Posada says Vazquez is 'at the top of his game'

Yankees fans may look at Javier Vazquez and recall a Game 7 they'd like to forget, but Jorge Posada sees a pitcher at the peak of his career.

"He's obviously a lot more experienced, has obviously gone through a lot," Posada said Sunday after catching Vazquez's first spring training bullpen session. "We got a guy here now that's at the top of his game."

Manager Joe Girardi is taking things slow with his pitchers, and Vazquez was not scheduled to throw until Wednesday. Vazquez, however, talked to pitching coach Dave Eiland and said he was ready to go. He threw 35 pitches - fastballs and changeups - Sunday.

"I've been throwing in Puerto Rico, a few bullpens, and it's been like a week and a half since I threw my last bullpen, so I wanted to get a feel for it again," Vazquez said. "They said if you want to throw one of these days, no big deal, and I told them I would love to throw today."

Posada caught Vazquez in 2004 when he went 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA and, most memorably, was hammered in relief as the Red Sox earned a 10-3 win in ALCS Game 7 to complete their stunning comeback from a 3-0 series deficit. Vazquez replaced Kevin Brown in the second inning and allowed a grand slam by Johnny Damon, the first batter to face him. He walked five in two innings and also allowed a two-run homer by Damon as Boston took an 8-1 lead in the fourth.

After the 2004 season, in which he was bothered by an ailing shoulder, Vazquez was traded to the Diamondbacks in the deal that brought Randy Johnson to the Yankees.

Posada said Vazquez is a different pitcher with a more complete inventory now. "Fastball, curveball, slider, change," he said. "He's adding and subtracting from his curveball and his changeup. He wasn't able to do that in '04 here. That tells you that he's doing a little more with his repertoire.

"Slider is something new now," Posada continued before correcting himself: "He had it but he didn't use it much."

Vazquez said he already is "comfortable" in his second go-round with the Yankees, and Posada is a major reason. "I've known Jorgie for a while now," Vazquez said. "We've kept in touch while I was away, so it's good to have him back."

Posada said having worked together is a benefit. "It's easy for me to call his games because he has four outstanding pitches; you don't go wrong with [any] of the pitches when you call them," he said. "The timing of everything now is a lot better."

Largely because of Joba Chamberlain's innings limitation, the Yankees rarely saw consistency from their fourth and fifth starters in '09. Girardi thinks Vazquez will help solve that problem.

Vazquez, who finished fourth in the NL Cy Young Award voting after going 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA last year, has surpassed 200 innings in nine of the last 10 seasons. The exception was 2004, when he threw 198.

The Yankees got 230 innings from CC Sabathia, 207 from A.J. Burnett and 1942/3 from Andy Pettitte in 2009. "If you can get 1,000 innings out of your rotation, your rotation's doing its job and your bullpen is not going to get overworked,'' Girardi said, "and that's a real good thing."

Who emerges as the fifth starter will play a large part in getting to 1,000, but Girardi clearly expects plenty from Vazquez.

"I know he's a very tough competitor, so I am curious to watch him pitch," Girardi said. "I have a lot of faith in him, and I think he's going to be a big part of our rotation."