I forgot what it felt like for the Yankees to come out of the gate in April like Secretariat and just have their way with the rest of the American League. Well, that feeling is back.

After six seasons (60 seasons in Yankee years) of bad starts, the Yankees have made a seamless transition from the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2010. The offseason feels as though it was just one long off-day rather than a four-month layoff, and 2010 has felt like an extension of 2009 and I like it … I LIKE IT A LOT (Lloyd Christmas voice). I’m not about to say that the 2010 Yankees are better than the 2009 Yankees because that won’t be determined until the decorative bunting returns to the Bronx, but as of right now, it looks like getting to October won’t be a problem.

In the first two and a half weeks of the season, there has been 11 wins, a .733 winning percentage, five series win in five tries, to near no-hitters and a triple play. It’s almost as though the 2010 season has a script to make the potential end-of-the-year championship DVD as Hollywood-like as possible.

This Yankees team has the “We play today, we win today, dassit” attitude that Mariano Duncan implemented and that the 2009 Yankees didn’t find until late May (at the earliest). The difference? There isn’t an injured Chien-Ming Wang or up-and-down Joba Chamberlain in the rotation, and the bullpen isn’t still waiting for the Phil Hughes Bridge to be built to Mariano. The Yankees entered the season with a pitching staff that has limited flaws, and the only real question was Javier Vazquez, but he finally answered some of those questions on Tuesday, even if they weren’t the convincing answers we were looking for.

On Tuesday I wrote about Javier Vazquez’s needed to get into the win column and contribute to the team’s success in some way to avoid more boo birds at the Stadium at the end of the month. Vazquez responded with a so-so performance, but it was good enough for a W against the surprising A’s, and at least it bought him some time to stay out of the way of headlines and criticism until his next start on Sunday against the Angels.

But the real issue with Vazquez, one that he might not be able to shed, is that I don’t trust him, and I don’t know any Yankees fan that does. There is no question that the ability is there for Vazquez to be successful, I’m just not that sure if he is cut out for this whole pitching in the American League thing. If he finished the year with 17-plus wins and an impressive ERA in the AL East, would he gain my trust? I’m not sure, but I hope we at least get to the point where I have to make that decision.

Vazquez isn’t the only Yankee that suffers from my lack of trust, and if you couldn’t guess the other one, it’s Nick Johnson.

I am at a constant divide with Nick Johnson. Part of me loves his on-base percentage that hovers around .400 and the other part of me thinks that $5.5 million could have been spent on something else. I don’t know if I am supposed to classify it as a love-hate relationship or frustration or a combination of the two and other synonymous words for annoying, but like Vazquez in the rotation, Nick Johnson is the farthest thing from trustworthy in the lineup.

Plenty of my sabermetric friends who read that last paragraph probably just threw up, as did sabermetricians around the world (including those that built the 2010 run prevention Red Sox), but there is more to evaluating Nick Johnson than on-base percentage, which I am certainly an advocate of. What’s the sabermetric stat for someone who has one hit since two Tuesdays ago? Do I think that Nick Johnson is capable of hitting .300, making this early season slump forgetful and being the “R” in a lot of Mark Texeira and Alex Rodriguez’s RBIs? Yes. But I also know that my TV remote is only a few more called third strikes with runners in scoring position from no longer being safe.

Now, am I ready to purchase www.benchnickjohnson.com (which is available) and start a movement to sit No. 26 next to No. 28? Not yet, but don’t think that thought hasn’t crossed my mind. Part of the reason I am writing this is because my reverse jinx of calling out Javier Vazquez out on Tuesday worked, so why not try the same with Johnson on the day the Yankees begin a three-game set against the now red-hot Angels at Angels Stadium. I figure if my words can get Javier his first win in three starts, maybe they can get Nick his first hit in his last 19 at-bats.

To be fair, if Johnson was enduring this slump during say Games 91 through 105, rather than Games 1 through 15, it would be a side note in a Yankees notebook column somewhere. But because it is the beginning of the year and because of who he is replacing on the roster, his early season slump is now the one negative on a team that is trying bury the Red Sox and separate themselves from the Rays.

When Johnson hit that home run in the first inning of the first home game, I thought he was going to become the short porch’s new best friend, a void that Johnny Damon left. Instead he has become the best friend of opposing pitcher’s and the electric chair for rallies.

