When life gets in the way of itself

Ian Kennedy's wedding is scheduled for the middle of the American League Division Series

Jim Baumbach

11:32 AM EDT, September 4, 2007

Now that Roger Clemens is out for who-knows-how-long with an ailing elbow, the Yankees have to rely even more on rookie Ian Kennedy to pitch them into the playoffs. This creates a cruel twist for Kennedy.

Kennedy is scheduled to get married October 6, which obviously would fall right in the middle of the American League Division Series. Pushing the wedding back a few weeks isn't a viable option because Kennedy's fiancée, Allison Jaskowiak, plays women's basketball for USC. Her season begins in the middle of October.

It's one those feel-good, feel-bad situations. On a team filled with multi-millionaires, Kennedy is an easy person to root for. He's only 22 years old, just over a year out of college. Now, after starting the season pitching for Class-A Tampa, he has suddenly found himself pitching for the Yankees in the middle of a pennant race.

But changing the wedding plans so close to the actual date is not something you would wish on anyone.

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For his part, Kennedy is a smart man. When presented with this scenario yesterday, he shrugged. "We'll see," he said. As every married man can understand, it's probably not a good idea for him to be quoted in a newspaper talking about changing his wedding date. Not sure how many fiancées would enjoy reading that.

Being in the sports world herself, Jaskowiak would undoubtedly understand. Once she heard Kennedy was making his debut for the Yankees Saturday, she received permission to leave USC even though the women's basketball program was hosting three important recruits. "It was a big weekend," she said on Saturday. She added that it was "generous" of her coaches to let her leave, but you got the sense talking to her there was no way she was going to miss that game.

There are still 24 games left in the regular season, and the Yankees have only a one-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card standings. So the postseason is far from a given for the Yankees. And it's very plausible to think they could make it without the help of Kennedy. He was impressive in his debut Saturday but it was only one start, thus it's far from a given he will be on the postseason roster. He's on a start-to-start basis right now.

But maybe there is a way everything could work out for both sides.

October 6 is an off day for both American League series, between Games 2 and 3. Is it be possible for Kennedy to leave the team mid-series, get married as scheduled in St. Louis and then return to the Yankees for Game 3?

As Kennedy said, we'll see.

Staff writer Kat O'Brien contributed to this story.