Yankees" Division Lead Shrinks as Ivan Nova's Slump Persists TORONTO - Ivan Nova lofted an 87 mile-per-hour slider approximately 18 inches higher than the intended target. It came in chest-high to Edwin Encarnacion, who lashed it into the right-field corner for a two-run double that may have determined Nova's fate for the rest of the season. In a game the Yankees needed to win to put a safer distance between them and the idle Baltimore Orioles, Nova had another in a series of bad outings, jeopardizing the Yankees" position atop the American League East as well as his standing in the rotation. He gave up four runs and six hits in four and two-thirds innings, and the last-place Toronto Blue Jays went on to win, 6-0. That trimmed the Yankees" lead over the Orioles to one game, while the magic number to clinch the division remained at six, with six games to play. "We've got to pick it up because we've got someone right on our tails," Nick Swisher said. Nova is ostensibly scheduled to make one more regular-season start against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday. But if the Yankees have not sewn up the division by then, they could use someone else for that start - perhaps David Phelps, the effective rookie who has been pitching out of the bullpen. Asked if there might be a change in the rotation, Girardi did not rule it out. "We'll see," he said. I will worry about tomorrow. That's five days away. Nova said he hoped to make that last start and also made a case for being on the postseason roster. He does not know what is coming next, but he knows that what he has done in his last two starts - seven earned runs in seven innings - has not been good. "Especially right now in the position we are, it doesn't feel good," he said. We want to win every day, and we're not doing that. Last year Nova was very good, winning 16 games, and he started out this season much the same way, winning 9 of his first 11 decisions. But in the second half of the season he has been unreliable at best, going 2-5 with a 7.05 earned run average, and his slider has been out of whack, as evidenced by the fat one he threw to Encarnacion. After spending time on the disabled list with soreness in his right shoulder, Nova came back and had one good start and one bad start before Thursday. His troubles against the Blue Jays began in the third inning and multiplied quickly. With one out, he walked Anthony Gose before surrendering a two-run homer to Brett Lawrie, the Jays" leadoff hitter, who walloped the first pitch he saw, a high fastball, into the Yankees" bullpen beyond the right-field fence. In the fifth, Nova got into serious trouble when the Jays put runners on first and third with only one out and the middle of their order coming up. Nova tried to throw a slider out of the strike zone, but it dangled almost at eye level for Encarnacion, the No. 3 hitter, who drove a bouncing double into the right-field corner. Ichiro Suzuki had trouble picking it up, and both runners scored as the Jays surged ahead, 4-0, providing more frustration for Nova. "This year has been really bad for me," he said. But I'm not quitting. I have to get better. As dispiriting as Nova's performance was, the loss could not be blamed entirely on him. The Yankees" offense accomplished little against Brandon Morrow, the Blue Jays" starter, who held them scoreless over seven innings and allowed only four hits. A year ago here, he held the Yankees scoreless over eight innings in his last start against them. "It seems like he always figures it out against us," Alex Rodriguez said. Morrow induced double-play balls in the fourth and fifth innings to snuff out potential rallies. And with runners on first and second and nobody out in the seventh, Morrow got Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Raul Ibanez to make outs. Rodriguez returned to the lineup after missing one game with a sore left foot. He went 0 for 2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning. Robinson Cano followed with a single, and the Yankees once again had two runners on with nobody out. But once again, nothing came of it, and they finished the game 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. A few minutes later, Girardi answered questions about the loss in his office. One of them was about Nova's role should the Yankees make the playoffs. "I wish I could worry about that now, but I can't," Girardi said. I have to worry about tomorrow's game.