A fist pump on a beautiful Baltimore day
Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms! Especially mine!
It is a glorious day in Baltimore. A postcard day. Except for the pollen, which is going to render some of us unable to breathe by the end of the day. After the last road trip, my car had a fresh coat of pollen on it; that’s how this misery starts.
It’s been a long stretch of games — yes, there was a rainout but everyone was still at the stadium — and tomorrow is a very welcome off day. Every single person in the clubhouse is looking forward to it. (No country music in the clubhouse today. In fact, there was no music at all while we were there.)
We did lots of Mother’s Day stuff for today’s pregame shows. Maybe you saw the Ransom feature on “Batting Practice Today presented by Audi.” That was a terrific job by producer Jared Boshnack and his gang, chiefly production assistant Blayke Sheer. Thank you.
Last year, an Oriole who shall remain nameless said he would WALK around the bases if he hit a home run against Joba. Today in the Orioles clubhouse, a few players wanted to know why Joba pumped his fist Tuesday against the Red Sox when his team was losing. (As if we know.) And so, Aubrey Huff hits a home run and makes sure to pump his fist as he rounds first and as he crosses home. Hmmm.
Burnett-Halladay should be a great matchup Tuesday night on My9, and A.J. is excited about it. (Every season My9 lucks into a great game or two that we’d pay to see.) A.J. was going to text Halladay, for whom he has great respect, but decided he’ll wait to talk to him after the game. He says Halladay never worries about who he’s facing — why would he? — so he might not even know that the two will face each other, for the first time.
Surely, Blue Jays fans are excited to welcome back A.J. And Alex.
Had a full breakfast in the Orioles press dining room: Bagel, eggs, bacon, yogurt. Kay had two burgers — they even make burgers before noon, apparently — and bacon, with a side of fruit. Kay isn’t going to Toronto, so we’ll make due with food updates from Leiter.
More later or tomorrow or Tuesday. Will spend time tomorrow compiling your questions for O’Neill.
The Kimberly Jones Blog 
I think Huff should get a fastball to the back. Joba never does the fist pump to purposely show someone up. It’s all natural emotion and what’s wrong with that? Must every player remain expressionless so no one gets their feelings hurt?
I think the guys in the booth [no offense to them] and the news reports are what made it a big deal in the first place. I think if an opposing pitcher were to do it versus the Yanks after he got a big out or got out of a dangerous inning, I would have no problem with it, so long as it wasn’t intentionally taking a stab at us. When did ballplayers become so sensitive?
p.s. Looking forward to O’Neill’s answers =)
– V [ http://flairforthedramatic.mlblogs.com%5D
Burnett-Halladay on MY9!!! I live in the Western New York Area and have verizon fios so I can’t get the game. 😦
Burnett-Halladay on MY9!!! I live in the Western New York Area and have verizon fios so I can’t get the game. 😦
I hope Huff knows how stupid he looked. That was trying to show someone up, and what Joba did to them beyond the first (getting a W in the process) was the only response necessary.
…I wouldn’t have minded it if Huff had gotten a pitch in the back, though.
Enjoy last place for another day Huff
Huff doesn’t know what it takes to have fire to win in this league. He has only ever played on LAST Place teams, both the Rays and Orioles. Brief stint with Houston but they got rid of him as soon as they could.
Huff doesn’t understand the emotion it takes to win, maybe thats why he doesn’t show any. He doesn’t even deserve a pitch in the back. He simply wanted to make ESPN and have idiots like us write articles about him, since no one seems to cover his vast baseball accomplishments
He is simply chasing the spotlight for his consistently last place teams.
Good recovery and focus by Joba to keep them in the game! And Coke looked pretty decent, just wish he be consistent. I know he’s young, and I feel like he’ll get there at some point, hopefully soon.
Huff is a tool – but when you play for the last place team – you take what you can get. In all seriousness, Damon should have fist pumped the O’s dugout.
i really hope espn rips the crap outta huff, what a tool. Does he realize how dumb he looks. Joba shoulda put a 97 mph heater in his ribs.. and pump his fist after.
