Before I go all into a mini-game recap from Saturday, I wanted to speak more about Adam Jones. As we all know, Adam Jones has a profile article up on the Baltimore Sun website and has a series of video interviews.
One has gotten the attention of many.
I alluded to this yesterday: I was a little shocked hearing what Adam had to say about fans and visiting rival fans – mainly, from Red Sox Nation and the Evil Empire (New York Yankees) – taking over Camden Yards at times.
I’ve been in the ballpark more times than I want to remember when those fans have come to Baltimore. Most have been decent people, only coming to watch a ballgame and support their team; however, some are boorish, foolish and don’t pay the respect to those in a visiting ballpark.
We, as fans have talked about it amongst ourselves, on blogs, message forums, sports talk radio and wherever else.
Now, we’ve got a player who doesn’t like it any more than we do.
Good. We finally have a player — Adam Jones — who outwardly shows that he cares. He may have come off a little strong on his interview, but he came off a bit frustrated with his situation.
You know what, I appreciate Adam let what’s on his mind come out. We found out some of his most inner most thoughts about fandom and the sport – perhaps too honest – but, he didn’t put on an act or give us a speech with little substance.
Furthermore, on the heels of Buck Showalter’s now infamous comments – that people up on Boston and New York are dumbfounded by – we have a player who believes his team and can, plus finally wants to get out of the cellar.
He didn’t hold anything back, and good for him. We want our athletes open and free to express themselves; therefore, we may have gotten more than we wanted out of Adam Jones.
Let’s hope Jones take the frustration he expressed in his video interview and channels the energy into his play on the field.
I guess now the national media has been put on notice (based on Buck’s and Adam’s comments – to a lesser extent): the Orioles you see next week may not squads from the past 13 years.
Moving on…
The Orioles defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 on Saturday as the offense came alive late. Vladmir Guerrero hit a two run homer to break a 2-2 en route to the victory. They used Guerrero’s shot as a catalyst for a five run inning that saw Matt Wieters, J.J.Hardy and Brian Roberts each plate in runs.
Josh Rupe earned the win in relief; meanwhile, Ryan Drese – who started the game – went three innings and gave up two runs. The Rays scored their runs in the first and second innings off a Ben Zobrist homer and a B.J. Upton single.
Brian Roberts, who is looking healthy now, homered in the third inning and Hardy had three hits, plus drove in two.
The season starts Friday night in Tampa Bay against the Rays. Finally glad to see real, live baseball that counts coming up in the week ahead.
Finally, former Orioles Kevin Millwood — who finished last season with a 4-16 record — signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees over the weekend.
