Ivan Nova, welcoming me back to Yankee Stadium for the first time in over five months in style. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
For all of the success has had this season, I’m amazed I haven’t read more about the fact that this was a player the Yankees didn’t even protect in the 2008 Rule V draft, and who they nearly lost to San Diego for chump change until the Padres apparently decided he wasn’t good enough for them.
Nova continued to show why he’ll almost certainly be getting the ball in Game 2 of the ALDS, firing 7 2/3 shutout innings — tied for his second-longest outing of the season — against the Rays and leading the Yankees to . The outing — in which Nova gave up six hits, walked three and struck three men out — was Nova’s 5th-best of the season by Game Score (67), and also tied for best Game Score of any member of the Yankee rotation in the month of September ( put up a 67 on September 4 against Toronto and also did it September 9 against the Angels), although he appeared poised to turn in arguably his best start ever, if not for a two-out walk in the eighth. Had not lifted him — he was only at 103 pitches — Nova might have been able to get through eight shutout innings for the first time in his career. The closest he’s ever come were the eight innings of one-run ball he threw against Cincinnati on June 20, which remains the best start of his career.
If you want to get picky about the outing, it would’ve been nice to see Nova pick up a few more strikeouts and not rely entirely on batted ball luck. However, at this point, considering the fact that he’s been able to do it all season, it may be time to just accept that Nova continues to inch closer to becoming part II, a.k.a. a pitcher that may not have a true out pitch but that can execute when he needs to to induce a much-needed groundball.
The offense came to life in the 2nd inning against , as singled home a double, while cleared the bases several batters later with a double down the right field line. That the bases were even loaded was a bit of a fluke itself, as decided to lay down a bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs — in the second(!) inning — but he managed to beat the throw and leg out an infield single. I almost wish he’d made out there, except even if he did he undoubtedly would’ve still thought that the sacrifice was the right play there. As much as I hate the bunt, I’m OK playing for one run late in a tie ballgame, but I just can’t abide handing an out away when you could be playing for a huge inning. The Yankees still got their huge inning, but the process was shoddy.
Nova’s biggest test came in the 7th, as he worked himself into a bases-loaded, no-out jam, and managed to walk away completely unscathed, getting Demond Jennings to pop out and then inducing a huge double play off the bat of . Jennings’ at-bat was by far the biggest moment of the night, with an LI of 2.01, so big ups to Nova. While Rays fans were likely tearing their hair out at being unable to convert any runs in that situation, Yankee fans went bald with the number of bases-loaded opportunities the team squandered. The Yankees came to the plate with the bases juiced three times following Curtis’ huge double in the second and came away with zero runs in each instance. They won, and so all is forgiven, but it’s still worth noting the Yankees left 18 men on base in this one. I suppose that’s preferable to not putting men on at all, which is something they were doing quite a bit of for much of this month.
This game also evened the Yankees’ number of times being shutout with the number of times they’ve shut their opponent out on the season, with both tallies at eight.
The Yankees’ magic number for a playoff berth is now down to two, which means they’re in as long as they win one of their two games today. If they sweep today’s doubleheader and Boston loses to the Orioles again, they can also lock up the American League East today. Good times.
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Nova has shown occasional glimpses of striking people out (so did CMW actually shortly before he got the foot injury). Nova doesn’t seem to be the worm killing machine that wang was, but if he can get a few more k’s and limit his walks a bit better he could be great. Right now he’s good to very good and I’ll certainly take it. Still hoping Hughes turns it around though and gets healthy/shows why we kept him instead of IPK although that’s gonna be pretty tough with how he’s pitching for arizona.
Wanger CONSTANTLY showed glimpses of Ks, but never solidified his slider. He played with it exactly as Nova does. Some nights he really had it going and looked unhittable while others he’d hang a couple early, lose confidence and we’d never see it again. It’s tough for a sinkerballer to rely on a finesse pitch like a slider. I could throw a sinker and give up a single or double at worst or I could hang a slider and watch it go 500 feet in the other direction.
I completely agree that he needs to start Game 2. Steady Freddy hasn’t been so steady this month and Colon has been very inconsistent in the second half. I don’t even need to talk about Hughes at this point.
I’m impressed by Nova’s composure in medium to high leverage situations. and given the improvement in his slider since mid-season, I think it’s very possible that it continues to improve and enables him to raise his K-rates, at least a bit, maybe more.
Rich, here are some numbers to prove you are correct regarding medium to high leverage situations: Opponents are hitting .206 against him with runners in scoring position, .125 with the bases loaded, and .164 with runners in scoring position with two out. I believe this doesn’t include last nights numbers so they should be even better. He’s been very good since coming back from the minors, save that kansas city start.
Interesting. Thanks, Joe.