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Ivan Nova won his fifth game of the year tonight, pitching seven strong innings against the Oakland Athletics and allowing three runs and six hits in the Yankees 6-3 victory.

But two of those hits were home runs, long ones, too, by Josh Reddick and Kila Ka'aihue, continuing a disturbing trend by Nova of surrendering long balls. He has now given up 12 home runs in his first nine starts (56 innings), just one fewer than he allowed all last season in 165 innings.

"I think it’s because he’s been up in the zone sometimes and I think that’s an adjustment he needs to make,'' Joe Girardi said. "Solo homers you can usually live with as long as you don’t give up too many of them in one game. But it is something he needs to improve on.''

Nova's ERA dropped slightly, from 5.69 to 5.46, and his assessment of his own performance was similar to the manager's.

"Leaving the ball up and making the same mistake, throwing the wrong pitch at the wrong time and the hitters are getting really comfortable,'' he said. "It's something I've got to keep working on, and hopefully it stops right there. I know I'm going to give up a home run one day, but not too many like this year so far.''

Nova was hampered somewhat by some tightness in his right hamstring, suffered during his bullpen session on Tuesday. "I'm not going to say my hamstring was 100 percent, but I feel OK,'' he said. "My arm feels good, so the injury that I have is not so serious.''

But a couple of days ago, it was bad enough that Nova was concerned he might not be able to go tonight. "The first couple of days, it was hurting,'' he said. "Yesterday I came here and got treatment and it was much better today. I always tell them, don't take me out of the game, let me pitch.''

Nova's seven innings matched his longest outing of the year, accomplished twice previously this season.

Ivan Nova Stat To Watch
The Yankees' outfield defense figures to be a key tonight, given that the game will be played in a ballpark that is much bigger than Yankee Stadium.

Will that help Nova, who has allowed 10 home runs already this season?

It could, if those fly balls are turned into outs. Nova has gotten outs on 33 of the 44 fly balls and pop ups that have stayed in the ballpark this season.

That .250 opponents BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is a little higher than the major league average (.166).

If the Yankees play deeper, they may have a chance of cutting off the fly balls, but it could impact how they fare against line drives. Nova has allowed a MLB-worst 13 line-drive doubles this season.
-- Mark Simon

More Shifting
Get used to it, Yankees fans. You’re going to keep seeing the shift until Mark Teixeira and company change their hitting ways.

The Athletics, a team always on the forefront of advanced statistical analysis, recently passed the Yankees in terms of the number of documented shifts used this season. They’ve been caught on camera using some form of a shift 85 times by the folks at Baseball Info Solutions.

Oakland still trails the Rays, Orioles, Indians and Blue Jays, but their number could get a boost this weekend.

RISP Struggles

Every Yankees hitter who has batted at least 40 times this season has a higher batting average with the bases empty than with a runner in scoring position.

The average AL player and AL team bats seven points better with runners in scoring position. What the Yankees are doing in this regard is extremely unusual.
-- Will Cohen

Cook in the Kitchen
If the Yankees fall behind, they will have to catch up against a reliever who has gotten little attention this season, though that may change soon.

Athletics reliever Ryan Cook has not allowed a run in 22-2/3 innings and has yielded only four hits in 70 at-bats. He has the lowest opponents batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS in the majors.

Of the balls that have been hit against him, only six percent have been line drives (that’s about one-third the normal rate).

Cook features what might be baseball’s nastiest slider, one that breaks sharply down and in to a left-handed hitter, or down and away from a righty. Lefties have one hit in 39 plate appearances against him.

Look for more on Cook on ESPN.com over the weekend.
--Katie Sharp

Ivan Nova got through his bullpen fine. So after injuring his ankle on Monday in Baltimore, he will be fine to start on Saturday against the Reds at Yankee Stadium. For Nova (4-1, 5.44), the thing now is to pitch better.

"I have not been too consistent," Nova said. "Sometimes, I'm pitching good. Sometimes, I'm not. Too many hits."

Nova is allowing 12.1 hits per nine innings.

• Alex Rodriguez is just getting a day off today, but even Joe Girardi admits we haven't seen that much yet from A-Rod. Rodriguez has just five homers and three doubles in 136 at-bats.

"A little bit," Girardi said when asked if he's surprised by A-Rod's lack of authoritative hitting. "I've always talked about home runs coming in bunches. ... It hasn't happened for him either. Like I said, I think you could say that about every guy in our lineup."

