Yankees lose to Angels, 3-2

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After Ivan Nova's previous start, Joe Girardi insisted the 23-year-old wouldn't be pitching for his rotation spot when he took the mound Friday night.

Still, it probably was in Nova's best interest to avoid another lousy start.

He did that against the Angels, but he received little help from his offense in the Yankees' 3-2 loss in front of 42,521 at Angels Stadium. The Yankees drew five walks but had only three hits off Jered Weaver and two relievers.

"It's really encouraging,'' Girardi said afterward, noting that Nova, who he thought had lapsed into a two-pitch pitcher, threw all his pitches. "We saw him use his changeup, we saw him use his slider, we saw him throw more strikes tonight. He walked two guys in six innings. That's good.''

Nova (4-4, 4.50 ERA), coming off an outing in Seattle in which he allowed four runs in 32/3 innings last Saturday, shook off a rough first inning Friday. He allowed three runs, two earned, and eight hits in six innings.

"I threw more strikes today and I was more aggressive,'' Nova said. "I got a lot of help from a lot of people in here . . . so I came out ready. What I did today, I think I showed more progress.''

The Yankees (31-24), who had their winning streak snapped at a season-best four games, made Weaver (7-4, 2.14) labor throughout but never could put together the big inning.

Despite throwing 26 pitches in the first inning -- 15 to leadoff man Derek Jeter, who fouled off 10 straight pitches before flying out to center -- and being at 89 pitches after four, Weaver went seven innings, allowing two runs and three hits.

"It was a while,'' Jeter, who stayed at 2,984 career hits, said of his first-inning at-bat. "Probably the longest I've been up there. I'm not known for being up there too long.''

The Yankees weren't up very long in the sixth, an inning Weaver started at 101 pitches and finished at 107. After Alex Rodriguez struck out on four pitches, Robinson Cano and Russell Martin each went down on the first pitch.

"If the guy gets a hit, no one questions it. That's the bottom line,'' Girardi said of swinging at the first pitch. "He's got outstanding breaking stuff; he's not a guy that you necessarily want to get behind in the count too often. Could we have gotten him out after six? Possibly. You don't know. Maybe the guy in the seventh inning comes in and shuts the door. We don't know what would happen. But the guys took an approach, they tried to jump him and they didn't get it done.''

After walking Jeter to lead off the fifth, Weaver picked up nine straight outs, including a double-play ball from Mark Teixeira. Scott Downs pitched a scoreless eighth and Jordan Walden pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

"He made some tough pitches,'' Jeter said of Weaver. "I don't think he threw any balls over the middle. It was inside corner, outside corner. He threw the ball well. We've faced Weaver enough. I've known him for a long time, and he's going to battle. He threw a lot of pitches the first couple innings but after that he settled down.''

Early on, Nova looked as if he'd be headed for an outing similar to last Saturday's. After leadoff man Maicer Izturis grounded out, Erick Aybar singled to right and took second on a wild pitch. Bobby Abreu followed with a double into the gap in left-center to make it 1-0. A passed ball moved Abreu to third and, after Torii Hunter walked, Alberto Callaspo's grounder to short made it 2-0.

The Yankees cut their deficit in half in the second. Rodriguez, a .331 career hitter in this ballpark, led off the inning with a double down the leftfield line, making him 9-for-26 on this three-city trip. Cano's groundout to first moved A-Rod to third and Martin snapped an 0-for-16 slide with a single to right-center, making it 2-1.

Rodriguez walked to lead off the fourth and Nick Swisher drew a two-out walk. Jorge Posada, in a 1-for-17 slide, then ripped a ground-rule double into the rightfield corner to tie the score at 2-2. The Yankees got a bad break on the play as Swisher probably would have scored had the ball not bounced into the stands. Instead, Swisher had to return to third, where he was stranded as Brett Gardner struck out. The Yankees would not get another hit.

The Angels regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Callaspo flied out to start the inning, but Russell Branyan and Mark Trumbo hit consecutive singles and Jeff Mathis walked to load the bases. Peter Bourjos' single to left made it 3-2. Nova did a good job holding the Angels to one run in the inning, striking out Izturis and getting Aybar to fly out.

Nova lasted until the seventh, when Izturis led off with a single and Girardi brought in David Robertson. Robertson got out of the inning and Luis Ayala, who replaced Boone Logan after he gave up a leadoff single, pitched a scoreless eighth, retiring Izturis on a fly ball to strand three runners.