Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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My Jinx at the Trop Continues, But We Won the Series

May 13, 2019

It was throwback Devil Rays tropical shirt giveaway night on Saturday for my return to Tropicana Field, and as I was handed one at the entrance I said to my husband, “I don’t think I’ll ever wear this.”

The Yanks had won on Friday night behind a pretty good performance by German, but I approached Saturday night with trepidation. My record at the Trop isn’t good. I honestly think the Yanks have lost every single time I’ve been there. Still, I was hopeful with CC on the mound and Gio Urshela hitting like crazy.

Sadly, we couldn’t rev up our offense and a reliever named Nestor Cortes (???) coughed up runs late in the game that cost us. The result was another “L” for me. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing the boys or the game. We had good seats. There’s a new restaurant this year that offers the Impossible Burger, the non-meat patty that’s all the rage with those of us who avoid red meat. And the Rays fans are always happy when their stadium is packed – even if it’s because the Yanks or Red Sox are in town.

I wasn’t there yesterday for the finale, and I’m glad. I watched on TV and that power outage lasted waaaay too long. The Yanks busted out and scored 7 runs and Tanaka was stellar in getting the win, but do the Rays ever need a new stadium. It’s sad. They deserve one. They’re a very good team and I expect we’ll be battling them all season.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

In My Backyard

May 10, 2019

After taking three of four games from the Mariners at the Stadium, the Yanks will begin a weekend series in St. Pete at the Trop. I’m always excited when they come here, even if this time I won’t recognize all the players (Urshela, Ottavino, Maybin, etc.). I’ll be at the game Saturday night so look for me behind the visitor’s dugout.

The Rays are in the first place – by a mere game-and-a-half – and have been playing well. This will be an important series for many reasons, not the least of which is the Yankees need to prove they can beat the top-tier teams. Therefore, beating the Rays will matter. I was hoping to see Happ pitch, but since he was on the mound last night, that’s not happening. Is Paxton coming off the IL  for the series? That would be nice. CC? Tanaka? German? Whoever is pitching Saturday night needs to bring his “A” game because I don’t want to watch in misery. Some run support would be nice, too.

Will post pics after my Saturday night adventure.

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

Someone Is Celebrating and It’s Not the Yankees

September 21, 2018

The Yankees tried to sweep the Red Sox and avoid letting them clinch the AL East on our soil, but they couldn’t manage a win in the finale. So be it.

There were some positives to take away from this series.

Severino pitched well – better than he has in ages. Happ continues to dominate the Red Sox and provide an overall consistent arm in the rotation. Luke Voit continues to mash and infuse the team with tons of energy, making Bird a distant memory. Andujar may have his shortcomings on defense, but he can hit, really hit. Stanton’s grand slam last night broke him out of his slump. And, of course, Judge is back in the lineup; he may not have found his stroke yet, but he’s getting there.

On the negative side, Gary Sanchez. Period. Please can we trade him? What good is he to this team? If he were hitting a ton, I’d say OK, maybe he can DH now and then. But he hasn’t hit for real, not in a long time. And his defense is atrocious. As Kaat said last night on MLB Network, pitchers don’t want to throw to a guy they can’t trust and Boone would be well served to use Romine in a one-game playoff. Another negative? Tanaka. I would not use him to start a one-game playoff at Yankee Stadium. He gives up too many early runs. The shaky bullpen. Honestly, every time Betances takes the mound, I worry. Ditto: Chad Green. Chapman is back but let’s see how he does after the layoff. And Sheffield may or may not play a role in important situations.

With the A’s freaky 21-run win over the Angels yesterday, we’re only a whisper in front of them in the WC standings. This thing could go down to the wire.

I’ll be at the Monday night game when they open the series against the Rays – Section 1, Row Q at the Trop. I’ll try to will them to victory, but this race is on them.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: A's, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Rays, Red Sox, Tropicana Field, Yankees

The Bats Were Made of Foam Again

May 26, 2016

_foam_baseball_bat_mini_baseball_bat20128111730136-1

What a shame to waste a good start by CC this afternoon to close out the series with the Blue Jays and lose the game and the series. Winning was nice while it lasted.