A-Rod will turn 37 and his power trends are going the wrong way. Ed Marks on the Times' Bats Blog did a nice job of demonstrating the dip.

Since the start of the 2008 season, when that hip “irregularity” was detected, Rodriguez has been averaging one home run for every 17.1 at-bats. His 1994-to-2007 average translated to 42.3 home runs for a 600 at-bat season; his average since then yields 35.1 home runs per 600 at-bats, a decline of 17 percent. He hit 35 homers in 2008, and 30 in 2009 and 2010. In his first four seasons with the Yankees he averaged 43.3.

And it’s getting worse. Much worse. Last season he averaged one home run for every 23.3 at-bats; so far this year, with a total of five home runs in the Yankees’ first 37 games (two fewer than Raul Ibanez), he is averaging one for every 27.2 at-bats -- a rate that would give him 22 homers if he has 600 at-bats this season.

And he ranks only eighth on the team in slugging percentage (.412); even Eric Chavez (.523) and Andruw Jones (.472) are ahead of him.

• Girardi was talking about why he hasn't switched up the lineup again.

"This is not a game you play once a week," Girardi said. "This is a game you play every day. Hitters are going to go through their peaks and valleys. If you start trying to time it, it is like trying to time the market. It is dangerous. You are also managing personalities and egos. These guys have done it for us. Every year, we look up and Tex has got 30 and 100-plus. Would I like all of my guys to hit .350 and have an on-base of .425 and 35 homers? Hell yeah. But that is not going to happen. You have to be patient. This is a game where you have to be patient because it is every day. If you play one football game, that is 10 of our games. Our game is different."

Girardi is batting Ibanez fifth for the first time this year, ahead of Nick Swisher.

• The Yankees have picked up utility man Matt Antonelli off waivers from the Orioles.

Antonelli, 27, has appeared in 29 games with Triple-A Norfolk this season, batting .204 (19-for-93) with four doubles, one home run, seven RBIs and 19 walks. He has played first, second, third, shortstop and left field. Selected by San Diego in the first round (17th overall) in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, he saw his lone Major League action with the Padres in 2008, batting .193 (11-for-57) with six runs, two doubles, one home run and three RBIs in 21 games as a September call-up.

He is more insurance with Eduardo Nunez now an everyday shortstop at Triple-A. Antonelli is headed to Triple-A now.

Ivan Nova was still limping this afternoon on his heavily taped right ankle, which took a line drive off the bat of Nick Markakis in the third inning Monday night, and then turned under him as he fielded a chopper by Wilson Betemit in the sixth.

Nova left the game after the second injury and had an X-ray, which came back negative. He left the clubhouse Monday night limping heavily and admitting he "felt pretty bad'' but said the injury had improved overnight. "It hurts a little bit but not like last night,'' said Nova, who allowed five runs in 6-1/3 innings but escaped with a no decision. "Last night was really bad. I was a little bit scared.''

Nova said he intends to throw tomorrow as part of his regular between-starts routine, and expected to make his next start on Saturday in New York. But Joe Girardi was not so sure.

"He feels better, but I can't tell you if he's going to make his start or not,'' Girardi said. "We'll see how he feels again tomorrow and if he can do his bullpen and where we're at."

Girardi said he would not hold anyone (read: David Phelps) out of his bullpen in anticipation of Nova not being ready to go. "I have to use my 'pen accordingly and try to win the games between now and Saturday,'' he said.

And how long could he wait before deciding whether Nova was fit to pitch in four days? ""We really probably don't have to make a decision until Saturday game time,'' Girardi said.

Ivan Nova was removed fromt he game after apparently injuring himself while fielding Wilson Betemit's high-bouncing grounder to the first-base side of the mounds leading off the sixth. Nova completed the play by flipping to Mark Teixeira, then hobbled slightly before bending over in obvious pain. Manager Joe Girardi and an assistant trainer hurried out to check on him, and then all three left the field, Nova walking without aid but limping slightly. He was replaced by Clay Rapada.

The game was tied, 5-5 at the time of Nova's departure, and the 25-year-old righty was hit hard from the first inning. His final line -- 5-1/3 IP, 7H, 5ER, 3BB, 4Ks and one long home run by J.J. Hardy -- will earn him a no-decision tonight, but his ERA rose from 5.02 to 5.44.

(The New York Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday at 7 ET on ESPN.)

