WHY IT'S JUST BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR IVAN NOVA

(Photo: Getty)
Ivan Nova needed only one run from his teammates today but to play it safe the offense went out and gave him 3. The "2011 AL Rookie-of-the-Year" was absolutely spectacular today as he pitched 7 innings of shut out ball to help the Yankees take 3-out-of-4 from the Minnesota Twins.

Bouncing back from that rough outing earlier this week in Kansas City, Nova made the pitches when he needed them the most and was in total control from the start. Even when the Yankees did their best imitation of the Bad News Bears in the field, Nova picked up his teammates and shut down any chance of the Twins scoring. Nova mixed up his pitches and had the Twin hitters off balance for most of the afternoon. His final line today was 7 IP's - 5 Hits - 0 ER - 5 K's - 1 BB. The best part? Nova earned his 13th win of 2011 and lowered his ERA to 3.96.

The Yankee's bullpen combination of David Robertson and Mariano Rivera has quickly become the most dominant 8-9 combo in MLB this year. DRob did what DRob does in the 8th. Despite giving up two infield singles, both of which could have been outs, and a walk to Jim Thome, "Houdini" closed the door on any hope the Twins had. And then it was Mo time in the 9th: 1-2-3 went the Twins and Mariano gets his 33rd save of the year.Ivan Nova continues to show amazing composure despite his age. I mentioned it a couple weeks ago in this piece, WHY IVAN NOVA IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED. This 2010/2011 Ivan Nova reminds me so much of the 1995/1996 Andy Pettitte. I remember when Pettitte became a full time starter for the Yankees. What stood out for me was the way he handled himself on the mound. It seemed no matter what the game situation was, Pettitte kept his composure and showed so much heart. When you turned on a Yankee game and Pettitte was on the mound, when you looked at him you couldn't tell if the Yankees were up 3-0 or down 7-0. Pettitte literally threw one pitch at a time. That is exactly what Ivan Nova is showing to me now. I believe we are truly watching a pitching phenom develop right before our eyes and it goes way back to how much we've supported Nova here at BYB. This piece, WHY HE'S SUPER NOVA is from March, but it just shows that there were early signs, this kid was bound to have a great year. So, enjoy it Yankee fans, I know I am!

For the first 6 innings today the Yankee bats were pretty much sleeping. They managed to manufacture a run in the 6th inning to break the scoreless game. Even though Nova and the bullpen only needed that one run today, the Bronx Bombers tacked on a couple more in the 7th inning with back-to-back, and a belly-to-belly home runs by the "2011 AL MVP" Curtis Granderson and his shadow, Mark Teixiera. (Photo: AP)
For Grandy it was home run #35 of the year and he is now tied with Jose Bautista of Toronto. And for Tex, it was his 34th HR of the season. Can anyone say Maris & Mantle, 1961? Here at BYB, we began seeing the Maris/Mantle & Granderson/Teixeira similarities early on. Check out
WHY ITS 1961 ALL OVER AGAIN and WHY MANTLE & MARIS ARE STILL INTRIGUING TODAY. Casey's been pounding that drum all year.

Other Game Highlights today:

• In addition to Granderson's inside the park homer, it gives him 98 RBIs on the year and Grandy also stole his 24th base of the year.

• Teixeira's solo blast gives him 95 RBI.

• David Robertson continues to dazzle, particularly against lefty hitters. Robertson pitched an inning striking out two more left handed hitters. Robertson has now faced 96 left handed hitters, striking out 47 of them! Can anyone say CY Young? I can... read WHY DAVID ROBERTSON IS CY YOUNG WORTHY.

• Cano hit his 33rd double of the season. Nice.
  

FINAL SCORE: New York Yankees 3 - Minnesota Twins 0.


--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com

Twitter: @MikeyBlu23


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