"Javier Vazquez, good soldier even if struggling pitcher, had every right to be miffed when manager Joe Girardi made his way to the mound to pull the starter with a two-run lead with two on and two out in the fifth inning, thus rendering him ineligible to get the victory.

It is very easy to make the case that Vazquez, making his first stop since Aug. 21 following his second pit-stop of the season in the bullpen, deserved the shot at qualifying for the victory by going after Lyle Overbay, even though the Jays' first-baseman had homered in the second and walked in the third.

It is even easier to state that the manager's quick hook implied a lack of faith in Vazquez, who spun in surprise and raised his arms in dismay once he saw Girardi on his way from the dugout prepared to make the immediate move (that backfired, no less) to Dustin Moseley.

"I'm disappointed, very disappointed," said Vazquez, who avoided challenging Girardi both on the mound and in the clubhouse following the Yankees' 7-5 victory over the Jays, but who made his displeasure with the decision known. "I guess I am surprised.

"I really don't want to get into [it]. I'm not the manager. Sometimes a player doesn't agree with a decision but you have to respect that he's still the manager, still the boss."

But let's face it. In the Yankees' Universe, the 50 pitches Andy Pettitte threw from the Stadium mound in a simulated three-inning game a couple of hours before the varsity claimed the field were far more important to the franchise than the 88 pitches Vazquez offered in the victory, which stretched the team's winning streak to eight."