Ivan Nova has won 15 straight decisions, one shy of the franchise record held by Roger Clemens. Nova is 3-0 against the Orioles, with all three wins coming during this streak.

This season, Nova’s tendency has been to feel out his slider and curveball after a couple innings then pick one to use predominantly. He’s relied heavily on the slider in only one start even though it’s been his most effective pitch.

Batters are missing on 43 percent of swings at Nova’s slider, and hitting just .118 on at-bats ending on a slider. On all other pitches, they're hitting .386.

Nova has pitched into the sixth inning in all four starts, and has been supported by a bullpen that is tied with the Texas Rangers for the second-best bullpen ERA in the American League. (In Nova's four starts, the Yankees' bullpen has allowed one earned run in 11⅔ innings.)

The American League team with the best bullpen ERA is the Orioles at 1.76. They started the day one game back of the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East – thanks in large part to their pitching. After having the worst team ERA in the AL in four of the last 11 seasons, Baltimore's 2.94 team ERA ranks second behind the Rangers in the AL.
Baltimore’s bullpen has stranded 85.6 percent of base runners inherited – only the Yankees in the American League have stranded a higher percentage (86.9 percent). Baltimore’s relievers have allowed just four home runs, thanks in part to an American-League best 52 percent groundball rate.

They also have four pitchers who have come out of the bullpen, thrown more than eight innings and not allowed an earned run in 2012. Luis Ayala, Matt Lindstrom and Jim Johnson have combined for 30⅓ scoreless innings this season, and Darren O’Day has allowed just one earned run in 12⅔ innings.

The Orioles have had to rely on pitching the first month of the season since the offense has been average: sixth in the American League in batting average, tied for sixth in runs and 11th in on-base percentage.

One reason the Orioles' on-base percentage is so low is because they strike out at the second-highest rate in the American League and walk at the second-lowest rate.

Baltimore has been able to overcome some these deficits by hitting for a lot of power. The Orioles' 32 home runs are third in the AL behind the Yankees (38) and Rangers (36).

When we last saw Ivan Nova walk off a mound, he soon declared afterward it was "the worst day of my life." That was following an exhibition against the Mets, so who knows what Nova might say if he fails to prevent the Yankees from dropping to 0-4?

Nova will be the man on the mound tonight in Baltimore trying to notch the last place Yankees their first "W" against the 3-0, first place Orioles.

"We all have been through three games losing streaks, but because it is the beginning of the year it seems to be magnified a little bit," Joe Girardi said. "This is a team that has been a team that has been very resilient over the years and I expect the same."

Nova, 25, is a guy that already has shown he owns the resilient gene. The Yankees always seem to be looking to pull him -- and Nova always fights back.

In 2010, Girardi developed a habit of lifting Nova just on the cusp of five innings. Last year, the team sent down Nova with an 8-4 record at the beginning of July. He took Triple-A on and returned at the end of July. From there, he doubled his win total.

This spring, after coming in as the favorite to be the No. 3 starter, he had more control problems than Tiger Woods at Augusta. He finished with an 8.06 Grapefruit ERA and was slotted in the No. 4 spot in the rotation.

If Michael Pineda hadn't hurt himself, it is likely that either Pineda or Nova would have started the year at Triple-A. So with the Killer P's, Pineda and Andy Pettitte, prepping for their returns, Nova is already on the clock in 2012.

Girardi needs him to show his resilience on Monday night, because if somehow, some way the Yankees match their worst start (0-6 in 1912), they will come home Friday against Albert Pujols and the Angels having to answer a lot more questions. Then some nervous Yankee fans may echo Nova's post Mets start words.

UP NOW: Wally writes about how the Yankees were looking to get out of town in Tampa on Sunday.

ON DECK CIRCLE: We will be on the blog all day. Mark Simon will chime in with his always insightful W2W4 (What to Watch For) in the O's series. The clubhouse opens at 3:40 in Baltimore. A-Rod is expected to DH. Thanks for reading.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Are you worried now or would it take the Yankees to match 1912 to get you a bit concerned?

That is the question Wally poses in his column. As I wrote, in my projections, I think Ivan Nova will beat the advance metrics if he can stay in the rotation. That is not a small "if."

The Yankees do have quick trigger finger with the guy from the 2010, 4 2/3 hooks from Joe Girardi to going to the minors with an 8-4 record last year to this year having to fight for a job in the spring. One thing, as Wally points out, that always stays consistent is Nova's positive attitude. He may need it.

