Tagged: Yankees

For My Final Post Here…

…I thought I’d bring on Husband Michael for his thoughts about the 2011 Yankees. I recently upgraded my She-Fan Cam from the Flip Mino to the Ultra, so Michael is its first victim. He was about to head outside to put some burgers on the grill for dinner, but I snagged him before he got away.
(Dinner was delicious, btw. Michael may or may not be much of a forecaster when it comes to the Yanks, but he does make a mean burger.)
Now, onto the business of my move from MLBlogs and the info regarding where to find me from here on out. You have choices.
You can access the “Confessions” blog via the drop-down menu on my newly redesigned web site at:
Or you can go directly to “Confessions” with this URL:
And for those who may be interested in the “Mainly Jane” blog, which will cover lots of non-baseball topics, you’ll find it, too, on the home page of the web site or more directly at:
As I’ve said in previous posts, it’s been a blast writing here and being part of this community. To those who won’t be following me to my new home, I wish you the very best. To those who’ve been kind enough to list “Confessions” on your blogroll, I hope you’ll update the link. And to those who plan on hanging out with me at janeheller.com, I’ll see you soon!
Thanks for reading and xxoo to all.
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From The Vault – My First Ever “Confessions” Post

Before I move over to the new digs at my web site (url to come Friday night), I thought I’d go
back to my first post at MLBlogs. It was from August of 2008 and it
looked like this.

In May of 2007, when the Yankees were in last place, I
couldn’t take it. All the losing was killing me, keeping me up at
night, making me snap at complete strangers, giving me a really bad
headache. One night, after a humiliating interleague loss against the
Mets, I stormed into my office and wrote an article about divorcing the
Yankees. The grounds? Mental cruelty. I didn’t have a blog then, so I
vented to the New York Times, which published my article. (You can read
it here.) As a result of that article I landed a book deal for a
nonfiction account of what it really means to be a fan. It’s called
“Confessions of a She-Fan” and it’ll be out in February.

Now that I’ve finished it, I’ve been feeling desperate to be in a
community of Yankee fans – people to commiserate with and celebrate
with. Writing books is a solitary business. You basically sit in a room
all day by yourself, wondering why in the world you didn’t pick another
line of work, waiting for your publisher to call with news about
something (your manuscript, your cover, your sales). I’m hoping that
blogging will fill the void and distract me from checking my hourly
ranking on amazon and the occasional snarky review.

Yes, it’s late in the season, but today’s game was a revelation.
I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to beat a team not named the
Mariners or Orioles. I’ve been second-guessing Girardi all year – from
not starting Kennedy because it might rain, only to use him in
relief…to resting Damon when we desperately needed his hot bat…to
giving non-answers to questions about players injuries. But he looked
like a genius today, juggling the bullpen and sending Giambi up to pinch
hit. Taking the finale against the Red Sox wasn’t as satisfying as
sweeping them would have been, but it was sweet nevertheless.

Do the Yankees have a prayer of making the postseason? I gave up
on them last year and vowed I wouldn’t do it again. But it’s looking
bleak. Seriously. A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay loom this weekend. My
heart tells me the Yanks can pull off a miracle comeback, but my husband
says I’ve been drinking the Kool Aid.


My heart was wrong, as it turned out. The Yankees didn’t make the
playoffs in ’08. Funny how I was so worried about A.J. Burnett as a Blue
Jay; now I’m worried about him for a whole different reason. And it’s
weird reading about Ian Kennedy; it’s almost as if he never existed.

Will the 2011 Yankees be non-contenders like the 2008 Yankees or will
they have the playoff magic of the 2009 championship team? Obviously,
I’m hoping for the latter.

As for blogging, I’ll be doing it win or lose. I blogged during the
wildfires here in California. I blogged while Michael was in the
hospital having surgery. I blogged when I should have been writing a
book. There’s no reason to think I’ll stop now.

Bart Is A Yankee (Woohoo)

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I feared it would happen. I dreaded it. I thought it signaled total
desperation. But now that the former Cy Young winner has signed a minor
league deal with the Yankees I’m sort of who-cares about it. If he
pitches well, he could help us. If he doesn’t, he’ll be cut loose and
nobody will miss him. (I’m betting on the latter, but I’ll be thrilled
to be wrong.)

Cashman talks a lot about “catching lightning in a bottle” whenever
we bring in a guy with baggage. Dwight Gooden was lightning several
years ago. Kerry Wood was lightning last year. Lightning is possible.
But why, with only weeks to go until spring training, are we even having
this discussion? Shouldn’t we have cemented our rotation already? Like
with bona fide starters with proven track records? I’m just not getting
this off-season. It’s so….un-Yankee-like.

