April 4, 2011, Bronx, N.Y. – The record is now 3-1 for the Yankees. They’ve won three of four games, yes, but perhaps more important in 2011 with the focus on the rotation, three of four starters have given the team a quality chance to win. Teamed with yet another show of power, it was enough to garner win No. 3 of the season.

The news on young righty Ivan Nova was mostly good, even if, much like Phil Hughes who preceded him the day before on the mound, Ivan’s eventual struggles were similar to those he experienced last year. He was almost too good to be true at the start, powering through the first three frames around an infield error and a walk on just 28 pitches. Nova considers the ground ball to be his friend, a wise choice about which Yankee fans have every reason to be happy. He routinely gets to 94 mph with his fastball but, despite coaxing a swinging strike out against center fielder Denard Span to start the game, he’s not afraid to have his pitches find wood. He would strike out but three, yet retire 11 Twins hitters on ground balls.

Ivan set the visitors down on seven pitches in the first, a three-pitch strike out and two grounders to short. Like many a right-hander, Ivan needs to focus on getting lefties out. The good news is that he has a big-league change of pace that he uses to do just that. He retired superstar but 0-for-4 catcher Joe Mauer on grounders using his change two times, closed the Twins’ two-run fourth with one to Jason Kubel, but earlier that frame on a full count, power-hitting lefty Jim Thome solved the pitch, scoring two runs on a booming double to right center that cut the Yankee 4-0 lead in half.

The manner of the early Yankee scoring followed a template already set. Minnesota righty Scott Baker started off just as effectively as Nova, setting Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter down and earning an 0-2 count to Mark Teixeira on six straight strikes. But he hit Tex in the foot with his seventh throw and brushed Alex Rodriguez back with the next. Alex managed to get his hands inside a following two-seamer bearing into his body and scorched a liner double-digit rows back in left field for a quick 2-0 lead.

Baker escaped further damage with a strike out, but was back in trouble in the second, starting with a leadoff walk to Nick Swisher. Ball one to Jorge Posada, who homered twice Sunday, was Baker’s fourth straight miss of a first pitch, and the veteran Yankee DH worked the count full, then turned on a fastball and deposited it three rows back in right for a 4-0 lead. Curtis Granderson followed with a hard single, but Russell Martin bounced into the first of three Yankee double plays of the evening. The Twins starter walked Brett Gardner, but Jason Morneau flagged Jeter’s base hit bid inside the first base bag to end the frame, and the Yankee scoring.

And it eventually became a concern that the Yanks may not have scored enough. Alexi Casilla and new Twins second sacker Tsuyoshi Nishioka doubled around a strike out in the fifth to narrow the home team edge to 4-3. Nova often dominated early in his seven 2010 starts, only to struggle in the game’s middle innings, the reason he garnered but one win in three decisions despite the solid work. And here the opposition was effectively attacking his pitches the second and third times through the order again, though he answered the bell for the sixth annd pitched his way out of a leadoff single with a “twin” killing and his third strike out. He has four solid pitches and seems comfortable with them all, but Ivan does miss the zone a bit too much, not only throwing 32 balls with 52 strikes, but finding the zone with first tosses just half the time (12 of 24). Interestingly, he missed in this respect to all six Twins batters in the two-run fifth.

The Bombers would threaten with two outs in the fifth on a Granderson walk and what appeared to be a hit and run single by Martin through the vacated hole to right as Grandy broke from first, but as it happened on an 0-2 count it’s unlikely the Yanks called a play requiring their catcher to swing in that situation. Martin’s seeing-eye single was impressive; his 1-1 delayed steal doubly so. The guy knows how to play the game, and the Yanks were set up with two in scoring position, albeit with two outs. Gardner worked the count full, then lined to the left-field corner, but Young made a fine diving catch to keep his team close. And all this took place after Teixeira may very well have homered earlier in the frame, as his 3-0 drive curled so high over the right field foul pole that the umps had no recourse but to judge it foul based on where it landed, 15-20 feet foul. But it might have carried inside a foul pole tall enough to show it. Robbie Cano singled in the sixth and the eighth, the latter after a Teixeira single but also an A-Rod 5-4-3 where Alex looked to have beaten the throw at first. Although 0-for-7, the top of the order showed some signs. Gardner hit the ball hard twice, and Jeter just missed doubling down first with barely foul soft liners in two different at bats.

Even though Nova threw just 82 pitches, Joe Girardi happily accepted his six innings, handing the game to his three-headed closing machine to start the seventh. Joba Chamberlain threw free and easy – and hard, retiring three straight in the seventh on nine pitches. Rafael Soriano changes speeds on his fastball just enough to keep hitters off stride. He overpowered Denard Span for a strike out to start the eighth, but Nishioka reached when his hopper deflected off Soriano’s glove. But the new pinstriped setup man handed the ball to Mariano Rivera after setting down Mauer and Morneau to end the inning. Mo finished the job for his third save, and the Yanks walked off after 2:38 with a 4-3 win, despite a rare occurrence. Mariano actually stared toward home plate and showed some pique when he didn’t get a Dan Bellino call on a close pitch to Danny Valencia before retiring him with a grounder to third, with a nifty play by Rodriguez finishing Minnesota off.

Four days ago, Chamberlain, Soriano and Rivera set down nine straight with three strike outs on 39 pitches to nail down 2011 Yankee victory No. 1. April 4, 2011, would have been the 180th birthday of painter and inventor Linus Yale, who would lend his name to Yale locks. Monday night, this Yankee trio struck out but two and allowed two one-base hits, but they teamed for three scoreless frames yet again, this time throwing 42 pitches. Mr. Yale would have been proud as these three once again put this one …

Under lock and key.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!