The story of Ivan Nova's 2012 spring is complete, and it's not a pretty one. The 16-game winner in 2011 couldn't get out of the third inning today against the Mets, allowing five runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out three. His spring numbers are abysmal -- 1-2, 8.06 -- and unless the Yankees rally from the 5-0 deficit he left them, will add another loss today. Nova is slated to start the fourth game of the season against the Orioles in Baltimore, but unless he reverses the trend, Yankee fans better hope the injury to Michael Pineda's shoulder is as minor as the Yankees have said it is.

Joe Girardi sent Ivan Nova across the street to pitch to a squad of AAA Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon rather than have him face the Yankees divisional rival Baltimore Orioles for a second time this spring, and Nova responded with probably his best outing of camp so far.

Nova worked into the eighth inning, allowed seven hits and three runs, including a home run that catcher Russell Martin called "a wind-aided fly ball.'' He struck out five, walked one and threw 94 pitches, 63 for strikes.

“Today was a good day for him,'' Martin said. The home run ended up barely scraping over the fence, but besides that, his pitches were there. That’s what I wanted to see from him. He hadn’t put it all together. Today was one of those games where he had everything.”

Nova, whose spring training ERA is an unsightly 6.86, went directly home from the minor-league complex without sharing his thoughts on his days work with reporters. But he got an unqualified vote of support from his catcher.

"I think he’s going to have a great year; that’s my personal opinion,'' Martin said. "He went above expectations last year with what he did, so he’s got maybe a little bit more pressure on him to try to do that again. But he's a guy that wants the ball and never backs down.''

Martin stopped short, however, of saying Nova had earned a spot in the rotation. “Honestly, I feel like we’ve got six guys that are deserving to be in the five-spot rotation that we have,'' Martin said. "I’m just really glad I don’t have to make that decision. I don’t think I’d be able to.”

All spring training long, it's been pretty much assumed that whoever comes out the loser in the Yankees competition for their No. 5 starter's job would go north with the team but cool his jets in the bullpen as insurance in case one of the others gets injured or proves ineffective.

Not so fast, says Joe Girardi.

Asked before tonight's game between the Yankees and the Orioles at the Boss if it was automatic tha the No. 6 starter would be sent to bullpen, Girardi said, "No, its not.''

That opens up all sorts of tantalizing possibilities. means that either Michael Pineda, with one season of major-league ball under his belt, or Ivan Nova, with a season and a half, could start the season in AAA. Or that Freddy Garcia, who would probably never accept a minor-league assignment at this stage of his career, could wind up being traded.

It also raised the possibility of one more opening on the pitching staff, that of long reliever, a job that could go to one of three pitchers -- David Phelps, tonight's starter, Adam Warren, who has had a good spring, or D.J. Mitchell, who is scheduled to pitch tonight after Phelps and Mariano Rivera get their work in.

"Any one of them can be candidates for the job,'' Girardi said. "What's impressed me most about all three of them is the difference in Spring Training compared to last year. Last year, at times, I thought they almost looked like they were a little overwhelmed or a little nervous to make a mistake. I don't question that now. There's a totally different attitude from all three of them.''

Girardi said any of the three, righthanders all, could make the team in addition to a second lefty reliever, a job that will go to either Clay Rapada or Cesar Cabral, both of whom are also scheduled to pitch tonight.

The answer is, not very wrong at all, if the question is "Who should get the job as the No. 5 starter in the Yankees rotation?''

And as in most recent Yankee spring trainings, that is the only real question to be settled here, other than will it be Clay Rapada or Cesar Cabral as the ''other'' situational lefty out of the bullpen, and should they go with salted or unsalted sunflower seeds in the dugout this season?

All spring training, myself and my colleagues on the beat have been trying to read the tea leaves, in Brian Cashman's favorite phrase, to figure out who will be awarded this largely unimportant job because, frankly, there is no other issue to be decided. Like a Clearwater motel on spring break week, the Yankees simply have no vacancies.

But this week, things have gotten downright silly. This morning, GAK III of the Post virtually anointed Freddy Garcia the No. 4 starter, with the No. 5 spot coming down to either Michael Pineda or Ivan Nova. Feinsand of the News took a more cautious approach, writing about the "tough decision'' Joe Girardi will have to make over the next few days.

With all due respect to both gentlemen, whom I respect and consider friends, this is much ado about very little.

