MINNEAPOLIS — Just because Joe Girardi gets cranky when asked about what the Yankees’ LDS rotation will look like doesn’t mean it’s not an issue.
In fact, it is the team’s biggest issue, even if the manager says, “I am tired of being asked. It doesn’t make sense.”
Yet in a little over five weeks the Yankees almost assuredly will enter the postseason as the AL East champs or wild card winner. And beyond ace CC Sabathia there are question marks for the playoff rotation.
Yesterday, Ivan Nova took a big step toward falling in behind Sabathia by blanking the Twins across seven innings and hurling the Yankees to a 3-0 victory that was watched by 41,242 at Target Field.
“He is on,” said Mariano Rivera, who notched his 33rd save with a perfect ninth. “You can see his confidence out there. It’s growing and growing.”
The Yankees also welcomed Alex Rodriguez back from the disabled list following right knee surgery. In his first game since July 7, Rodriguez’s biggest contribution was a bare-handed play on Ben Revere’s sixth-inning bunt attempt. Rodriguez went hitless in five at-bats in the cleanup spot.
Nova improved to 13-4 with his ninth straight victory, allowing five hits and one walk and striking out five. The 13 wins are the most by a Yankees rookie starter since Doc Medich went 14-9 in 1973 and bolstered the right-hander’s AL Rookie of the Year chances.
He was supported by back-to-back homers from Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira in the seventh inning. Granderson’s 35th of the season was an inside-the-park job that hit high off the scoreboard in right-center and caromed back toward the infield. Third-base coach Rob Thomson made a terrific call to send Granderson. Teixeira’s 34th was a liner to left.
The victory kept the Yankees a half-game ahead of the Red Sox, who beat the Royals 6-1, in the AL East.
Less than 24 hours after A.J. Burnett could not get out of the second inning, Nova pitched like a veteran instead of a 24-year-old rookie.
“The game was won in the fifth inning,” Girardi said. “We messed up the ball in right, they had second and third and no outs and you are telling yourself to try and keep it to one run, not two.”
Instead, Nova didn’t surrender a run to keep the game scoreless. After Granderson and Nick Swisher could not agree on who should field Danny Valencia’s fly to right-center, Nova fanned Rene Tosoni and Matt Tolbert before killing the threat by inducing Drew Butera to hit a grounder to Teixeira.
“You have to keep your guys in the game,” said Nova, who used a filthy slider to get the strikeouts. “You have to stay focused. You need the strikeout there and you have to go right at the hitters.”
The difference between Nova prior to being sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 3 and today is he is using the slider.
“We saw it in spring training and then he got away from it,” Girardi said of Nova, who had become a two-pitch pitcher with a fastball and curve. “He brought it out in Cincinnati and was dominant.”
How far up the ladder can Nova climb? Would Girardi be comfortable starting a neophyte with no postseason experience in Game 2?
Why not? Phil Hughes has won three straight and warrants attention, but Bartolo Colon’s tank appears to be draining, Freddy Garcia’s off-speed stuff doesn’t translate to October success and Burnett is moving toward the door.
Just don’t mention all that to Nova.
“You have to keep thinking you are fighting for your spot,” Nova said.
That fight is over. Now the question is: What game does the Yankees’ hottest pitcher start in the ALDS?
george.king@nypost.com
