Giants in the house!
The NY Giants are in the house! Tom Coughlin, soon headed to Iraq with a couple of other NFL coaches to visit our troops, brought his team on a field trip to Yankee Stadium following today’s two mandatory minicamp practices. “Team bonding,” Coughlin said with a smile. His players were smiling because the mandatory minicamp ends tomorrow morning. Which means it’s time for summer vacation!
The players said they hadn’t eaten since 10:30 am. No wonder they practically ran from Monument Park to the Legends Suite where a feast awaited them.
Osi, who looks terrific, said he went through both practices and was tired but felt great. Although some football players, most notably Trent Edwards of the Bills when we were in Toronto, can look good taking BP, Shaun O’Hara said there’s no way he could hit a major-league fastball. And Justin Tuck is a big Giants fan who brought his father to the old Stadium last year and was happy to be at the new Stadium for the second time.
And we met the newest Penn Stater to join the Giants – Maurice Evans of Brooklyn. We always root for Nittany Lions.
Eli just left the booth after talking with Kay and Flaherty during the third inning. Eli said Peyton just happened to be in the area and came to the game. It’s funny watching the Manning brothers talk; Eli still looks like the younger brother but he doesn’t seem like the little brother anymore. If you know what we mean.
Xavier Nady: He’s frustrated as heck to still be on the DL but plans to play the outfield for four innings Friday in an extended spring game. Before BP, Nady was taking ground balls in right from Robby Thomson and throwing to second – where the manager was manning the bag. “Maybe there was a little more intensity (than Tuesday’s workout) with Girardi out there,” Nady said, smiling.
Jose Molina: We’ll air a feature on Sunday’s pregame about the Molina family coping with their loss of its patriarch, Benjamin Molina, on Sunday’s pregame. This might seem self-serving, but it’s worth a look.
Derek Jeter: Knowing Jeter, he’ll be back tomorrow. But if he can’t play, Girardi knows he has to have Jeter back by Friday, giving the inflexibility in other spots on the roster as the Yankees head to interleague play in National League parks.
Pete Abraham: He says we’ll do another chat soon. And he says we’ll spice it up a bit. To which we say: Bring.It.On.
Your turn: We STILL cannot find Tino. But how does this sound? Let’s do an “Innerview” for Batting Practice Today presented by Audi” with YOUR questions. First, we have to decide on the subject. So, in the comment section, let us know who you’d like to “innerview” and what your question would be. The player mentioned most often will be asked to join us to answer YOUR questions. Do you like that idea?
The Kimberly Jones Blog 
Re: Lannon shutting down the Yanks tonight.
I can already hear the post-game comments about how we all have to tip our cap to Lannon because he did such a masterful job of pitching.
Here’s what bugs me… Over the last few years, the list of no-name/flash-in-the-pan/minor-league-scrub type guys, to whom we must tip our caps is nearly endless.
If you want to shut down the Yankees, just find anybody you can that they’ve never seen before. Search your pen, bring them up from the bush leagues, walk outside and check on the street… That almost always does the trick.
young pitchers to have quite a history of pitching well against the yankees in recent history. i’ve noticed that too.
kim, you should talk to posada! one of many, many questions i would ask him would be regarding the “how well do you know your teammate” segment on yankees on deck. who answered more questions right overall? him or mariano rivera? would the questions be easier or more difficult if it was posada and jeter?
Hey Kim,
I’m happy to see Nady is already doing extended spring training games! I think you should “Innerview” Posada and ask him,
“F. Cervelli seemed to have proved himself since coming up here(In the lineup while the errorless game streak was broken; and Yankee pitching has a 4.23 era when he’s behind the plate), do you feel your fully taking advantage of your possible day or 1/2 days off? It could be significant in the later months into the postseason.
Ask Joe what’s his plan for Wang if/when he pitches in a national league park and has to bat? The yankees can’t afford to lose his arm at this point in the season…
Interview A-Rod,
Please ask him when he plans on hitting in the late innings with runners on base.
