(
)
Ivan Nova is going second and Robinson Cano is hitting third.
This is not to suggest the old guard is dead around the Yankees. Heck, Derek Jeter is still leading off and Mariano Rivera is pitching last.
But clearly there is a transition going on with these Yankees as they chase their 28th title. Joe Girardi bypassed a bevy of veterans to put Nova into the Andy Pettitte Honorary Slot in the postseason rotation. And the Yankees manager could ignore the blatant no longer and moved Cano ahead of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez; recognizing his best hitter needed to bat third.
In 2009, the Yankees won a championship for many reasons, foremost was that many of their great veterans performed spectacularly, notably Jeter, Rivera, A-Rod, Pettitte, CC Sabathia, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. Pettitte, Damon and Matsui are gone and last year was the final true fling for the Core Four. Pettitte has retired and Jorge Posada has been de-emphasized.
The Yankees will still count postseason experience among their strengths. Yet inexperience — in roles or when it comes to performing in the playoffs — is more prevalent than we have come to expect with the high-priced, win-or-bust Yankees. We are seeing a bit of a baton pass away from what was and toward what is and what will be.
The offense now rotates round Cano and Curtis Granderson. David Robertson is the prime set-up man. Nova, Jesus Montero and Eduardo Nunez — all of whom were involved in permutations of the July 2010 trade for Cliff Lee that fell apart — have grown in stature.
The Yankees have leaned on inexperience at this time of year before — a Phil Hughes here, a Chien-Ming Wang there, an Alfonso Soriano in a prime spot — but they have not entrusted so much to a group since the early stages of Jeter, Pettitte and Rivera. That was the cornerstone of a dynasty.
“I think this is a transitional postseason for the Yankees,” said a scout who watched the team often in September. “I think this is now Cano’s team, and Granderson’s team, and Nova and (Russell) Martin and Robertson. There is a changing of the guard. This is a new Yankee club.”
Of course, the expectations are not transitional. Regardless of the composition of the roster, the players will be in Yankees uniforms. Thus, they will wear a familiar burden — parade or failure.
Cano actually began this transformation last year in the midst of a mano a mano ALCS showdown against Rangers behemoth Josh Hamilton. For Games 5-6, Girardi installed the inferno-hot Cano into the three slot. But that had as much to do with Teixeira’s injury and absence as Girardi’s true desire for change.
Teixeira is healthy now and A-Rod is limping. But health or not, Cano is batting third because it is the right move. And it feels like there is no going back now. Cano is not hitting just third in the fall of 2011, carrying this postseason burden. He is now the third hitter for the foreseeable future.
“I just have to prepare myself mentally and physically,” Cano said. “I think it is different because I will bat in the first inning and, in the playoffs, getting an early lead in a low-scoring game matters. So when those big moments come, I just have to be ready.”
Nova is not promised much beyond tomorrow’s start. Remember that Hughes started Game 3 last year and has fallen into disfavor and the pen this season. But Nova, in his first full season, has peripheral numbers quite similar to Pettitte’s 1995 rookie campaign. In that year’s ALDS, Pettitte made the first of a record 42 postseason starts and the first of his 15 Game 2 starts, 14 of them for the Yankees.
If Nova paid homage to the Pettitte of ’95, Robertson offered a pretty good rendition of Rivera, circa 1996, with a dominant season of set-up. Rivera rolled that into the most distinguished closer career in history. And Robertson has at least placed himself into the conversation as heir to Rivera, whenever it is that Rivera might stop pitching brilliantly.
But we have seen this before with a homegrown youngster, and Joba Chamberlain and Hughes fumbled the chance. Now Robertson, off of a brutal 2010 ALCS, has a big job that very well could entail dealing with Miguel Cabrera often in the next week.
“Every single champion has a little different identity,” Teixeira said. “And if we win the championship this year, it is going to be with an identity that has changed from (2009).”
joel.sherman@nypost.com