BRADENTON, Fla. — Ivan Nova’s line wasn’t much to boast about. On Wednesday, Nova started against the Rays, throwing five innings, allowing three runs and striking out two. But as manager Clint Hurdle likes to say, spring training games don’t count, but they matter.
And what matters now, as Nova tells it, is how he feels — and how he can use his spring starts to work through different sequences that he is not normally inclined to try in a regular season game. That’s the difference between being guaranteed the opening day slot and having to claw one’s way onto a roster.