The Yankees have their No. 2 starter. They just don’t know it yet.
Rookie Ivan Nova continued his winning ways last night, pitching the Yankees to a 9-3 victory over the Angels at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander is 11-4.
This was a big win for the Yankees in many ways. First of all, it gets them over their A.J. Burnett hangover, which hits every five or six days. They managed to beat a good team, and Nova didn’t have his best stuff, but it didn’t stop him from putting up a “W.”
Nova is coachable. He is 3-0 with a 2.61 since his recall. He is 7-0 in his last eight starts.
When I mentioned the 11 wins to Nova, his first reaction was, “Wow. I think 11 is a lot for my family. I remember when I left my house in the [Dominican Republic] this year they told me that they just wanted 10. They say as a rookie in this division, 10 games is a lot.
“I don’t think it’s a lot. I want more. We’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to keep battling. We’re going to keep pitching good games so we can get more.
“When the team gives me that run support, I say, that’s another ‘W.’ I’m going for that ‘W.’ “
It is so refreshing in this Moneyball age to hear a pitcher say he is going after the win. Winning is the goal.
The Yankees came into the night a combined 7-16 against the Red Sox, Tigers and Angels, possible playoff opponents. Before the game, manager Joe Girardi said Nova is going to stay in the rotation. Good move, Joe.
Ever so slowly the Yankees are coming to realize what Super Nova brings to the party.
Nova won his second game in August in as many starts. Burnett is winless in his last 14 August starts, going 0-9 over that span with a 6.72 ERA. Only 24, Nova showed poise on the mound until running out of gas in the seventh.
With Nova in the rotation, the best move is to put Burnett or Phil Hughes in the bullpen. The rotation could line up with Sabathia, Nova, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Burnett or Hughes. The playoffs are right around the corner, and Nova is ready to start.
Nova attacks hitters. After striking out 10 last time out, he didn’t strike out any last night. He got 14 ground-ball outs.
“Sometimes you go the easy way,” he said of his plan of attack.
Here’s what I liked best: After the Yankees came out and jumped on Garrett Richards, who was making his major league debut, scoring three runs in the first on Curtis Granderson’s three-run home run, Nova went right to work, throwing strikes and getting ahead of the hitters.
“Aggressiveness,” he said was the lesson he learned when he was sent to the minors.
In baseball, sometimes the role finds you, no matter your age. As Tigers manager Jim Leyland once told me, when he calls down to the bullpen, he doesn’t ask how old they are. Nova has shown he can get the job done. He has a presence.
“He’s a really good pitcher,” praised Angels right-fielder Torii Hunter. “He’s got a good fastball.”
With his classic overhead motion, Nova zeroes in on the batter. Last night, he had the Angels killing worms all night on the perfectly manicured Yankee Stadium infield with ground ball after ground ball.
The Yankees really have to step up their game against the better teams. They have their work cut out for them as evidenced by their 2-10 record against Boston.
“They have an ungodly team, the team they have is not real,” Hunter told the Post about the Red Sox. “They really paid for that one. They got all these athletic guys, power guys, power pitchers, they’re supposed to win. Their team is actually better than the Yankees.”
Yes, the Red Sox are better now. Nova helps the Yankees, though.
And that October day is fast approaching when it is only about winning. Ivan Nova wins.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com