Obviously I want Nick Johnson to do well and I want to like him, but he needs to give me a reason to, and right now, coming out to “Party in the USA” is the only thing to like about him. The common theme about the Yankees right now is “Hey, they are 11-3 and Nick Johnson and Mark Teixeira aren’t even hitting yet.” But at some point the people responsible for the 11 wins won’t be hitting either and Nick Johnson will be asked to carry the club for a series or two. (I don’t mention Teixeira here because I don’t think anyone is truly worried about him).

Let’s hope this attempt at a second reverse jinx in four days works. Let’s hope that Nick Johnson tears it up against the Angels this weekend and the Yankees win their sixth straight series to open the season. Let’s hope Nick Johnson finally shows us why Brian Cashman was devastated to let him go the first time and eager to bring him back a second time. Let’s hope the only thing Yankees fans have to boo when the team returns home are the players on opposing teams.

I hate when the Yankees have off days, especially when they are running on all cylinders and playing like they might never lose again. But without Yankees baseball on Monday, I got a chance to watch the Mets begin a stretch of games that will ultimately determine whether or not Jerry Manuel will have to file for unemployment, as well the debut of the Mets’ chosen one: Ike Davis.

The first round of the Survivor-like battle for immunity between Jerry Manuel and Lou Piniella went to Manuel, as Ike Davis made a seamless transition to the bigs by sending a message to Daniel Murphy that he either needs to learn a new position or find a new line of work. Like a veteran, Davis let a changeup makes it way outside the zone against Randy Wells in the second inning before picking up his first hit in majors in the same at-bat. And then against left-hander Sean Marshall, Davis jumped out of the way of two epic breaking balls before picking up his second career hit and first career RBI. In one night, Davis basically matched Mike Jacobs’ numbers through the first two weeks of the season, and instilled some hope and confidence into Mets fans.

I am as far away from being a Mets fan or liking the Mets as I am from becoming a member of Red Sox Nation, but for some reason I like Ike Davis. This will probably change by Friday since Mets fans will likely start debating if Davis is better than Mark Teixeira, but until then, I’m an Ike Davis fan.

Why is this a big deal? Because I’m not a fan of any Met, but there is something about Davis that makes him a likeable player and personality even though he is part of a cast of unlikable characters. I’m not going to go pick up a “Davis 29” shirt today, I’m just saying that I am pulling for him to do well.

For at least one night, Davis helped remedy the Mets’ problems at first base and he gave a fan base that is ready to jump ship a reason to stay onboard a little longer. In a season where conflict has found the Mets like a season of The O.C., Davis has emerged as the one bright light capable of providing some relief for Mets fans and an alternative to the liquor cabinet for the time being.

On the other side of town – the winning side – the Yankees’ are currently harboring the anti-Ike Davis. While the Mets have found their one flicker of hope on a team of turmoil, the Yankees have one thorn in the side of their plans to run away and hide in the AL East.

The Yankees have played 12 games this season, and at least every person on the roster has helped contribute to the Yankees’ nine wins except for Javier Vazquez. For a guy who was expected to flirt with a 20-win season in the Bronx in his second go-around with the Bombers, the second verse has started the same way the first one ended.

When the Yankees traded for Vazquez, there were three questions that he needed to answer during his second chance in pinstripes:

1. Could his success in the NL translate to success in the AL?

2. Could he leave the past (2004) in the past?

3. Could he handle the pressure of pitching in New York this time since he couldn’t the first time?

So far we’re 0-for-3 if you’re scoring at home.

Yankees fans spent the winter believing in a changed Vazquez, a pitcher who was supposed to be much different than the man who helped contribute to the biggest stain in franchise history. Instead Vazquez’s two starts have been an extension of the 2004, while the rest of the team tries to extend the 2009 season.

If you were to play the word association game with “Javier Vazquez,” the first thing that comes to mind is Game 7, but 2004 would also be an acceptable answer. Will there ever be a day when I hear “Javier Vazquez” and don’t immediately think of his ill-fated attempt to wiggle out of a bases-loaded jam in Game 7? I don’t think so. But it doesn’t mean he can’t begin to rewrite the story of his time with the Yankees.