Now that I really think about the Colon signing, I’m actually
depressed by it. I was planning to post something fun from my archives
tonight as I count down to my moving day (I’m guessing it’ll be Friday
or Monday), but the Colon thing was on my mind. I hate to be a Debbie
Downer but I kind of am right now. Sorry. I mean, Bartolo Colon?
Seriously?

What Will Cashman Say Next?

Does anyone remember Jim Carrey’s character in the comedy “Liar Liar?”
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He had to tell the truth no matter what because of his son’s birthday wish. After reading about Brian Cashman’s WFAN sponsored breakfast today and all the gems that popped out of his mouth, I’m wondering if one of his kids made the same birthday wish. The Yankees have often been accused of being a secretive organization, not disclosing injuries, not wanting to discuss contract issues, evading reporters’ questions, but not today and not with Cashman at the mic.
To wit, here are some of his candid remarks:
* He foresees Jeter moving to centerfield (as opposed to third base) at some point in the future.
* He rates the Red Sox as the better team (except for our bullpen).
* He thinks Joba is washed up. (OK, he didn’t say that, but he did admit that Joba hasn’t been the same since his shoulder injury.)
* He implied that a couple of our minor league pitchers are better than Nova.
* He repeated that he wasn’t on board with the signing of Soriano.
* He doesn’t want Andy back unless his heart is in it.
Will Cash’s truth-telling compulsion continue? And if so, what will he blurt out at the next media event? A few possibilities…
* “I’d be willing to trade anybody for Felix Hernandez.”
* “I like Hank better than Hal, as it turns out.”
* “I always laugh when I see that commercial on YouTube with Coney doing the ‘El Duque.'”
* “I wish I had my own funny commercial.”
* “I wish I were taller.”
* “I wish I had as much hair as Theo Epstein.”
* “I wish the Yankees would win the World Series this year so fans would stop sulking over Cliff Lee.”
* “I wish Cliff Lee had said yes.”
That’s it for tonight. I’m off to watch the State of the Union address. Wouldn’t it be cool if politicians were forced to tell the truth – even for 24 hours?

I Have Some News

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I’m moving. Well, to be more precise, this blog is moving. I’ve had a tremendous time here at MLBlogs but I’ve decided to bring “Confessions” over to my web site, which will have a new look and feature the launch of another blog called “Mainly Jane” (its content will cover non-baseball-related stuff like books, the writing process, movies, recipes, you name it).
It’s hard for me to believe that I only started the “Confessions” blog because a publicist at Rodale told me to. They were about to publish my “She-Fan” book and the publicist wanted me to get out and promote it. “Sign up at MLBlogs and make some baseball friends,” she said. “And be sure you post a lot.”
I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about. I may have even said, “What’s a blog?” 
But I did sign up here, and once I started writing about the Yankees I couldn’t stop. And I did make baseball friends – so many. I jumped up and down the first time somebody left a comment. I couldn’t believe anybody would want to read what I had to say. In the early days I “met” other MLBloggers like Jeff, Paul, Renegade, Elizabeth, Jenn, Sue, Cat and Emma, and then the non-MLBloggers/Yankee fans joined the party: Melissa, Diane, Dave, Peggy, Barbara, Harold, ladyjane, dj, medicap, Freya, John, Wendy, Ellen, Antonella, Nadine and all the gang. (I know I’m leaving people out and I’m very sorry; my brain is fried tonight.)
I’ll post the new location/address/url for “Confessions” as soon as Kristen, my web guru, gives me the all clear that we’re live over there. We’re shooting for Friday, but tech things can go awry so I’ll be more specific about a day as we get closer.
I realize I’ll lose some readers; it goes with the territory when you move. But I hope most will follow me over to the new place and continue to provide us with an entertaining dialogue. I promise it’ll be fun, especially once the season kicks off.
In the meantime, unless something happens in Yankeeville I’m going to do Nostalgia Posts each night until the move – my favorite entries from the archives, plus commentary. It’ll be interesting to take a look back and see what’s happened since that inaugural post in August 2008.
‘Night.

If Andre Agassi Were a Baseball Player, Would He Get Into The HOF?

