Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

Poetry in Motion

Ichiro's catch red sox

There were a lot of heroes in tonight’s ESPN Yankees-Red Sox contest; Nova and Beltran come immediately to mind, with Shawn Kelley right up there. But for me, Ichiro’s spectacular catch was a game saver. Plus it was beautiful to watch, so I present it for repeat viewing. Bravo.

Very sweet to take three of four from the Sox, especially since it’s usually the reverse at this time of year. But not as sweet was the latest parade of injured players. I mean it’s just sick how they’re all going down as if they’ve never run the bases before. I get Jeter and his quad. He’s almost 40. And Roberts’s sore back doesn’t surprise me, given his history of being Nick Johnson in disguise. But Cervelli? Seriously? And then Solarte? And then McCann? Luckily, the latter two stayed in the game, but we can’t keep putting Beltran at first. And who’s our backup catcher now? CC? Crazy.

Oh well. I’ll savor the victory and worry about the injuries tomorrow. It’s an off day. I hope none of the players trips over their Starbucks.

 

 

So Much For That Game

explosion

I almost had to pull over in my car when the Orioles scored all those runs in the seventh inning today. I was cruising along, happily picturing Andy getting the win and the guys celebrating the sweep and lalalala.

My heart sank when Kelley imploded. (Well, it sank when Joe pulled Pettitte. I’m sure Andy was tired – he admitted as much after the game – but he’d been pitching so well that I didn’t want to mess with success.) I should have figured Kelley would have a bad outing after the NYT published a glowing story today about how miraculous his Tommy John surgeries have been in prolonging his career.

And then there was Logan….and the ever scary Joba. The next thing I knew the O’s were banging the ball and the Yankees’ bats had no answer.

Not that the offense was that great yesterday. We only won by a couple of runs. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that in previous years they would have scored four or five in the late innings and made a comeback.

Didn’t happen and it was depressing.

But…..the series was won. That’s a good thing.

A Janer in KC

I was out for dinner and missed the last couple of innings, but the Yankees had done their offensive damage against the Royals’ pitchers by then. So, let me get this straight: Do I call this group of replacement parts – i.e. Wells, Overbay, Nelson – the Bronx Bombers?

Maybe. It’s weird how great this team is doing in spite of itself. Weird and wonderful. I look at big-money “Yankees-like” teams such as Toronto, Anaheim and L.A. – teams that spent big in the off-season and were sure contenders – and they’ve been stumbling so far. And yet here are the scrappy Yankees with their collection of oddballs and they’re in first place.

Yes, it’s early. And yes, there are weaknesses. But games like tonight are just plain fun.

Hughes wasn’t fun. Not at all. But Shawn Kelley, of all people, saved the day. Who knew?

More tomorrow, please.

Old Faces…And A New One

Photo: AP/Ted S. Warren

Shawn Kelley. That’s the name of the above new face, although who knows if we’ll ever see him in pinstripes. The Yankees traded Almonte, a AA prospect, for Kelley, a reliever who was DFA-ed by the Mariners and will need shoulder surgery. Seriously, people. Why?

On a happier note, it’s been really great to read about Pettitte (still Andy), CC (trimmer) and Mo (godly as ever) at camp. I’m not wild about Mo’s annual I-can’t-tell-you-about-my-retirement-plans-yet game that he plays with the beat writers, but I think we all assume this will be his finale and that’s OK. We’re lucky we have him back this year; I’m grateful for that.

A-Rod? Not coming to camp. Ever. Well, probably not. Cervelli? Wouldn’t say who referred him to the Biogenesis clinic so questions linger. Girardi? As positive and upbeat about the whole PED thing as you’d expect him to be.

And now, it seems, the conversation about banned substances has shifted over to the Red Sox since Schilling made his comments and Lester made his and Papelbon made his from afar. I took Toradol, the anti-inflammatory they’re all talking about, in the hospital after surgery and it’s no extra-strength Advil, as Lester suggested. It’s a heavy duty drug that’s not to be used for long periods of time. Maybe someday MLB will clean out the medicine cabinets of ballplayers. And maybe not.

I do wish all the writers would stop with how old this team is, but I guess it’s true and only time will tell if it matters.

 

 

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