Likable Vazquez has them at a loss

You mention the name "Javier Vazquez" around the baseball industry, and it's like saying "ice cream" to a classroom full of kindergartners. Who doesn't like Javy Vazquez?

"I root for him," an official from a National League club (who isn't authorized to speak publicly) said. "Great person and family man."

And in a way, that sterling reputation makes this Vazquez situation all the more vexing for the Yankees.

Joe Girardi announced Monday that, as expected, the Yankees would skip over Vazquez during this weekend's series at Fenway Park. Thanks to Thursday's off day, Phil Hughes will pitch on Friday, on his normal four days' rest, followed by last night's winner CC Sabathia and tonight's starter A.J. Burnett. Vazquez, the owner of a 9.78 ERA, will start Monday night in Detroit.

It's the right move. But it guarantees absolutely nothing. The Yankees appear absolutely stumped over this one, and they have to rely on Vazquez's history to get out of it.

"We've got to find a way to correct him," Girardi said before the Yankees' 4-1 victory over Baltimore at Yankee Stadium. "So far, we haven't had a lot of luck."

"There's some major struggling going on here," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "Now, what do you do with it? We'll do everything we can to fix this on the run. I know he's committed to trying to figure it out. He's frustrated. He's hurting right now.

"Once we get him right, someone else will have a job we'll have to deal with."

I don't know about that. We'd be risking little to contend that the Yankees won't face a bigger project, a bigger surprise, this season.

Once the Yankees reacquired Vazquez last December, they immediately regarded him as a pillar. Vazquez was going to serve as insurance for the established trio of Sabathia, Burnett and Andy Pettitte - all of whom worked very hard in last year's playoffs - and the youngster Hughes.

The whole "Can't pitch in New York" thing? Nah. Urban legend, they thought.

Now? Vazquez may not necessarily cower in fear at a map of the five boroughs, but no one will dispute that his shot confidence is part of the problem.

"I think, whenever you struggle, it becomes both" mechanical and mental, Girardi said.

You could argue that the Tigers, who have scored 132 runs to the Red Sox's 131, could present the bigger challenge. Perhaps you can even find humor in the likelihood that Vazquez will pitch to Detroit's Johnny Damon, whose 2004 American League Championship Series grand slam still hovers over the Yankees' righthander.

But this is not just a baseball call. It's about removing Vazquez from the spotlight and scrutiny that surrounds every Yankees-Red Sox series. Said Cashman: "Fenway Park is certainly not an easy place to try to figure yourself out in."

Cashman, relatively forthright on the scale of sports executives, admitted, "I worry that his velocity is down, and I worry that his fastball command's not there," and that those worries prompted the GM to ask Vazquez about his health. Vazquez maintains that he's fine.

So it's back to the baseball laboratory, the bullpen. Vazquez will work there Tuesday and Friday, and then to Comerica Park on Monday.

"Do I expect he's going to throw out a miraculous performance that's radically different from what we've gotten? No," Cashman said. "I hope we'll see something we can hang our hat on, say, 'That was better. Build on that to the next start.' "

From "front-line guy" to "Let's see something encouraging." Vazquez may still be beloved, but at the moment, his fans are rooting for an underdog.