Gut Check Time For Sabathia & Nova This Weekend

(Can't have this again, Ivan.  Courtesy of the AP)

The Yankees have fought their way back to 4-4 on this 11-game meat grinder and they're heading back to Boston this weekend to finish it up.  They took a pretty bad beating in the 4 games at The Stadium last weekend, and need much better starting pitching to make this weekend's results different.  Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball tonight and he was pretty good last Sunday against the Red Sox.  The bigger concerns are with the two guys following him, CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova.


Sabathia missed last weekend's series and that was probably for the best.  In 4 starts against Boston this season he's pitched to a 7.15 ERA in 22.2 IP while giving up 30 hits and 11 walks.  Things get even uglier when the games are at Fenway (13 ER in 10.1 IP).  Fenway has been a personal house of horrors for CC his entire career - his ERA in 12 starts there is 5.30 - but things have been even worse for the majority of his Yankee career.  From 2010-2012, Sabathia had a 5.86 ERA and 49 combined H and BB in 27.2 IP at Fenway, so needless to say he's far from the ideal pitcher to have on the mound even without the velocity and command issues that have plagued him this season.

For Nova the concern is health-related, although his track record against the Sawx isn't littered with success either.  He came through his recent bullpen session fine after leaving his last start early with more triceps tightness, but he got eaten alive by the persistent and powerful Red Sox lineup last Thursday due to his lingering command problems and Hughes-esque inability to put guys away.  Not knowing how good that triceps is feeling, it's already risky sending Nova out there on Sunday.  That risk increases if he gets into more 30-40 pitch innings again.  Another early exit from him to put more responsibility on the hit-or-miss bullpen is not a winning recipe.

The opportunity was there to make a splash in the Wild Card race last weekend and the Yankees whiffed on it.  They were lucky enough to not have that  bury them and now they're right on the Rays' doorstep ready to snatch the second spot.  They need a better showing against Boston this weekend, at least 2 out of the 3 games, to keep the pressure on and they need better starting pitching to help accomplish that goal.  Sabathia and Nova have been far from good against Boston this year and in years past, but they could go a long way in erasing some of those memories with good outings this weekend.