Pregame notes: “We’re just going to need a good start”

Not even Joe Girardi could spin this as if it’s the Yankees’ best-case scenario. It’s not Plan A. Not Plan B. Not even Plan C. It’s simply the best of what’s left.

Nathan Eovaldi’s elbow is inflamed. Masahiro Tanaka’s hamstring is strained. Michael Pineda just pitched three days ago and Luis Severino pitched lsat night. And so, Ivan Nova is tonight’s Yankees starter for their series finale in Toronto.

A week ago, he was pulled from the rotation because he wasn’t reliable enough. Now he’s starting a game might be the Yankees’ best opportunity to stay in the hunt for the division.

“He’s had some good starts and some bad starts the past month,” Girardi said. “We’re just going to need a good start in his next start.”

Tanaka was lined up for this game, but he strained his hamstring running to first base on Friday, and so the Yankees had to find someone else. Their best option was the guy they kicked out of the rotation just a few days earlier, immediately after he allowed six runs in the second inning against this very same Blue Jays team.

Nova was 2-5 with a 7.46 ERA in his past seven starts before the Yankees bumped him to the bullpen.

“It’s not what you want to hear,” Nova said of his demotion. “You want to pitch every five days, but you also have to understand the situation. At the time, I wasn’t pitching great. I wasn’t winning games for the team, and at this point of the year, it’s what is best for the team.”

At times, Nova has been what’s best for the Yankees.

He had a 3.10 ERA through his first seven starts back from Tommy John surgery this season. He had a 2.59 through the final three months of 2013. He was fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2011.

But Nova’s career has been defined, not by his dominance, but by his extreme peaks and valleys.

Before that tremendous second half of 2013, he was so unreliable the Yankees optioned him to Triple-A. The year after his strong rookie season, Nova had a 5.02 ERA, including a 7.05 in the second half. He faded significantly this season.

And Nova can’t explain why that’s happened. Beyond the obvious – he hasn’t pitched as well – Nova can’t explain the difference between his good outings and his bad outings.

“I have a start like last time I pitched,” he said. “I feel like everything (was the same as earlier) this year, and look how I pitched. Whatever happened there, you start looking at some things. If you pitch good, you can find I did this different than I did last time. But you may pitch bad the next time, and you see the same thing that you did (in the good start).”

So what to expect tonight? All the Yankees can lean on are the high points in Nova’s career, and the fact he won a start in Toronto last month

“I’m going to have the chance to pitch again in something different now,” Nova said. “It’s an important game like always for us, but I got a chance to try to get a win for the team.”

—

• Obviously this day has been focused on the passing of Yogi Berra, and the Yankees will wear a No. 8 on their uniform sleeves for the rest of the season to honor the great catcher. Meredith Marakovits and some others tweeted pictures of the lineup card that will hang in the Yankees dugout tonight. It includes a picture of Yogi in the background. Very cool.

• Hal Steinbrenner said on ESPN Radio today that the Yankees will do “some nice things” to honor Berra at Yankee Stadium before tomorrow’s game. The Yankees rarely mess up moments like this. When it time to honor one of their greats, they tend to do it right.

• Alex Rodriguez had a press conference to talk about Yogi’s passing. He said that, through all of the ups and downs of his Yankees career, he always felt that Berra stuck with him. “I always appreciated that,” Rodriguez said.

• Funny story: Brett Gardner said Yogi always called him “shorty,” which is funny since Yogi was listed at 5-foot-8. “He’s Yogi Berra, he could call me whatever he wants,” Gardner said.

• According to a press release, the Empire State Building will be lit in blue and white stripes in honor of Berra tonight.

• Kinda cool story from my paper: Robert Brum talked to the actor who played Yogi in the movie *61. Turns out Yogi taught him to swing left-handed for the film. “You gotta make me look good,” Yogi told him.

• In non-Yogi news: Masahiro Tanaka will be examined by Yankees doctors tomorrow, but Dan Barbarisi said it still sounds like Tanaka will make his next start next week.

Associated Press photos

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