I ask the question because Agassi IS getting into the Tennis Hall of Fame, according to Yahoo Sports. I’ve been watching the Australian Open lately, so tennis has been on my mind. When I heard about Agassi, I was happy for him but I started to think about the different sets of standards that sports have for their Halls of Fame. Agassi, you remember, admitted in his book that he used drugs and lied about it. Here’s the pertinent quote from the Yahoo article.
“Agassi revealed in his 2009 book “Open” that he was depressed in 1997, when he was using crystal meth and failed a drug test. The result was thrown out, he said, after he lied by saying he took the drug unwittingly.”


If Derek Jeter took crystal meth, failed a drug test and lied about it, would that disqualify him from – or, at the very least, hurt his chances of – getting into the Hall? I can’t imagine anything disqualifying him, but the baseball writers are pretty tough when it comes to drugs, aren’t they? Or do they just draw the line at steroids? All I know is that Agassi was such a fun player to watch and his matches against Sampras were great for the game. Talk about a rivalry. 
Federer vs. Nadal is always exciting, but I thought Agassi and Sampras brought out the best in each other, given their completely opposite styles and personalities. 
As for the women’s side, I miss Evert vs. Navratilova too. I mean do I really care about Wozniacki against Clijsters? At least the really noisy grunters are out of the tournament. I can’t even watch Sharapova anymore without muting the TV. Ugh.

In Deference To Fans Of The NY Jets…

I’m writing this post about football – and why I don’t watch it. I’m a former New Yorker, so I’m rooting for the Jets in the most tangential way, but I’ll be skipping the big game tomorrow and picking up the blog on Monday.

Why don’t I watch/like football? I’ve asked myself that a lot over the years. I love sports in general, with baseball being my favorite, and can easily get interested in hockey, basketball, tennis, even boxing. But I have a mental block where football is concerned. Total apathy. To me, it’s a bunch of very large men, wearing equipment that makes them unrecognizable, gathered around a field, occasionally huddling, occasionally walking around, occasionally tackling each other, occasionally running and throwing and kicking. I have no idea what “fourth and ten” means. I’m clueless about “yards” and “downs.” I couldn’t tell you the difference between a field goal and a touchdown. I don’t know what all those white lines signify. There’s so much starting and stopping that I wonder why people think baseball is boring.
This is not to say I don’t understand the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat; the emotions of rooting for a team don’t change from sport to sport. And I’m sure the scheduling of football – the fact that games are only played once a week – really heightens people’s interest. Getting together with friends and family to watch a game must feel like more of an event, whereas you can catch a baseball game almost any night of the week.
Maybe I’m just a hot weather girl and the notion of watching a game played in frigid temperatures doesn’t appeal to me. Dunno. But good luck to any Jets fans out there. I hope the Super Bowl is in your future – partly because it’ll be exciting for you guys and partly because it’ll mean football is over and baseball is about to begin.
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What, Exactly, Is a “Performance Bonus?”

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.

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(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.


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So Let Me Get This Straight About Andruw Jones

The Yankees signed him instead of re-signing Marcus Thames because, unlike Thames, Jones can play every position in the outfield?
Okay, I get that he’s lost weight since his unfortunate stint with the Dodgers, but how confident will any of us be to see him out there? I wish him the best and hope he gets a hit every time he’s called upon. I just hope kids like Colin Curtis are ready to fill in if necessary.
Speaking of kids, Friend of the Blog Wendy alerted me to this story on the MLB web site about a terrific kid, an avid Brewers/Prince Fielder fan, who lost his life to a drunk driver. His family is trying to raise money to build a state-of-the-art field in Wisconsin in his honor, and you can help. Take a look – and grab a box of Kleenex while you’re at it.

Random Thoughts On Soriano’s Press Conference

Have a peek at this excerpt if you haven’t seen the whole thing already.
Here are my take-aways:
1) Cashman: Did he gain some weight this off-season? Or was it just those pancakes he ate at the breakfast yesterday? Also, I loved how he called Soriano “Rafi” and Mo “Mr. Mariano Rivera.”
2) Girardi: “Now we have two closers.” Works for me, Joe. It’s not my money.
3) Soriano needed a translator? Or maybe Boras was just afraid his client would blurt out, “Hey, Cash, I know you didn’t want me here but everybody else did so stuff it.”
4) I really liked Soriano’s suit. No undertaker look for him in that taupe or whatever color it was.
5) I don’t want to be done with these press conferences. There needs to be another one before spring training – and I’m not talking about Pettitte, despite reports today that he’s been “throwing” just in case he decides to join the party. I’m talking about an as-yet-to-be-named starter who will put on the pinstripes for the first time. The Tigers DFA-ed Armando Galarraga. He pitched a perfect game, for God’s sake, and he’s only 29. Could he really be that bad?
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