Rough Day For Nova

It was a struggle out there on the hill today for Ivan Nova, who struggled with his fastball and paid for it.

While it's no major cause for concern, as Nova knew that he couldn't get the ball down in the zone when he was interviewed after the game, it does point to what Nova is going to have to do this year to be successful.  His biggest strength is his ability to locate his fastball down in the zone and force a lot of groundballs.  If he can do that, he can be successful.  When he can't, he's going to get hit.

So while this doesn't extradite him from the rotation by any means, it does give us all a window into what is going to drive Nova's success or lack of this season.  And it also gives me an opportunity to bring back Nova the Terrible for the first time in 2011.

So I guess I have to take the bad with the good when Nova doesn't have his fastball command.