Sincerely,
Somebody had to be the first to ask for it, hopefully everyone else will join me. I don’t mean to be sarcastic either, its getting a bit ridiculous, I’ve been patient enough.
Hi Kimmie!! I’m a HUGE Giants fan. I have a feeling they will be making some serious noise in the NFC East this year.
OK…now about Tino….Are you KIDDING ME?!?!?! No….I say we WAIT for Tino to show. He can’t hide forever!! And there are LOTS of fans like me who want to hear what HE has to say about a LOT of subjects. OK…that’s my opinion.
As for Lannon….are we sure that wasn’t Cy Young himself? Once again, the Yanks make a mediocre pitcher look GREAT!! Happens almost every time. Then they blow out Santana 15 – 0?!?!?! Wow….someone please explain that.
Wang….loooked a lot better this time out. Despite what Flaherty kept saying about him not having as good stuff as he had against Boston, at least he was mostly in the strike zone.
Now once again, there is something that is GLARING in the contrast of pitching styles between the Yankees and almost EVERYONE else. Last night Lannon was at 85 pitches in the 8th inning…..Wang hit 100 in the 4th. Couple of reasons here… Some of the Yankees are swinging for the fences all the time, and they aren’t being patient. Secondly…we HAVE to look at the Yankees pitching coach!! Why can’t our guys throw STRIKES?? These guys are major league pitchers. Should we expect that they can throw a strike?? Yeah….I know it’s kind of hard to control a 90 MPH pitch…but our opponents seem able to do it very nicely for the most part.
Arod…going back to his old habits of swinging at LOW AND AWAY pitches and trying to pull them every time. He needs to look at film from when he was going good…or SOMETHING. Everyone calls him the ‘BEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL’. Well I’ve never seen that. The best player in baseball would be a guy who is far more consistent in coming through in the clutch…Albert Poujols comes to mind. Maybe Joe Mauer…but ARod isn’t even in the top 10 right now. Sad, but that is the truth folks. Since he’s been a Yankee, he’s only had streaks where he comes through in the clutch. I’m pulling for him to BE that guy because I know he can be. He has the talent and the ability to be all of that. But he has to be more CONSISTENT. Heck…I remember a couple of years back when the opposing team would WALK the guy ahead of ARod to pitch to him in a critical spot, KNOWING he wouldn’t come through!! Is that the mark of the ‘BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME’?? Not hardly folks.
Like I said, I love ARod and I am pulling for him. I can’t wait until he finally straightens himself out and puts himself in the same conversation with Pujols.
OK…that’s all I have to say. Kimmie..Nice job. Hey….have you ever interviewed Paterno??
I’d like to see you interview Matsui – in ENGLISH. I’m sure he speaks it well enough. And you could ask him if he has any more of those great drawings of his wife. That was the funniest story last year!
I can’t wait until football season starts up again.
-Dillon
http://dillonm.mlblogs.com
For your “Innerview,” please talk to John Flaherty and ask him when he’s going to shut up for five seconds.
i know this is not really baseball related, but can you ask swish what kind of music he likes??
i also want to know more about cervelli!
You’re exactly right, Toonces. It would be great to have a nice little break from his constant jabbering.
Flaherty iritates me so much when he broadcasts that I have to mute my TV.
“Pete Abraham: He says we’ll do another chat soon. And he says we’ll spice it up a bit. To which we say: Bring.It.On.”
That’s the attitude. Take no prisoners. Forget email. Face to face will slay the blog godfather. One look at your Rancho Carne Toro chat debate uniform and he won’t know what hit him.
I personally like when Flaherty calls the games. I like the catcher’s perspective and learning more about the strategies of the game and about the different types of pitches.
Could you get Ramiro Pena for an interview? We haven’t heard from him yet.
I’d like to hear you interview Cervelli.
I second kdawg20– can we hear from Pena?