"Into the flames of the hottest pennant race in baseball, the Yankees have inserted neophyte right-hander Ivan Nova.

After Nova pitched very well in his first major-league start -- 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision in the Yanks' 3-2 loss here Monday night -- manager Joe Girardi announced yesterday the 23-year-old would replace the struggling Javier Vazquez in the rotation Sunday against the White Sox in Chicago.

"After that, I am not sure," Girardi said of what the move means following Sunday's game. "We will evaluate."

Considering Nova's lack of experience -- he has pitched 8 1/3 innings in three big-league games -- the move could be viewed as risky. However, the 34-year-old Vazquez has struggled so much in his previous five starts that even he understood the move to the bullpen.

"I am disappointed, obviously, but also I am not doing my job. I understand that part," said Vazquez, who is 0-2 with a 7.43 ERA in his last five outings and has given up 47 baserunners (35 hits and 12 walks) in 23 innings. "I am not surprised. I am disappointed. I am not doing my job, so ..."

Overall, Vazquez is 9-9 with a 5.05 ERA.

Girardi said he isn't going to a six-man rotation, and pointed out the last time Vazquez was skipped (early May) he responded well. However, there are no guarantees Vazquez returns to the rotation for the remainder of the season.

Should Nova build off Monday night's effort -- in which he gave up two runs, six hits, featured a 97 mph fastball, didn't panic in a big first-inning jam and didn't back down to a mouthy Jose Bautista -- the Yankees can't afford to remove his arm from a rotation that is without Andy Pettitte and started Dustin Moseley last night."