Greg Bird Archives - Jane Heller

What Happened to Chris Sale???

April 17, 2019

It’s not that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the Yankees’ 8-0 beatdown of the Red Sox last night, but watching Sale look utterly lost on the mound was puzzling. He’s 0-4 this season and the Sox’s “ace” hasn’t been very ace-like. He says he doesn’t know why. Usually, players are hurt when they suddenly forget how to pitch and don’t want to say anything or they get paid a ton of money and start feeling the pressure of their big contracts. But Sale always seemed immune to all that. Oh well. Not my problem.

On our end, James Paxton pitched like….the former Chris Sale! He was brilliant and whatever nerves he felt going into his first Yankees-Red Sox contest must have settled down. No longer tipping his pitches, he owned their offense. I’d love to see him maintain that kind of dominance throughout the season.

The hitters feasted on Red Sox pitching, even guys like Tauchman, and it was fun.

I was sorry to read about Greg Bird yesterday and his latest malady, but as talented as he is, he’s just too injury prone and I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of him in pinstripes.

Also sad – and this has nothing to do with baseball – my local hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, had the best record in hockey by far this season and yet they were swept last night in the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets, whoever they are. I honestly don’t know how these things happen but I’ve seen it time and time again: teams suddenly go cold. Weird.

Happy Opening Day!

March 29, 2019

I’m back and so was Judge yesterday!

I turned on the TV (we get ESPN here in FL but no YES, except on MLB.TV) and watched the pre-game ceremonies, and my heart skipped as if there was a big present under my tree at Christmas. There’s nothing better than Yankee Stadium on a sunny Opening Day — especially when they win in decisive fashion.

The Orioles aren’t the O’s of old — I didn’t recognize a single player except Chris Davis — but I focused on our guys. It was fun to see Mo throwing a cutter for the first pitch, making it look as effortless as ever. And when Tanaka took the mound I was full of confidence. He may not be our official ace, but he sure looks like it at times. And then came the Judge-Stanton-Voit combo and BOOM. I was glad Bird homered later in the game, and I think having both Voit and Bird in the lineup is brilliant. But one of these days, Boone will have to choose between them for first base — like when he wants to DH other players — and it’ll be a sad day.

Meanwhile, the only negative for me is using Gardner to lead off. I know Hicks will probably lead off when he’s back, but Gardner isn’t high-percentage enough in terms of getting on base. I’d almost rather see Gleybar kick things off.

But mostly I wanted to get back on this blog, greet anyone who’s reading and cheer the Yankees on. The blog at this point in its long life doesn’t have enough readers to keep it going, so I doubt it’ll go back to being a regular diary of Yankee doings. Let’s see how it goes.

Poor Bird. Poor Us.

March 26, 2018

Just in: this tweet from the Post’s Joel Sherman:

#Yankees announce Greg Bird surgery tomorrow to remove small broken spur on outside aspect of his right ankle. Expected to rehab for 6-8 weeks before returning to game action.

Waaaaah. Why can’t he stay healthy? He was doing so well this spring, but now he’s morphing back into Nick Johnson.

But okay. The sun will come up tomorrow and the Yankees will open the season on Thursday in Toronto, and the NYT predicts we’ll be the team to beat in the AL East.

Play ball!

Thanks, Mariners

August 27, 2017

Five errors in the first inning? Not good, Seattle, but I’m not complaining. The Yankees can and should take advantage of all the help they can get right now. They made a couple of errors too, but they weren’t as costly.

Anyway, the Yankees – funny uniforms and nicknames and all – took the series off Seattle with a Janer today and a very good game yesterday. Sadly, another epic fail by Chapman on Friday night blew the opener. Sonny Gray, Tanaka and CC gave us terrific starts, and Ellsbury (aka “Chief”) was on fire. Also of note: Greg Bird made his long-awaited return, only to discover he’s being unofficially platooned. It was nice to have Starlin Castro back too.

The Yanks really need to focus for a tough week ahead: first the Indians, then the Red Sox again – all while Sanchez and Romine await appeals on their suspensions for the brawl(s) with the Tigers. I’d hate to lose Sanchez, even for a game, but the series against the Indians and Sox are must-wins either way.

Tanaka Vs. Sale. We Win.

April 28, 2017

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola) (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Last night’s finale in the rain-shortened series at Fenway was so satisfying. I wasn’t optimistic going up against Sale, who’s always murdered the Yankee offense, and it wasn’t as if he had an off night. It was just that he was bested by Tanaka, who not only blanked the Red Sox but pitched a complete game. (I would not have been happy if Girardi had pulled him for Layne, a Red Sox castoff, or Chapman, who’d thrown a million pitches the night before.) He was brilliant, and the Yankee hitters scratched out just enough runs to make me exhale between innings.

And then there was Wednesday night’s game. Severino was brilliant too. He seems to have shaken off last season when he was so mediocre and come back strong. And enough can’t be said about Judge. Even when he strikes out or grounds out, he’s such a badass presence at the plate, not to mention when he’s diving over a wall to make a catch. I’m still waiting for Bird to get hot. And with Didi coming back for this weekend’s series against the O’s, I hope he’s not rusty. With Gary Sanchez waiting in the wings to return off the DL (it was nice to see him join the others in the dugout last night), we’re slowly settling into a picture of what this team will look like and how it will perform. I’m encouraged. I really am.

Meh in Pittsburgh Except This

April 24, 2017

I could watch Aaron Judge hit tape measure homers all day long. Talk about bombs. The flip side of Saturday’s bomb against the Pirates that even elicited a tweet from Dave Winfield was yesterday’s strikeouts and the team’s overall offensive futility against Ivan Nova of all people.