First of all, Freddy Garcia has been handed nothing yet, and if anything, seems the easiest of the three to relegate to bullpen duty without serious aftershocks. He's a veteran, not prone to being rattled by a change of assignment or scenery, having pitched for six teams over 13 years. He's no prima donna, and will not pout if his precious "routine'' is interrupted. And while he hasn't pitched out of the bullpen much, he has shown himself capable of pitching well in pressure situations. So if anyone can handle being given the short straw, it is Freddy.

And second of all, how ''tough'' a decision can it be when just about any choice Girardi makes can be reversed at any time? He's got six starters and none of them has pitched himself out of contention. So if he goes with, say, Freddy as No. 5 and sends Ivan Nova to the pen and it doesn't work out, he flip-flops them a month from now. You can substitute any names you want into that last sentence and it remains the same story.

Whatever Girardi's decision is - if it is, in fact, his decision in the first place -- it can hardly be very wrong, because it's not even close to permanent. And then, on May 1, Andy Pettitte comes back we have all this fun all over again.

Girardi said yesterday the four pitchers are still being evaluated and that each could still show him something that could tip the scales one way or the other.

This, too, is hogwash, because if the spring numbers really counted for anything, the guy fighting for his spot in the rotation would be CC Sabathia, who with an 0-1 record and 4.50 spring ERA and healthy .298 opponent's batting average against him, might well be locked into the Drive for No. 5 with Nova, who is at 1-2, 6.86 and .280.

But Girardi anointed CC his ace before a pitch was thrown, and rightfully so, and handed the No. 2 spot -- and the start in the April 13 home opener at Yankee Stadium -- to Hiroki Kuroda, who after a shaky start has had a fine spring (2-1, 2.91). Phil Hughes should have nailed down the No. 3 spot with his rebound performance this March (2.03 ERA, .220 OBA).

That leaves Pineda, who the Yankees thought enough of to part with Jesus Montero in order to obtain, Nova, who win 16 games last year, and Freddy, who has 13 years of experience and a lifetime of guile and guts on his resume, battling it out for two jobs.

So no matter which way Girardi goes, how wrong can he really be?

The answer is, not very wrong at all.

A Yankee official reiterated that the team is relishing the decision on how to choose between six qualified starters for five spots. While the choice will deservedly receive a lot of attention, it is far from a final one.

"We will need 24-to-28 pitchers this year -- probably eight or nine starters," the official said.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Wallace Matthews the Yankees will probably meet on Thursday to further discuss what to do to with their rotation.

This is what we know for sure: CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda are in. Sabathia will start the opener next Friday in Tampa, while Kuroda will begin the second game, putting him in line to pitch the home opener on April 13th against the Angels.

This is what we are almost certain will happen: We have felt that Phil Hughes would be in the rotation and, hearing the official rave about his "complete assortment of weapons" and his "ability to throw his change to lefties and righties," cemented it further. So Hughes is all but in.

This what should be discussed at Cashman's Starting Five Summit: There have been some concerns about Michael Pineda's velocity, which a scout still had at mostly 89-91 in his last time out. The official said he was encouraged because Pineda has hit 94 a few times on the gun.

When these stats, showing how much better hitters batted against Pineda's sub-95 fastball, were pointed out to the official, he said that the league average jumps at 94 for all starters. Lower than 94 gets hit much harder than plus-94, which seems obvious, but is relevant with Pineda.

If 94 is a line to draw between good and great, then Pineda likely needs to find those two or three miles per hour if he is going to eventually graduate to the No. 2 spot.

Still, the official talked up the improvement of Pineda's change. Pineda started throwing it in the second half of last year and is committed to the pitch.

Cashman has already said that adding a good change, a third pitch to complement his fastball and slider combo, is what could turn Pineda into a consistently elite starter.

As for Pineda's high pitch counts, the official said that often happens with strikeout pitchers, pointing to Pineda's 16 Ks in 16 1/3 innings as a positive reason why. Pineda does have a team-high seven walks.

While Ivan Nova has worse numbers than Pineda's, the official said in his last start he showed excellent control and strength with the fastball.

If Freddy Garcia were to go to the bullpen, the official said that he could probably be stretched out to 65 pitches into the middle of May. While that would not be a full game, it does mean that if Garcia is the odd man out, he could still conceivably be ready if he is called upon to start in the first six weeks or pre-Andy Pettitte.

However you look at it, even the starter who doesn't make the rotation is probably going to have an important role on the team by the end of season. Because if any starters struggles, Joe Girardi will be asked when he might pull the plug and put in the man who lost the spring training competition.