I have been torn on whether or not is it fair to get on Vazquez after just two starts or roughly 6 percent of what will be his regular season body of work for the year. Part of me thinks it’s a bit insane to expect perfection in baseball and the other part of me thinks that Vazquez needs to do something to prove he won’t be a glaring hole in the rotation between Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes. The difference between Vazquez failing in the Bronx and getting booed and a big-name free agent failing and getting booed is that Vazquez has a history in New York. And the only thing to judge him by is his one year in New York, which everyone is trying to put in the back of their minds, but he keeps bringing it up to the front.

The thing that Vazquez enthusiasts and non-Yankees fans don’t understand is that the only body of work that matters for evaluating Vazquez is what he has done with the Yankees. No one in the Bronx is impressed by what he did with the Expos, Diamondbacks, White Sox or Braves, or how he dominated the National League in 2009. So when he gets lit up by a limping Angels team and outpitched by Joel Pineiro’s sinker at home, no one is going to be forgiving because he won 15 games for the Braves last season, simply because no one cares. Yankees fans are going to judge him based on how he performs in New York, and if his performance deserves some April Bronx cheer, so be it. It’s deserved.

For anyone else in baseball on any other team in baseball, their third start of the season in April would be exactly that. But after laying a pair of eggs against the Rays and Angels, and being the only unproductive piece of the Yankees so far, Vazquez’s starts against the A’s and Angels are getting the attention of October starts. No one is worried about Mark Teixeira getting a hit once a week or Nick Johnson taking called third strikes like a hobby (though that’s getting annoying), but everyone is worried about Javier Vazquez because he has done nothing in the past to prove he can bounce back from adversity.

There will be a sense of urgency in each of Vazquez’s two road starts in order to get him right before the Yankees return home, because the closer the Yankees get to returning home and the farther Vazquez is removed from being who he was last year, the louder the boos will be in the Bronx. If Vazquez is going to be bad against the A’s, he better be outstanding against the Angels. If he ends up back in New York still winless at the end of the month, he better be on the disabled list because the last place he is going to want to be in the world is on the mound at Yankee Stadium pitching for his first win of the season after a month of action.

At 9-3 with series wins over the Red Sox, Rays, Angels and Rangers, there should be little to nothing to complain about with the Yankees and their best start to the season in seven years. Tight now Javier Vazquez is the “little” something to complain about, but he can change that on the West Coast, 3,000 miles away from where one pitch from over five years ago still defines his Yankees career.

It might only be his third start of the year, but it’s time Javier Vazquez proves his worth to Yankees fans. There is just no way he can return home without having already done so.

In 2003, Pedro Martinez allowed just two extra-base hits off 0-and-2 counts prior to Game 7 of the ALCS. But when Hideki Matsui doubled off Martinez on 0-and-2 in the famous eighth-inning comeback, he became the second hitter in three at-bats to hit an extra-base hit off Martinez with Derek Jeter having doubled on 0-and-2 pitch to lead off the inning.

I had never seen, in person, the Yankees win consecutive games in the same series at Fenway Park. One win was hard enough to come by, but the second win in a row had been my 0-and-2 against Pedro. That is no longer the case as the Yankees took down the second and third games of the opening series to ride a two-game winning streak into Tampa Bay this weekend. Let’s just hope they can continue their winning ways without me on hand.

Aside from the “Yankees suck” chants and the “You did steroids” chant directed at A-Rod which is ironic coming from a fan base whose team has David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron on the roster, it was a rather smooth two nights at Fenway Park. I probably could have done without a soggy Fenway Frank bun that looked like it was dipped in water and prepared for Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi, but you can’t have it all, and I will gladly take the two Yankees wins over a dry hotdog bun.

Judging by the atmosphere at Fenway, the rivalry hasn’t lost a step in Boston and with the Yankees fresh off the 2009 championship, the rivalry has gained steamed as Bostonians returned to second-rate citizens in the AL East. While the rivalry continues to have a strong foundation and key players that help fuel the hatred between Yankees fans and Red Sox fans, one player is being left behind as the battle for AL East supremacy carries on.

In left center at Fenway Park, there is a scoreboard screen that lists the lineup of the team batting and an asterisk denotes the hitter currently at the plate. During Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS, I remember looking at the screen in extra innings and trying to figure out how long the Yankees had until the asterisk made its way back to the heart of the order to Ramirez and Ortiz. And when the duo was due up in the bottom of an inning, I kept thinking to myself, “The Yankees have to score now.” Sure enough, it was Ortiz who had the game-winning hit off Esteban Loaiza in the 14th inning.