The orioles are a last place team and now we know why. They seem more concerned with what Joba is doing than there own team.
Why would they care what Joba did on the mound against the red sox.
Joba got the last laugh he got the win today.
I’ve always liked and respected Michael Kay. He may not be the MOST likeable guy, it would help if he smiled a tad more than John Maine, but he DOES love the Yanks. I, myself, am a sports guy. Grew up playin’ sports. Learned alot about stats, competitiveness, teamwork, physics, sportsmanship, working hard, following the rules, etc. As I was watching today’s Mother’s Day Game 2009, I heard Mr. Mike make a comment. It followed the Aubrey Huff homer off of Joba Chamberlain. His thought was that it was not alright for Mr. Huff to celebrate his dinger off of the young pitcher with a fist pump. Why? His reasoning was that it was pre-meditated and not based off of pure emotion. You see, Joba does the same thing to others. For some reason, though, it’s OK for him to do it, but no one else can. Yes, maybe Aubrey’s reaction was pre-meditated, BUT…what if it wasn’t? I’m just sayin’. Do you really think everytime Joba does the fist pump that it’s his first natural reaction to the situation? It’s become his signature celebration, his stamp of approval. I’m sure that every once in awhile, another celebratory dance or move crosses his mind. You can’t be that bland, boring, simple and trite. Right? Kinda proves my point. So, back to my original premise about Mr. Kay. I DO like the guy. He need not remain objective because of who employs him and signs his paychecks, but please don’t concoct some defense based upon poor reasoning to safeguard your man. There are a few old adages we can reference. One states that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Another says that people who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones. Maybe you’ve heard of this one. That’s the pot calling the kettle black. Or even better yet, whatever you can do, I can do better! Plus, I don’t remember Joba owning the patent on the good ole fist pump, either. Tiger sure looks good when he’s doing it.
Sorry, Michael. Your argument was weak. Today was a sad day in announcing. Hope you didn’t get too hurt when you took that tumble down the ladder of people I admire. Here’s to better days ahead with more thought and sensibility put into future comments.
Thank you.
I wonder if Papelbon’s fist pump makes Huffy mad?? Well Huffy you can take your 2 fists pumps and go to your corner as your Birds lost, so Joba gets the last laugh. When you get “”one in the Neck”” on down the road you’ll wonder why!!!!! Huff’s gesture was aimed at Joba and Joba’s are just emotion. Get a life Huffy!!!! GO JOBA!!!!!! Huffy, save your fist pumps for the shower.
Another question for O’Neill. Is there a mute button in the booth when he’s working with Kay, and if so, how often does he have to use it?
the best revenge was winning the game and huff actually did the yankees a favor by taunting joba. he was only throwing at about 89-91 mph in the 1st inning then started gassing it in at 97 in the 2nd and shut them down the rest of the day so my thanks to huff for acting like a clown. only if joba would pitch like that from the start of the game teams would know they have zero chance against him. i cant stand when people say the yankees are too buttoned up but when joba shows some emotion they say he’s showing the other team up. kim shouldnt have been so nice and called out whoever said they would walk around the bases if he took joba deep. i guess she doesnt want to be like selena roberts hahaha.
I don’t understand why everyone makes such a big deal about Joba fist pumping when K-Rod and Papelbum and even our own C.C. Sabathia do it all the time and no one seems to care. I agree with Michael Kay in that Joba’s pumping of the fist is a natural reaction and should not be such a big deal.
Huff made himself look like an idiot. This whole thing about Joba pumping his fist is blown SOOOOO far out of proportion. Papelbon does it all the time….KRod does it all the time, and NOBODY says a word. NOBODY. It;s almost like the public and the rest of baseball expect the Yankees to be lifeless drones. If it was me, Huff would have been eating a dirt sandwich his next time in the box.
HEY!! It’s a breath of fresh air when I see a Yankee show emotion!! It’s sooo RARE!! Joba…if you read this at all, just KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DO MAN!!! Same with You SWISH!! Let’s see the Yanks as a whole start showing some EMOTION. That is what I see them lacking. Get some fire boys. I know you WANT to win, but start showing it!! Take some lessons from Joba and Swish.
