WHY 1ST PLACE IS SWEETER WITH NOVA'S 15 WINS

(Photo: Getty)

When you win a game it's great. But when you win a game, you're team takes sole possession of first place and your pitcher wins his 15th game of the year, and his 11th straight win... it's huge. Ivan Nova is now 15-4 and the Yankees are looking like a true ball club. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Yankees have had problems this year, the Red Sox have not, yet the Red Sox aren't in first place right now, the Yankees are. The Red Sox lost big tonight against the Rangers. I hate to be scoreboard watching, but this season is a big one and every game now counts more than the last.(Photo: Getty)

Robinson Cano was the guy that put the Yankees ahead 3-2 tonight and the pitching held down the Blue Jays tonight. There is nothing better than when pitching and hitting work together.



Tonight Nova went 7 innings, allowed 3 hits, 2 earned runs and struck out 4 and walked 2. He looked real good all game, except the first inning where it seemed like he couldn't get a rhythm and gave up 2 runs in the 1st. Luckily, he calmed down. If this happened to him last year, it would have been 5 nothing by the 2nd inning. This year, we have a mature young pitcher never getting frazzled. It's nice to see.



I was hoping Nova would pitch as long as he did tonight to give the pen a little rest, after all, they deserve it, they've been busy lately, yet, dominant.(Photo:Getty)

Brett Gardner showed me some incredible defense tonight and this little guy crushed a 2 run homer to tie to game in the 3rd inning. Giving "Players of the Game" Awards is usually easy for me, but tonight, it's a tough call. I'll have to give Ivan Nova and Brett Gardner a co-player of the game award.



Andruw Jones made a leaping catch in what looked like a home run in the 4th inning. He made it look easy but boy oh boy, it wasn't. Good for him, it's not easy to not play the outfield every day and then make a play like that. Good work.



Mariano Rivera nailed it down tonight and has 37 saves on the season. The big news is he's inching closer to 600. Huge accomplishment. I wrote WHY MARIANO RIVERA DESERVES AN HBO DOC on August 24th and I meant it. Rivera is amazing. 600 is a big deal for a closer and he'll be on top at 602 after he beats Trevor Hoffman's 601 record. To me, that is unbelievable.



Final Score Tonight: Yankees 3 - Blue Jays 2.



Tomorrow Bartolo Colon takes the mound and it would be nice for this guy to get back on track. He's now 8-9 this season. If he could win a few more and end the season 10-9, I'd be satisfied.



Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.