I now find myself hoping the asterisk finds Ortiz as quickly as possible because with Jason Varitek on the bench, Ortiz has become the easiest out in the Red Sox lineup.

There was a time when David Ortiz was the symbol of fear for Yankees fans. Extra-base hits were expected from him and when he was held to only a single, you felt like you just passed a cop going 80 mph but didn’t get pulled over. Ortiz wasn’t fazed by anything in the box (mainly because the Yankees never tried to move him off the plate) and he just waited for Yankees pitchers to miss their location by a centimeter before making them pay.

From 2003-July 31, 2008, David Ortiz was a rock star in Boston, and probably could have defeated Ted Kennedy for a seat in the Senate if he wanted to. He received the loudest ovations when he was introduced as the hitter, his jersey was the most popular among Red Sox fans and kids across New England began spitting on their batting gloves in between pitches to mimic the slugger Theo Epstein revived off the Twins’scrap heap. But since Manny Ramirez left Boston, the cheers for “the designated hitter, number 34, David Ortiz” have become almost derisive, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis have taken over the jersey sales, and I’d imagine little league coaches are strongly advising against Ortiz’s routine and habits at this point.

Since August 1, 2008 (when Ortiz began playing without Manny), Ortiz has hit .261 with 37 home runs and 142 RBIs in 202 games. It has taken him basically a season and a third to produce the same power numbers he did annually from 2004-2007, and those years he hit .301, .300, .287 and .332. He wasn’t hitting .261, which is 20 points below his .281 career average.

On Tuesday night after David Ortiz went hitless again, he wasn’t the happy and smiling face from his days as one of the league’s best sluggers when he flipped out on reporters.

“You guys wait ’til [expletive] happens, then you can talk [expletive]. Two [expletive] games, and already you [expletives] are going crazy.

“What’s up with that, man? [Expletive]. [Expletive] 160 games left. That’s a [expletive]. One of you [expletives] got to go ahead and hit for me.”

As my Red Sox friend Hurley pointed out, everyone always assumed that Ortiz played babysitter to Manny in Boston, but maybe it was the other way around?

I have long waited for the day David Ortiz was no longer able to hit a baseball consistently or with authority, but now that the day has come, it’s actually pretty sad. Don’t get me wrong, the only thing I hate about Fenway Park more than “Sweet Caroline,” which is also the only time I wish my name wasn’t Neil, are the “Papi” chants that pollute the air when David Ortiz steps in with runners in scoring position. But David Ortiz has been the heart of the Red Sox order for so long and is one of the few remaining players on the Red Sox from the heated battles of 2003 and 2004 that it’s almost like a piece of the rivalry dies as his power does too.

Ortiz drove in the only run for the Red Sox on Wednesday, but it was his only hit of the series in 11 at-bats. When the “Papi” chants began in the bottom of the eighth inning on Wednesday in a 1-1 game with Ortiz stepping in to face Chan Ho Park, for a second it felt like three years ago as the Fenway crowd tried to push the calendar back to 2007 hoping for some late-game heroics from Ortiz. But Ortiz’s alter ego “Big Papi” no longer exists, as Chan Ho Park needed just three pitches to strike out plain old David Ortiz and end the inning.

At some point in the very near future (I have the over/under set for May 1), David Ortiz won’t be the full-time DH for the Red Sox. At some point Theo Epstein and Terry Francona are going to have to let Mike Lowell play.

Maybe Mike Lowell hit on Terry Francona’s wife at the Christmas party or ran over Theo Epstein’s dog for them to treat him so poorly, but eventually they are going to have to realize that they are wasting $12 million on the bench while David Ortiz wastes at-bats. I love the mistreatment of Lowell that goes on with the Red Sox because it means less doubles off the Green Monster for the Red Sox and more strikeouts for the Yankees. But you’d have to think eventually enough will be enough.

This is the last year of Ortiz’s contract with the Red Sox with the team holding a $12.5 million option for 2011 that is unlikely to get picked up. As new faces Curtis Granderson, Randy Winn, Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro and John Lackey enter the rivalry to begin another chapter in Yankees-Red Sox history, the chapter on David Ortiz looks to be coming to an end. And even though he will take a piece of the rivalry with him, it’s safe to say he won’t be missed.