An end to the first half, looking forward to the second
In three hours, the Yankees will disperse in many directions, with most coaches and players going to their offseason homes and three Yankees heading to St. Louis. There are a bunch of people hoping to not do a whole lot over the next four days. A four-day All-Star break is big. We’ll be on WFAN from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. this week with Adam the Bull. Yes, we’ll try to blog a bit during the week. And, no, Twitter won’t be happening anytime soon.
Phil Hughes: We can’t help you with posting the Innerview. Really, we just don’t know how. But, Internet Guru Kevin Sullivan reads this blog. Hopefully, we’ll get back to posting those Innerviews here for those of you who, for some reason, miss our “Batting Practice Today presented by Audi.”
Bobby Abreu: He seems to enjoy playing against the Yankees, huh? But not as much as Howie Kendrick, who mystified the Angels with his awful start to the season but has hit the Yankees. Of course.
Chone Figgins: He’ll be a free agent after the season. It would be interesting to see how the free market assesses his value. He’s just perfect for the Angels.
Joba Chamberlain: Had a nice pre-game chat at his locker. His frame of mind is good. He truly believes he’ll have a strong second half. (Then again, what’s he going to say?) He figures a few quiet days at home in Nebraska will do him good.
Eric Hinske: He’s fitting in quite nicely. After he was acquired in a trade, a bunch of Yankees, perhaps chiefly Damon, were absolutely certain he’d make a strong contribution. Two starts — and three home runs — in, they seem to be correct. It’ll be interesting if Girardi can keep all of his outfielders happy — Hinske makes five for three spots — if all of them continue to play well.
Sergio Mitre: His eight scoreless innings for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre have to make him the odds-on favorite to start against the Orioles a week from Tuesday. He struck out five and walked none and, unlike Aceves, starting Mitre won’t tax the bullpen for days. Or shouldn’t.
Mark Teixeira: Overheard at his locker today, a reporter asking Teixeira, “When did you know you could bring the thunder?” Teixeira’s response: “What does that mean?” The reporter, who isn’t a regular on the Yankees beat: “Swing the bat.” Teixeira then answered.
The All-Star break is coming at a good time. We’ll look forward to mixing in some Q&As with players and coaches in the second half. This initial run with the blog has been fun, if a bit of a work in progress. As always, thanks for reading.
The Kimberly Jones Blog 
Thanks for a GREAT first half Kim. I was VERY happy after sweeping the Twins but I’m still in disbelief over the Anges. I thought without Hunter and Vlad, they Yankees could take 2 of 3 for sure. They had good leads in the first 2 games and the pitching staff blew the games. I hope they all rest up and get ready for a BIG second half. I have no idea if the Fab 5 starters will pitch a better second half or not but it looks like a dog fight all the way through September.Enjoy the break Kim and I’ll be looking for updates along the way.
Hi Kim,
What a horror this weekend! What happened to the Yankees? What was Joe thinking taking out Gardner and putting in Swisher? What a waste!
Kim regarding your remark about who doesn’t watch Batting Pratice Today – here in Fla. we can only get the opportunity to pay to watch the Yankee games! We don’t get any of the YES shows unfortunately.
Can you ask the YES people to allow us to have the whole thing down here, we pay extra for MLB Extra Innings anyway?
Hope everyone has a great rest and come back well rested and with winning on their minds.
Keep up the good work.
Nice blog…keep up the good work. Wish you’d refer to yourself in the correct person, though. If you get married will you say “We do?”
Hi Kim,
I have a random question that I’ve always wondered about: Several years ago, Michael Kay used to refer to you as “Lil’ Kim” and then he suddenly stopped. Did you request he stop calling you that as it’s probably not the most professional nickname in the world ? If I remember right, you then started going by “Kimberly” ….
Anyway, whatever moniker you go by, you do an awesome job and your postgame interviews are the perfect way to end a win. Keep up the great work!!
Just like you mentionned Kim, Mitre won’t tax the bullpen which is starting to get a little suspect. Bruney is a total disappointment and I wonder what Robertson is doing still in big league level.
i couldnt agree with Moschetti more. Lets start by saying I cant understand for the life of me why the yankees refuse to have young, fresh, enthusiatic players i understand Monlina is smart defensive veteran catcher but Cervelli’s defense looked just as good if not better and had a cannon of an arm. He can crawl faster than Molina runs and the staff loved pitching to him he brought lots of energy to the team. And Monlina doesnt hit any better than he does. Pena, well lets start with Ransom who is an absolute liaibility in the field and oh he is still on the interstate average wise. He is a god damn joke. Pena is faster great for pinch run spots and was great defensively. He has a quicker first step and more range then dare i say the captian.. Not to mention his batting average was at least like 80 points if not more higher than Ransom. But no no lets send him down and keep Cody. GREAT MOVE! We have only 3 solid starters. wang is prolly done for the season and who knows if he’ll ever be the same. And Joba.. LOL he hasnt been half what the organization and fans expected not to mention his attitude seems horrible i understand you have to learn how to pitch in the majors but he has been so bad. he has what 18 starts and still doesnt qalifly for the league leaders in ERA due to lack of innings pitched. lol what a joke. Can we package him and Cano for Halladay PLEASE! Cano is a very bad clutch hitter he is batting .250 with the bases loaded. i believe that is due to his lack of patince and free swinging tendencies. I doubt he will ever be the RBI man we all hope. Joe has to stop putting him in the 5 hole behind Alex i have seen enough double plays. Yes he is a good hitter (with no one on) but lets remember pitching wins titles and seeing as we only really have 3 starters Hallday would just be amazing. Damon has become a diaster in the outfield when a lazy can of corn is hit his way im not sure who is more nervous he is gonna make the catch more him or the fans. it looks like he is always fighting the sun even in night games.. LOL. Now the sox sweeping 8 from us that is just being completely out play by you bitter rival. WOW way to go. Even if we would have just split those 4-4 we would have a comfortable 5 game lead and be 22 over .500. So my grade is a C+ with all the talent on this roster we shouldn’t be chasing anyone. We should be the ones being chased.
P.S. If Joe plays Ransom one more time im gonna pucnh him through my TV screen, then proceed to bang my head aganist the wall… LOL
Loved the Teixeira tidbit. People who try to act cool usually aren’t.