I feel good about the pitching for the most part, but the hitting has been so streaky. And what are we to make of Teixeira? His neck spasms came back and made me wonder if they ever went away in the first place. Is he hurt? Is that why he’s been so bad this season? Or is he just past his prime and showing it? A power-hitting first baseman is what the Yankees paid for when they acquired him, but that’s not what they’ve been getting so far. He needs to turn it around or I’ll really wish Greg Bird hadn’t gone down with an injury of his own.

The Yanks will spend the weekend at the lovely Trop, and maybe the Florida heat and humidity will loosen them up. If not, it looks like they’ll end May in pretty much the same ditch they’ve been in. Maybe A-Rod coming off the DL will spark something. Who knows. I have a busy weekend, so I probably won’t catch the games except in passing. I do wish everyone a very happy and safe Memorial Day!

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Blue Jays, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

We Actually Won This Series

August 17, 2014

tropicana_field

The Trop wasn’t a house of horrors this time as the Yanks ended up taking two of three from the Rays. The hitting is still pretty anemic, but Jeter had a huge clutch hit yesterday that seemed to get everybody fired up, including the fans at the game. Prado is emerging as a player of interest, both offensively and defensively, and the pitching was superb for this series. McCarthy, once again, deserved better and Greene could have/should have gotten a win, but at least Kuroda finally notched one.

This team is trying to hang in, they really are. The question is can they? Do they have the talent to not only hang in but go on a tear and leapfrog over the teams in front of them? They’re a recently cobbled together group who haven’t had time to gel or develop real chemistry. Does it matter? I don’t know. It’s the middle of August – not too many games left to make a move. But at least when they win it’s more fun to watch them. There’s that.

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

Getting Out of the Trop Alive

April 20, 2014

tropicana_field

Raise your hand if you’re sorry to be leaving the land of catwalks and cowbells.

I didn’t think so. What a weird series. The Yankees looked great against Price in Game 1, then got absolutely blasted to smithereens in Games 2 and 3 and somehow managed to limp to the end with an extra-innings win in Game 4. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

Obviously, the big news was Nova. He was awful, then he was hurt, now he’s got a potentially season-ending injury if Dr. Tommy John is in his future. What is it with these pitchers? Did they get as many arm injuries in the olden days? My recollection is they pitched until their arms fell off, but maybe I’m forgetting the guys who didn’t.

Nuno was credible today but is he the guy I want to take Nova’s place in the rotation? Not at the moment. I need to see more of him to know. And Phelps doesn’t inspire confidence as a starter now, he just doesn’t.

I know the injuries and roster moves and desperate lineup changes (like Dean Anna having to pitch last night, a la Nick Swisher) are part of the long season, but they’re unsettling. So I’ll try to concentrate on the most positive development so far this season, which is how impressed I am with Jacoby Ellsbury. He rocks.

Happy Easter. On to Boston………

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Ivan Nova, Jacoby Ellsbury, Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

Big Time Sweep

August 22, 2013

Broom_icon.svg[4]Thanks to the long rain delay I was actually able to see the latter part of today’s game. What a great way to end the series. Wow. Well, except for Shawn Kelley, who was scary toward the end. Luckily Robertson didn’t do his Houdini act in the ninth and spared me the nerves, earning the save in place of Mo.

I didn’t see the Vernon Wells play live, but the replays sure looked like the ball was caught and the Yankees got a break on the call. I’m not feeling the least bit guilty about it either, because we’ve been getting our fair share of bad calls lately and we were due for one to go our way.

What I liked about this one was that we got great starting pitching from Andy, power from Granderson and hits and sacrifices and steals mixed in – an all-around good performance by the boys.

Does this weekend’s series in Tampa take on even more importance now that we’re inching tantalizingly close to a wild card spot? Oh, yeah. I’m nervous about it. Things at the Trop can get crazy, and the Rays have those young starters that can shut down an offense. Plus the turf won’t be easy on A-Rod and I suspect he’ll have to DH. Who plays third? There’s Reynolds in a platoon situation, but are we talking about David Adams too? I just hope whoever shows up is ready to play as if his life depended on it.

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Andy Pettitte, Blue Jays, Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

A House Of Horrors Yet Again

April 22, 2013

You’d think the Yankees would like playing at the Trop. It’s close to their own stadium in Tampa. The weather is predictable. They have a lot of fans in FL who turn out to cheer for them. So what’s the problem?

