Shine: The story behind Francisco Cervelli’s great night

How about that Francisco Cervelli? He’s filling in for Jorge Posada pretty nicely, both behind the plate and at the bat, with a little inspiration from a little girl at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Last night Cervelli wore a bracelet with the word “shine” on it, a gift from a sick child named Jane. He received the yellow bracelet yesterday that he received yesterday when he and teammate Ramiro Pena visited sick children in the hospital.

It looks like seeing those kids inspired both players – Cervelli went 3-for-3, including his first MLB triple, and made an epic catch while almost falling into the Yankee dugout. And Pena had two RBI. See some of the game highlights here.

Something like that happened at a game Squawker Jon and I attended last year. Remember the first walkoff against the Twins, when Brett Gardner had an inside-the park homer after visiting a heart transplant patient in the hospital and getting a bracelet from her? That was a heartwarming story, as was what happened last night.

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In other news, hopefully Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera will be ready to go soon. But I’m still blaming SI for them being hurt – that cover jinx got to them, too!

Sad to see that Ernie Harwell died yesterday. He was such a beloved figure in baseball, and brought so much joy to listeners. I admired the Detroit broadcaster’s zest for life.

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