UP NOW: Kieran Darcy on Joba Chamberlain's emotional press conference about his injury. Darcy on Curtis Granderson's MRI.

ON DECK: Wally will be Orlando as the Yankees and Braves tangle. The game is on ESPN

Kuroda gets the start today. Wally will have an update on Granderson and much more. Thanks for reading.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you believe in Nova after last year?

It has been a lot of places already that Phil Hughes seems destined for the rotation. We wrote last Tuesday that Hughes looks almost as good as ever. We said last Thursday, we don't see how he is not in the rotation. That same day, Jack Curry tweeted that you should "book it" that Hughes will be a starter.

Since Hughes has come into camp looking like a different person -- slimmed down and ready to go -- it has been obvious that the Yankees wish for him to be a starter will be met. Yankees GM Brian Cashman told Wallace Matthews this morning that nothing has yet to be decided, which is the truth because the Yankees are going to wait as long as they can to see if an injury makes their decision for them.

But we all have known that Hughes looks like he is going to be one of the five survivors. All offseason, the Yankees on and off the record have said they look at Hughes as a starter. It doesn't make sense to have him in the bullpen with no vacancies from the seventh inning on; especially when the Yankees think Hughes can be an 18-game winner again.

But here is the topic to be dissected. If we go on everyone's assumption about Hughes being in, then it is three pitchers for two spots. Of the three remaining, Freddy Garcia has the best pedigree and has thrown the best in spring training. Ivan Nova was the Yankees' No. 2 playoff starter in his rookie year, but has had his difficulties this spring. Michael Pineda has not been able to consistently lift his fastball above 91 and has has been unable to keep his pitch count down.

That's the real interesting decision -- with Hughes pretty much set to join CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda -- who will be numbers four and five?

Let's do some Monday Missing Links:

1) Forgetting Andy Pettitte for a moment, the Yankees could just do the easy thing with their young guys and send Freddy Garcia to the bullpen to start the season. But if that is not how they open and there are no injuries, then the Yankees will end up doing something very hard. They could send Michael Pineda, Phil Hughes or Ivan Nova to Triple-A. None probably deserve to go there and it is possible Hughes could be a long man.

But the Yankees are going to want whomever comes in sixth place to be ready to go when the inevitable injury pops up. So a D.J. Mitchell or David Phelps or an Adam Warren could start the year as the long man if Garcia in the rotation.

It is intriguing and that is why Pineda, Hughes and Nova are all being watched a little more closely now. So that is why a headline like the one from the News, "Nova rips catcher for woes" gets your attention. This is from Feinsand from the News:

Nova, who gave up home runs to Adam Jones and Matt Wieters in the opening frame, said he felt great on the mound, but threw third-string catcher Gustavo Molina under the bus for a lack of communication.

“That affected my game too much, but I feel really good today, Nova said. “I was shaking (off signs) too much. That slowed my game. You start shaking and you get out of what you want to do. I think that happened out there."

Girardi spoke with Nova about the importance of being on the same page as his catcher, putting the onus on the pitcher to make it happen.

2) Andy Pettitte arrives in camp on Tuesday and Sherman from the Post thinks he could enhance his Hall of Fame chances.

And there is a weighty personal fringe benefit in play for Pettitte: The Hall of Fame.

Pettitte had said goals such as pursuing 300 wins or Cooperstown immortality did not matter to him when he “retired” after the 2010 season. He is 60 wins short of 300, so even if Pettitte can stretch a comeback beyond this year, his chances of eclipsing 300 are tiny.

And it is possible nothing he has done or will do would garner Pettitte the votes necessary to reach the Hall because he admitted using human growth hormone; albeit, in his telling, only briefly and only to accelerate healing of his elbow. To this point, a large enough bloc of voters has rejected the candidacy of any player associated with illegal performance enhancers as to prevent induction.

3) We all know that Joe Girardi finished just ahead of Don Mattingly as the Yankees manager. To me, Girardi is a pretty good manager, but Mattingly is developing into one, too. Here is Rosenthal from Fox Sports.

Mattingly, who turns 51 on April 20, might not be a great manager yet. But he showed signs of becoming one in 2011, and rival executives cite him as one reason that the Dodgers are an underrated threat in ’12.

Not bad for a guy whose only previous managing experience was with the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League in 2010. Yet not a surprise to the people who know him best, the people who believed he could manage long before he got the job.