Part of me was glad to see Nova pitch well and I’m sure he was really up for facing the Yankees. The other part would have preferred a win, of course. When we only manage to scratch out a run, it’s disheartening.

Back to the positives, this team has shown a lot of guts the way they come back from being several runs down. They don’t give up, and I love that.

This week should tell us even more about what they’re made of. We’re facing the Red Sox at Fenway, the team that’s supposed to win the division, maybe win it all, so let’s see how we measure up. If we’re lucky, Greg Bird will finally fly.

7 Game Winning Streak!

April 16, 2017

And another sweep, this time of the Cardinals. The starting pitching was great throughout the series. And the Baby Bombers, in particular, have been fun to watch. In tonight’s ESPN game, Judge kicked things off with what should have been a homer, but the umps refused to overturn the call. Then Bird connected with an undisputed homer. Hicks had one too. And all this without Gary Sanchez. Even Chase Headley is hitting like a monster. I don’t know how long this win streak will last, but I sure don’t mind counting higher and higher. Like 10 wins in a row would be a nice round number.

Opening Day – Yay. Yankees Lose – Boo.

April 2, 2017

Yes, I’m back, and so are the Yankees…..but not in a good way.

Tanaka, who was so great in spring training, was awful today at the Trop against the Rays.

“He’s only human.” “He was over-pumped.” “He had nothing.” Those were among the explanations for his poor performance that left the Yankees in an early hole. But he wasn’t alone in his mediocrity. The Baby Bombers didn’t do much bombing against Chris Archer.

One thing I’ve never understood is why we keep pitching to Longoria, a notorious Yankee killer. How about walking him once in awhile? Just a thought.

Another thing. I miss Jeter. And Mo. Even A-Rod just a tiny bit for the drama (I’m enjoying reading tidbits about his romance with J-Lo and wonder how long that’ll last.) But I’m excited about Sanchez-Bird-Judge-Hicks and want them to succeed. Today was only one game, but they really will need to get off to a good start if they want to hang around. They’ll also need a good start if they want me to hang around. I’m happy we’re in a rebuilding phase and are done with many of the onerous contracts. But I like winning. I do. I’m a Yankee fan through and through.

I Have Two Words for The Twins Series:

August 19, 2015

Yup. Greg Bird. I was really excited when the Yankees called him up. I remained excited even when he went 0-for-5 in his first game in the Majors. I continued to be excited when he got his first hit. But wow, now he’s My Guy. If he had a jersey, I’d buy it. He hit the 10th inning liner that enabled the Yanks to beat the Twins in 10 innings when I was at the Stadium on Monday night. And he continued to impress in Tuesday night’s game. In today’s finale, he was just flat-out awesome with two, two-run homers. He plays a more-than-adequate first base too. What’s more, everybody’s writing about his poise at the plate, in the clubhouse, everywhere. He fits in. He belongs. Which is another way of saying I don’t think he’s a one-trick pony, but we’ll see. If Tex will be out awhile because of the bone bruise in his shin, I feel pretty damn good that Greg Bird will be on the case.

Meanwhile, CC and Evo (especially Evo) pitched well against the Twins and Beltran stepped up. Ellsbury too. And – good news – Toronto lost to the lowly Phillies today, so we’re in first by two games. Yes, it’s still August, but I’ll take it.

The four-game series against the Indians will be challenging, but it’s Toronto that gives me the shakes. We play them a zillion more times before it’s over.

For now, I’ll bask in Bird’s glory and enjoy the rest of HOPE Week, always a great series of feel-good events.

A Win – Finally!

August 14, 2015

What a relief. When McCann hit a homer early in last night’s game against the Indians, the series finale, I said, “Please don’t let this be it. They need to pile on.” And so they did. I don’t know whether Stephen Drew is eating his Wheaties or going gluten free like Tex or what, but he’s been Babe Ruth lately despite his pitiful batting average, and any runs the Yankees have scored have been due to him and other bottom-of-the-order types. But last night Ellsbury awoke from his slumber, which is exactly what this team needed. Gardner followed suit. Beltran has quietly improved. Didi’s been off-the-charts great. And a victory finally came.

Evo seems to be our stopper. He keeps winning even though it’s never really pretty. I don’t know what’s up with Betances and Miller, but they’re scaring me lately. They’re always turn their innings into dramas. I remember the days when they took care of hitters one-two-three.

A-Rod looks spent. Has his comeback runs its course? Or does he just need a day or two off? I guess we’ll see in Toronto, where Girardi plans to rest him on Saturday, I think. The fact is he’s old. He’s had two hip surgeries. As good as he’s been, he might have hit a wall. Or not.

The star of the Cleveland series in my mind, despite the losses, was Didi. Has he ever turned things around. He’s been his own highlight reel at shortstop, and his offense has been surprisingly reliable. I take back all the bad things I said about him.

Oh, and I must mention Greg Bird, our latest rookie to join the team. We’ve all been hearing a lot about Bird – what a great hitter he is, how Cashman wouldn’t part with him in any trades, etc., and last night we got to see him in the flesh. Even though he went 0-for-5, I have to say he looked like he knew what to do at the plate and he hit the ball hard a couple of times. I think he’s got potential.

And now another series against the (gulp) Blue Jays at their place. I fear their offense. I fear their pitching (Dickey even more than Price). I fear their turf. (Why can’t they get grass already.) But maybe, just maybe, the Yankees are feeling better about themselves after the win last night and will play like the first place team they used to be.