Coming into the 2011 season, the Yankees most glaring weakness was their starting rotation. Not knowing how free agent signings Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon would fair, much pressure was put squarely on the young shoulders of 24-year old Dominican right hander Ivan Nova. As the season has progressed, the Yankees have held their own, owning the third-best record in the majors and sitting only 1 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox. However, the Yankees have had as many injuries to their pitchers, both starters and relievers, as any team in baseball, putting more pressure on Nova to succeed.
After being called up last summer, Nova has been tagged as a young pitcher with a world of potential, but who is inconsistent in every sense of the word. Some days his command is pin point, but on other days he has the control of Rick Ankiel. Some days his fastball can touch 96 MPH, but on others it may only reach 91 MPH. Nova may string together two or three straight quality starts, but has the potential to follow those up with starts where he can barely make it out of the third inning. Monday in Cincinnati, Nova wowed and surprised everyone with a start unlike any other in his career.
The night didn't start out well for Nova, as Drew Stubbs and Brandon Phillips started the first inning with back-to-back singles. After inducing reigning NL MVP Joey Votto to ground into a run scoring double play, Nova settled in for good. He allowed just two hits over the next 7 2/3 innings, and did not allow a runner in scoring position. His command of his fastball was masterful, pounding pitch after pitch into catcher Russell Martin's glove without forcing him to move it. "He worked off his fastball all game. He threw it where he wanted, when he wanted, and that made all of his other pitches really effective," Martin said of Nova. Nova concurred with Martin. "Today, I used my changeup a lot, because I know they have a lot of power hitters," Nova said. "You don't want to let them hit your fastball. I started mixing it in from the beginning, and we kept doing that all game."
Other than command, the key to Nova's success was throwing strikes early and often. He threw first pitch strikes to 18 of 28 hitters and threw 70 of 105 pitches for strikes, leading to 23 of 26 Reds hitters being set down. The Yankees are hoping for more of the same from Nova, and especially more consistency from him. If he can give them more starts like the one last night, New York will be in good shape come September and October.
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