Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

A Nice Way to Close Out the First Half

Photo: AP / Steven Senne
Photo: AP / Steven Senne

There were a lot of good things to come out of the weekend series at Fenway including beating the Red Sox in Games 1 and 3, but what will inevitably stand out in everybody’s mind, including mine, was the arrival of rookie Rob Refsnyder. Not only has there been a lot of excitement around the kid, but anyone who’s an upgrade over Stephen Drew at second base gets my undying gratitude. It’s possible that Refsnyder will be shipped back to Scranton before the season resumes after the All-Star break, but I hope not. He can hit (loved watching his first major-league homer) and field, despite the error, and he’s so poised for a young player. Keep him around, Yankees.

Gardner and Tex continue to be solid at the break and so deserving of their All-Star spots. And I liked seeing Andrew Miller begin to shake off the rust from his time on the DL. Will the Yankees hang onto first place for awhile? Who knows. The division is up for grabs, as I’ve said, and anything’s possible. But I’m looking forward to the second half in a way I didn’t expect to.

 

“Jacoby Jacks One!”

Photo: Associated Press
Photo: Associated Press

Except that John Sterling’s home run call in the first inning was null and void after the ump sent Ellsbury back to third for a triple, due to fan interference. Either way, he ended up scoring and having a terrific game in his first visit back to Fenway. What a player he is.

Tanaka only had one really shaky inning giving up back-to-backers by Ortiz and Napoli, so I’d rate his first visit to Fenway as a rousing success too.

John Lester clearly didn’t have it tonight. But since it’s rare that we’re treated to a hit parade against him, I’ll take it. Loved seeing Roberts with some offense, along with Jeter, Beltran, etc. It wasn’t a Janer but close to it.

Also loved the defense by Solarte. This team doesn’t resemble the one that took such a beating at the Trop. At least they didn’t tonight.

"Jacoby Jacks One!"

Photo: Associated Press
Photo: Associated Press

Except that John Sterling’s home run call in the first inning was null and void after the ump sent Ellsbury back to third for a triple, due to fan interference. Either way, he ended up scoring and having a terrific game in his first visit back to Fenway. What a player he is.

Tanaka only had one really shaky inning giving up back-to-backers by Ortiz and Napoli, so I’d rate his first visit to Fenway as a rousing success too.

John Lester clearly didn’t have it tonight. But since it’s rare that we’re treated to a hit parade against him, I’ll take it. Loved seeing Roberts with some offense, along with Jeter, Beltran, etc. It wasn’t a Janer but close to it.

Also loved the defense by Solarte. This team doesn’t resemble the one that took such a beating at the Trop. At least they didn’t tonight.

Soriano Is This Hot Right Now

Animated-moving-clip-art-picture-of-heat-and-flame

And Joba is ice cold. I’m not a professional lip reader, but I could have sworn Girardi said to Rothschild, when Joba had bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with a 10-3 lead and two outs, “I’m not bringing Mo in.” It was painful to watch. Thankfully, Huff cleaned up the mess and got the out, and the Yankees won the series opener at Fenway with another Janer.

Back to Soriano. I cannot believe all the RBIs lately. Six homers in six games? Amazing. Once he got that 2,000th hit he’s been pure gold. And how about Mark Reynolds: first time up as a Yankee and he went deep. Welcome, Mark.

There were plenty of others who showed up offensively, but I have to mention Ichiro, who batted in the ninth against reliever Drake Britton. Britton seemed to have a fondness for throwing high and tight. He got much too close to Gardner’s head and before that he buzzed Ichiro above the neck. Ichiro responded by hitting a chopper, legging it out for a hit and scoring. Well done.

And Pettitte finally had a solid outing until the seventh. My faith in him has been restored.

The game did have its share of sloppiness; there were errors and the Red Sox ran the bases as if they were the desperate ones, not us. But it was entertaining (until the bottom of the ninth).

I’m assuming I’ll be blacked out by FOX tomorrow afternoon – we’re always stuck with a west coast game – but I hope the boys keep up the good work. Their season depends on it.

 

 

An Interesting Yankees-Red Sox Game 1

From the clips I saw and the articles I read, the ceremonies at Fenway must have been really well done. Sorry I missed them. I wasn’t all that wild about the Yankees wearing the “throwback” uniforms, but they were pretending to be the Highlanders and seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

As for the game itself? How rare is it to see Pedroia drop a pop-up? Eric Chavez pop a couple of homers? So many Yankees popping homers? Jeter passing Winfield on the hits list and A-Rod passing Griffey on the homers list?

I was glad we won, obviously (great job by Nova and the bullpen), but even the victory was rare; we usually lose to Boston early in the season, don’t we?

And then there were the “We want Tito” chants after the game. Awkward.

There’s every possibility that the Sox will win the rest of this series, but from what I saw today they looked listless, as if the constant bad press and issues with Valentine have taken their toll. I just didn’t feel their usual fire.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.