Javier Vazquez is the Yankees' NEXT pitching cornerstone. A direct replacement for Andy Pettitte, Vazquez will be 28 in July and is a hard-throwing righty who eats up innings. But, he gives up homers and lots of them. So far, nine in 48+ innings. Vazquez usually hits the 230 inning mark so his pace is 43-45 homers. Then again, throw out his first game (8 IP, 0 HR), and he's coughed up 9 HR in 40+ innings -- a 51-53 HR pace for 230-235 IP.
The record for homers allowed is 50 by Bert Blyleven in 1986; second-highest is Blyleven and Robin Roberts' 46 in 1987 and 1956, respectively. Curt Schilling gave up 37 HR in 2001 and went 22-6, 2.93 ERA. That's not bad company considering that Roberts is in the Hall of Fame, Blyleven should be and Schilling would be if not for his numerous injuries.
But Roberts pitched almost 300 innings in '56, the Phils played in hitter-friendly Shive Park and Blyleven pitched in the Homerdome in Minneapolis and threw 271 and 267 innings (totals that will not be reached in 2004). No matter how you slice it, the Stadium is actually NOT hitter-friendly (check out the stats at Baseball Reference [link on right column]). Yankees pitchers have routinely been among the stingiest in the league in giving up homers since Torre took over in 1996. Whatever magic Torre and Stottlemyre have, they need it to work on Vazquez.
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