KIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) -Moments after reciting their vows, Ian Kennedy and his new wife walked up the aisle to “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”
What else?
The New York Yankees’ rookie pitcher married Southern California basketball player Allison Jaskowiak on Saturday evening in a ceremony outside St. Louis.
“I was thinking, what’s more nerve-racking, pitching in the big leagues for the first time or getting married?” Kennedy said. “It’s a different emotion. I don’t cry too much, but it was emotional.”
The couple was surrounded by family and friends – but none of Kennedy’s teammates who are on the Yankees’ playoff roster were able to make it because of the team’s 11-inning game that ended late Friday night in Cleveland.
The Yankees then flew home to New York, where they will face the Indians again on Sunday. Cleveland leads the best-of-five division series 2-0.
Rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain, one of Kennedy’s closest friends, was among those who had hoped to attend the wedding on the off day in the series. But Kennedy said he understood that his teammates couldn’t make it. After all, they had a good reason.
Kennedy, left off the first-round playoff roster, flew to St. Louis on Friday from Tampa, Fla., where he’s been working out in hopes of being added to the roster for a potential AL championship series. The right-hander tweaked his back during a late-season bullpen session and hasn’t pitched since Sept. 13 in Toronto.
With his team trailing the Indians, Kennedy said it was tough not being with the Yankees – but maybe it was a blessing in disguise that he was passed over for the first round.
“I’ve been saying that since I was sent down to Florida,” Kennedy said in the reception hall at Westborough Country Club after his wedding. “I still get to watch the team play, but I’m there in spirit and if there is a second round, I get to go back up. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Originally, it was uncertain whether the 22-year-old Kennedy would be able to get away on the off day in the series. But he received permission from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, before the club decided to leave Kennedy off the first-round roster.
Kennedy went 1-0 with a 1.89 ERA in three September starts.
Moving the wedding date would have been difficult because Jaskowiak’s basketball season begins later this month. Jaskowiak was just happy that her coach, Mark Trakh, and some of her teammates were able to fly out to St. Louis for the ceremony considering that next Saturday is USC’s first official practice.
Kennedy’s grandfather, William Kennedy, was the Officiant at the wedding. The pitcher’s mother-in-law, Cindy Jaskowiak, summed up the day as most mothers would.
“It was a beautiful wedding,” she said, smiling.
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