehabilitation of baseball's highest-paid player seems like a secondary issue? That's because the Yankees are hitting just fine without Alex Rodriguez.)

Pettitte, out since July 18 with a strained left groin, was pleased after starting the day's activities with a three-inning, 50-pitch simulated game. But Vazquez, making his first start since Aug. 21, expressed his displeasure with his manager after Joe Girardi lifted him one out short of qualifying for a victory.

"It could've been a better outing, but the fact that I got taken out, that wasn't good," Vazquez said. "You never know if I could've gone six innings if I had the chance to go out there."

With a 5-3 lead, Vazquez retired the first two Blue Jays batters in the fifth before walking Jose Bautista and giving up a single to Vernon Wells that put runners on first and third.

That was it. With Lyle Overbay up, Girardi emerged, prompting the usually tranquil Vazquez to throw up his arms in dismay.

"You know, it's tough," Girardi said. "I think [Vazquez's pitch count] was at 88 pitches. The last two outings, he had gone 53 and 55. You look at how they get to the 88 . . . I know a player wants a win. A player wants to be a part of it. But I thought it was time to make a change."

To add miserable to miffed, Dustin Moseley relieved Vazquez and promptly served up a tying two-run double to Overbay.

In this worst of his 12 big-league seasons, Vazquez took a question on whether he interpreted the move as his manager's loss of confidence in him.

"I really don't want to get into that," Vazquez said, still sharp in the clubhouse if not on the mound, "because I know I have nothing to win there."

This matters because, while the Yankees continue to make their case for home-field advantage in the first two postseason rounds, their playoff starting rotation remains a jumble.

CC Sabathia has Game 1, and Phil Hughes is in there somewhere. After that, you have one physical question (Pettitte), one mental (A.J. Burnett) and one all of the above (Vazquez).

Which is why Girardi should've let Vazquez try to finish the inning. If you're thinking big picture, a viable Vazquez takes priority over one more victory over the Blue Jays.

Pettitte looks headed to a minor-league start Wednesday, and he said, "I feel like I should have plenty, plenty of time to get back to where I need to be if I feel like I do right now."

Vazquez? His velocity, after passing 90 mph in a relief outing Monday, dipped back to the 88-89 range.

He'll stay in the rotation, said Girardi, who characteristically declined to criticize Vazquez for his mound body language.

"I'd have a problem if Javy was calling me out to take [him] out. Now that I would have an issue with," Girardi said. "If I feel there's a need to talk to someone, I will talk to them. But that will be something that stays in our clubhouse."

"I'm disappointed. I'm very disappointed," Vazquez said, and so is everyone else.

It goes down as a break-even day for the Yankees' most important issue, and when you either run or root for this team, you aim higher.