Vazquez ineffective, but Yankees beat Mariners

Before and after the game, Joe Girardi wasn't buying a drop in velocity as the reason for Javier Vazquez's recent struggles.

But something obviously isn't right, which is not what the Yankees' teetering rotation needs.

Vazquez lasted only three innings-plus yesterday, allowing three solo homers and four runs, but the Yankees - who usually don't score much when he pitches - picked up the slack offensively in a 9-5 win over Seattle in front of 48,158 at the Stadium.

After Josh Wilson's leadoff single in the fourth, Girardi brought in Chad Gaudin to face Ichiro, who already had homered twice off Vazquez - on an 84-mph fastball in the first and a 77-mph changeup in the third. "His stuff just wasn't crisp today," Girardi said. "I just thought it was time to go to Chad."

As for the velocity, Girardi said: "When he was winning games, he was throwing fastballs at that velocity, first couple of pitches of an inning, too. It's just right now, he's a little off."

Vazquez, who hasn't won since July 26 and has a 5.05 ERA, gave up eight hits. He has allowed 35 hits, including eight homers, and 19 earned runs in 23 innings in his last five starts.

The other homer off him was a monster, as Russell Branyan - already the only player to hit a ball off the windows beyond Monument Park - became the first player to reach the fourth deck in rightfield at the new Yankee Stadium. "He hit a cutter right down the middle," Vazquez said of the 86-mph pitch.

Branyan's homer was on a 3-and-1 pitch; Ichiro's two line-drive shots came on 2-and-0 and 1-and-0. "Bad location," Vazquez said. "I'm not getting ahead of the guys. If you don't get ahead of the hitters, you're going to get hit in the big leagues. I'm not locating, I'm getting behind in the count . . . all of that translates to a lot of runs in a few innings."

But the Yankees (76-47) overcame the quick 2-0 deficit with a four-run first and a three-run seventh against Mariners lefthander Jason Vargas, who retired 15 straight batters in between.

The bullpen produced another outstanding performance, holding Seattle scoreless until Mariano Rivera gave up a meaningless run in the ninth. Chad Gaudin, Boone Logan and David Robertson allowed two hits in 42/3 innings before Rivera got the final four outs for his 25th save - the first time this year he pitched more than an inning in a save situation.

The Yankees had 10 hits, including Robinson Cano's two-run single and Jorge Posada's two-out, two-run shot in the first.

But Vazquez's recent difficulty was the dominant theme of the afternoon. His lack of velocity - his fastball averaged 87 mph and topped out at 90, according to PitchFx - again was evident. "I wish I knew," he said. "I've been talking about it for a while now, so I wish I knew."

Girardi said that with Thursday's off day, he'll look into making sure A.J. Burnett and Vazquez don't pitch back-to-back so he can use the catching rotation he had much of the season - Francisco Cervelli catching Burnett and Vazquez, and Posada catching everyone else.

But Vazquez's concerns go beyond who is catching. "I'm just not commanding right now," he said. "I'm falling behind in the count, and when that happens, you're going to have bad games."

The Yankees remained one game ahead of the Rays, who scored three runs in the eighth to beat the Athletics, 5-4.