CC, in particular, seems to go stir bugs when he pitches there. He sure was awful in those early innings tonight. I was late getting the game on and we were down 5-0 already. Supposedly, he couldn’t find the plate. Why? Do they make home plate smaller at the Trop? Nooo, so he needs to snap out of it because we face the Rays 1,000 more times this season. He did settle down though and gave the Yankees plenty of chances to score runs and make a comeback.

Sadly, the Rays have another great young pitcher – all those draft picks, all that talent – and our bats were silenced, Cano’s homer aside.

I’m not even going to bring up the report about Cano’s connection to Biogeneis or his assistant’s connection to it, except to say I must be the only human being on the planet who didn’t visit that place. I’m not going to bring up Youkilis’ balky back either, except to say we already have a creaky third baseman and we need one that’s healthy.

 

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Biogenesis clinic, CC Sabathia, Kevin Youkilis, Rays, Robinson Cano, Tropicana Field, Yankees

All We Needed Was….Chris Dickerson!

May 17, 2011

(courtesy: espn.go.com)

Well? Who knows. Maybe he came from Scranton covered in magic dust. He was inserted into the lineup in Jorge’s favorite #9 spot (just a little joke), substituted for Swisher in right field after the Nickster ate a bad clam or something (just another little joke) and not only made a nice catch but hit a sacrifice bunt AND he stroked an RBI single (no joke; he really did).

Clearly, his magic dust rubbed off on the Yankees. The evidence?

  1. Nova bounced back from his rocky start.
  2. A-Rod came to vivid life with those two homers.
  3. Gardner got actual hits.
  4. Posada looked great at the plate.
  5. Robertson and Joba got in/out of trouble.
  6. And, best of all, nobody made an error. Oh wait. Never mind that one.

We won a goddamn ballgame. Woohoo! And we beat the Rays in their cockamamie stadium. (I thought it would take the umpires forever to issue a ruling on Shoppach’s fly ball. Yawn.)

The curse has been lifted. Temporarily, anyway. I’m celebrating. Who’s with me?

(courtesy: blondieandbrownie.com)

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: A-Rod, Brett Gardner, Chris Dickerson, Dave Robertson, Ivan Nova, Joba Chamberlain, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher, Rays, Tropicana Field, Yankees

Perhaps I Hallucinated Tonight’s Loss?

May 16, 2011

I was sitting there watching the game by myself, musing about how well A.J. was pitching, thinking how wonderful it was that the Yankees were scoring actual runs, delighting in the power of Curtis Granderson, speculating that the team enjoys playing in the warmer confines of Tropicana Field, when suddenly…

Well, you know what happened: A.J. had a complete and utter meltdown. Just like the bad old days.

What you don’t know is that minutes before his dreadful inning, I glanced out my living room window and saw a half-dozen vultures flying overhead. Yes, vultures. Turkey buzzards. Big disgusting birds that prey on the dead.

I’m not kidding. I live way up in the hills where we do have a lot of wildlife; the birds could certainly have spotted a squirrel or rabbit and decided to dine on my lawn. But here’s what I think: they were watching the Yankees too and I was starring in some sort of horror movie.

(courtesy: bbc.co.uk)

I tweeted my fears to my Yankee tweeps. They responded that I wasn’t hallucinating and that vultures or no vultures the boys did find a new way to lose.

If only we could have scored after the Grandy homer. If only Girardi had pulled A.J. sooner. If only we had a healthy bullpen. If only A-Rod would stop striking out. If only, if only.

Can you imagine if George were alive? Someone would get fired or, at the very least, threats would be made. Hank piped up, but it was pretty tame stuff.

As I said last night, the ugliness will stop eventually. There’s just no telling how long it will last. I wouldn’t mind if Nunez would stop making throwing errors in the meantime.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: A-Rod, A.J. Burnett, Curtis Granderson, George Steinbrenner, Joe Girardi, Rays, The Birds, Tippi Hedren, Tropicana Field, vultures, Yankees

Perhaps I Hallucinated Tonight's Loss?

