Ivan Nova lost a five-run lead tonight. He gave up seven two-out runs in the second inning, allowed a season-high nine runs overall, and was knocked around for his worst start of the season. Joe Girardi explained that Nova had “no fastball command, inconsistent slider, inconsistent curveball.” But to hear Nova tell the story, it was as if he were a part of a different game.
“Bad luck,” he said. “I had a bad day. It was a tough day for me. I threw a lot of good sliders, I threw some good curveballs, I broke two bats and they got base hits. It’s not a good day. … I felt really good and I threw strikes but I gave up 10 hits, nine runs. That’s part of the game. I just have to turn the page.”
The moment was a little too familiar, uncomfortably similar to Kennedy’s postgame interview in 2008 after he allowed nine hits through two innings and seemed to think it was no big deal. That moment stained Kennedy’s reputation the rest of his time with the Yankees.
“I had a bad day,” Nova said. “But I don’t feel that way. I felt really good in that (second) inning, too. I just got hit.”
Repoz
Posted: August 01, 2012 at 12:56 AM |
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1. RepozSo if you believe that his LD % of 60% and HR/FB% of 33% were flukes, I guess he was unlucky.
I don't think it makes sense to hold players terribly responsible for their immediate post-game comments, but after seeing Nova's comments, I was expecting a box score and highlight with a lot of bloops and bleeders.
But it hit off the top of the fence. THE TOP OF THE FENCE, SUZYN...AND WENT OVER!
Dem's da breaks.
Calm eyes don't work from the dugout, sir! Leadership can't be wielded while you sit on your ass, SIR!
There is a pitcher whose name I just can't think of, that always used the "I felt good, I made my pitches" seemingly after every awful start where he clearly ... didn't make his pitches.
Francisco Cordero, after most of his appearances this year?
Jeff Weaver?
One of my favorite internet comments was from my NYYFans days. Jeff Weaver had had yet another bad start and, of course, all the Yankee announcers could talk about was how confounding the results were given that Weaver had "electric stuff." The commenter, whose name I don't recall, then said "Oh yeah? I've got electric stuff too...a microwave, a toaster, a blender..."
Nova came into the game leading MLB in XBH allowed, so maybe he doesn't equate that with being hit hard. Kind of humorous to hear a pitcher getting 7.4 runs of support per game invoke luck to explain a loss...
It's important to pitch well enough that folks have forgotten what you said the last time you got blasted.
Pitcher's don't control what the batter really does with the ball after it leaves his hand and line drives are mostly do to hitter variation rather than bad pitches. The real indicators are strikeouts and walks, because they take multiple pitches to achieve (it's much easier to luck into a popup than a strikeout).
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