And hey Swish….don’t try to hit every ball out of the park. You got natural power so the Homers will come.Just make solid contact dude!! No…I’m not hitting instructor…but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
Huff did what he did but the bottom line is that the Yankees won. Huff was just getting a little bit of revenge for Joba pumping his fist after striking him out a couple of times. Joba didn’t see so it really doesn’t matter. Winning is the priority. The only thing I would hope is that Huff does the same thing to Papelbon. That would surely incite a riot and maybe both teams would lose some guys. lolShould be fun watching tomorrow night’s game but the Yankees should be happy to win 1 of 3 the way they have been playing lately. Halladay pitches well against the world so I’m not expecting a win there. The other games are a crapshoot. I do like Cervelli behind the plate and he and Montero could be the catchers of the future.Damon is really making the Yankees THINK hard about his impending free agency. If he hits 25 dingers and bats over .300, it’ll be tough to watch him walk away with nothing but a draft pick. Then again, if Boras wants a 4 year deal, Johnny will be playing somewhere else trying for those 600 hits to get him to 3000. And while I am on Damon, maybe it is time to put him back in the leadoff spot since Brett is now a backup.OK, I’m done with my backseat managing. lol
Any thoughts on the bullpen. Last night during the broadcast ‘they’ said it looks like Joe has no confidence in anybody except Coke and Mo (rightfully so!). How long is Cash going to let this go on? Re-adding Bruney is only going to give him 3 guys he trusts…
GREAT WIN YESTERDAY !!! KUDOS TO JOBA FOR HANDLING THE FIST PUMPING LIKE A MAN ( YOU COULD TEACH YOUR MANAGER SOMETHING). HOPE EVERYONE IS ENJOYING THE DAY OFF.
HATS-ALL-FOLKS.COM
I guess the Yankees and Joba got under “Andrey” Huff’s skin. It must have really bothered him to act so unprofessionally out on the field. I could see if he won the game with that 3 run homerun, but with the way he is batting I guess he didn’t know when he was going to get another hit or homerun. Cal Ripkin Jr NEVER would have done something like that…He is a class act!!!
Joba got the last laugh. Loser (Huff).
Joba doesn’t do anything to show people up. He is who he is. Huff and people like him need to get over themselves.
Halladay-Burnett is definitely intriguing. Hope it lives up to expectations.
Hey Kim, I love the blog. I was unable to watch Batting Practice Today and the Pre-game Show and i was wondering if there was anyway possible for the Mother’s Day features to be posted on the yesnetwork’s website. I would really love to see them. If it was made possible it would be greatly apperciated. Thanks.
Halladay-Burnett should be incredible… I’m a bleacher season ticket holder… its just wish I could be in Toronto for the game.
I love you Kim… come to the bleachers sometime and hang out! 🙂
Kim, my question for Paul, regards around Joe Torre’s book.
Has he read it and can he respond to what was said about him in the book? also, there was a comment in there that Paul’s wife went to Joe Torre about the cancelling of a batting practice and would Joe please not cancel the batting practice because he(Paul) said he really needs it. true? I think paul’s wife really wants to calm down her husband. I thought this was hilarious! 🙂 and wonder if she did that on her own?
Don
Boy Halladay is dealing. This is a good match up, now we just need to get our runs back!
Happy 76th Birthday to Yogi Berra!! LOL
Hi Kim
Love your blog, pls keep it up!
My husband and I get the Yankee games on MLB Extra Innings. Tonight in their first game with the Blue Jays we are furious listening to the Jays’ announcers! They have been constantly putting the Yankees down and making negative comments about some of the players! They sound like such sore losers. If they are in first place why do they have to put us down so much.
We had to mute the TV because they are so annoying!
I used to get annoyed at Michael for getting so excited when the other team got a hit but not so now, at least he appreciates good baseball!
Right now the score is 4 to 1 in the bottom of the 8th, I can’t take it anymore!
Thanks for listening Kim
Ann in Fla.
I really love your work with the Yanks on the YES network but as far as your blog is concerned – you need to blog daily much like Pete does or just drop it.