May 16, 2011

I was sitting there watching the game by myself, musing about how well A.J. was pitching, thinking how wonderful it was that the Yankees were scoring actual runs, delighting in the power of Curtis Granderson, speculating that the team enjoys playing in the warmer confines of Tropicana Field, when suddenly…

Well, you know what happened: A.J. had a complete and utter meltdown. Just like the bad old days.

What you don’t know is that minutes before his dreadful inning, I glanced out my living room window and saw a half-dozen vultures flying overhead. Yes, vultures. Turkey buzzards. Big disgusting birds that prey on the dead.

I’m not kidding. I live way up in the hills where we do have a lot of wildlife; the birds could certainly have spotted a squirrel or rabbit and decided to dine on my lawn. But here’s what I think: they were watching the Yankees too and I was starring in some sort of horror movie.

(courtesy: bbc.co.uk)

I tweeted my fears to my Yankee tweeps. They responded that I wasn’t hallucinating and that vultures or no vultures the boys did find a new way to lose.

If only we could have scored after the Grandy homer. If only Girardi had pulled A.J. sooner. If only we had a healthy bullpen. If only A-Rod would stop striking out. If only, if only.

Can you imagine if George were alive? Someone would get fired or, at the very least, threats would be made. Hank piped up, but it was pretty tame stuff.

As I said last night, the ugliness will stop eventually. There’s just no telling how long it will last. I wouldn’t mind if Nunez would stop making throwing errors in the meantime.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: A-Rod, A.J. Burnett, Curtis Granderson, George Steinbrenner, Joe Girardi, Rays, The Birds, Tippi Hedren, Tropicana Field, vultures, Yankees

What, Exactly, Is A “Performance Bonus?”

January 21, 2011

Along with the news that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are reuniting to join the Rays comes word that Damon will be paid a $750,000 performance bonus. I’m not even going to attempt to make a bad joke about performance.

(Okay, I just did. Sorry about that.) Anyhow, I’m wondering how the Rays will determine whether or not Johnny earns his $750,000 in 2011. Will the bonus be based on the number of tickets sold throughout the course of the season or the number of bodies that actually show up at the Trop? If so, how would they attribute the totals to Damon, as opposed to any other player? Or maybe it has to do with how many Damon jerseys they move? How many bobble head dolls? I don’t mean to be deliberately obtuse. I just don’t get it. Can someone explain?

As for the Angels’ acquisition of Vernon Wells, I’m glad he’s out of the AL East. He may be a streaky player for whom Anaheim overpaid, but he always seemed to do damage against the Yankees and I’m not sorry to see him go west.

Meanwhile, we head into another weekend without answers for our rotation. I remain mystified by this. Yes, Yankee fans are spoiled, used to having our pick of the best guys available, blah blah blah. So what. We’ve long moved past the years when Andy Hawkins and Dave LaPoint were our aces. We deserve better. Right, Hal? Look at me. I’m talking to you.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Angels, Hal Steinbrenner, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Rays, Tropicana Field, Vernon Wells, Yankees

What, Exactly, Is A "Performance Bonus?"

January 21, 2011

Along with the news that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are reuniting to join the Rays comes word that Damon will be paid a $750,000 performance bonus. I’m not even going to attempt to make a bad joke about performance.

(Okay, I just did. Sorry about that.) Anyhow, I’m wondering how the Rays will determine whether or not Johnny earns his $750,000 in 2011. Will the bonus be based on the number of tickets sold throughout the course of the season or the number of bodies that actually show up at the Trop? If so, how would they attribute the totals to Damon, as opposed to any other player? Or maybe it has to do with how many Damon jerseys they move? How many bobble head dolls? I don’t mean to be deliberately obtuse. I just don’t get it. Can someone explain?

As for the Angels’ acquisition of Vernon Wells, I’m glad he’s out of the AL East. He may be a streaky player for whom Anaheim overpaid, but he always seemed to do damage against the Yankees and I’m not sorry to see him go west.

Meanwhile, we head into another weekend without answers for our rotation. I remain mystified by this. Yes, Yankee fans are spoiled, used to having our pick of the best guys available, blah blah blah. So what. We’ve long moved past the years when Andy Hawkins and Dave LaPoint were our aces. We deserve better. Right, Hal? Look at me. I’m talking to you.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: Angels, Hal Steinbrenner, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Rays, Tropicana Field, Vernon Wells, Yankees

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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.

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