It’s Adam Jones Day!
Hopefully.
I saw one of Adam Jones’ three games in Everett back in 2003 (which is a fine reason to go check out Aquasox games). I’d heard that his eventual position was on the mound, so I was more interested in seeing his arm than anything (also on that 2003 team, Felix Hernandez). And he had a cannon for an arm that fired rockets with lasers on them.
I left interested, wondering how things would turn out, and followed his progress as his hitting skills seemed to improve at every level. Last year I got to see him again, as he made the transition to the outfield, saw how quickly he was coming around to being a good defender, especially considering he’d only just converted, and it made me happy.
We saw him struggle in his call-up, when he didn’t hit and Hargrove decided he didn’t like the rough defense he saw, so he was going to get squeezed for playing time. Jones’ 2006 line was a poor .216/.237/.311, and I think that did a lot to dim his star in the eyes of general M’s fandom. I heard that his hot start in Tacoma might have been a fluke, and whatever else.
But here’s the thing: Jones was 21 last year. He hit .287/.345/.484 in Tacoma. This year, he went on to show that it wasn’t a fluke, either:
2006: .287/.345/.484
2007: .314/.382/.586
The only thing that didn’t take a big step up was his plate discipline: Jones attacks the ball. He doesn’t walk that often (though his rate’s not horrible) and he strikes out a lot. But when he makes contact, the ball goes places in a hurry. 44% of his hits so far this year have been extra-base hits. 44%!
Look at his ISO (isolated power, SLG-AVG) which will serve us decently here: it’s .272. If he put up a .272 ISO in the majors, he would be one of the ten best, behind Miguel Cabrera (.279), Barry Bonds (.277) and Justin Morneau (.276).
And, unlike somebody like, say, Prince Fielder, or Adam Dunn, other guys who hit for that kind of power, he’s a good outfield glove.
Yeah, so… Have I mentioned I’m a huge fan? I love watching the way Jones plays.
We’ll see if he can translate his steady impressive hitting progress into success at the major league level this time and seize a starting job. And we don’t know how they’re going to get him into the lineup, though all signs are the organization’s committed to seeing him play regularly, which is good.
But Jones is another one of the players I’ve followed for years. I’ve enjoyed seeing him move up the farm system, finding greater and greater success, and I hope everyone else will get to see the Jones I, and the other fans who’ve seen him cut a swath through the minor leagues, have been lucky enough to see.
come on jj – don’t be intimidated by youkilis’s better facial hair
399 Really I don’t see it. He seems a little hesistant and he doesn’t seem to be locating his pitches that well.
not only 0 for 5 but with 5K?
Putz has to get this guy. Two strikes – don’t let him get away, you don’t want to face Manny.
Except for the last two pitches against Ortiz. Awesome!
Game woooooooooooo!
M’s win!
YESSSSS!!!! GREAT TEAM EFFORT!!!
Good job, fellas – especially Yuni and AJ. Oh, and Kenji-kun.
We get Sexson out of this lineup and we will be damn good! Nice win!
Seemed like there was a discussion between Johjima and Putz about the last pitch to Ortiz for the final out?
Amazing how fast that losing streak becomes meaningless. This has been the most exciting season in a long time.
Good Game! Adam Jones definately has shown some of his talent today.
Why is it always shaving cream pies? Why can’t they throw a banana cream pie in there on occasion, or at least something edible? Blech.
409:
Sean Green says hello.
And check out Fangraphs:
http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?gameid=270803112
HoRam, Richie and Jose G say “sorry we suck, fellas!”
Way to go Mariners!
If we can take this series, it’s gonna be huge. We’re playing a whole bunch of worse teams until the end of August, and the Angels are playing Boston 7 times and the Yankees too.
415 – You’re absolutely right, I forgot to give Green some love. Four guys deserving of praise = very good night.
Sean Green was impeccable tonight. What a performance. Obviously Yuni and others deserve credit, but man, what a stud.
416
Shouldn’t there be a spike in the Mariner’s chances reflecting when HoRam was pulled?
Sean Green, ground ball machine. The difference from HoRam to Green was like day to night. Or flipping off a light switch.
420
You’d think. But that’s not how FG works. Maybe if they add some AI algorithms 😉
420: The winning percentages aren’t based upon who’s pitching or batting, but rather score and chances of scoring runs in each situation (at least, that’s how I understood it). So until the pitcher and batters start doing anything they don’t alter the odds.
Although, to be fair, many of the hits against HoRam were little bloops and bleeders. Sure, Ortiz hit one out, but it seemed to be one of those nickel and dimed, death of a thousand cuts kind of nights.
Adam Jones, second in WPA for this game (for hitters). Welcome to the bigs, kid. Please stick around for another few years. You will be needed.
JJ was looking better tonight than he was yesterday, but not the best he’s been. He did have a few perfect splitters in there, but missed badly on a couple pitches too.
Personally, I just think his confidence was a little shaken from the Angels game. Hopefully having another save under his belt will alleviate that and he’ll be more confident on the mound again.
Still, uncomfortable Putz is still better than pretty much any other closer out there.
I hope Jose Guillen enjoyed winning this game.
Awesome game. Ho Ram sucks, but Jones acquitted himself fine to those suspicious vets. And Yuni, oh Yuni… What a week.
Yes yes, Go M’s, AJ is amazing, all that good stuff. More importantly. Reportedly, I was on TV the first time AJ got up to bat. Me (in light blue hoodie with dark blue map of the world on it), my girlfriend and a whole bunch of dudes screaming like crazy. Anyone see us?
Schick-Shadel. Aversion therapy, which means they make you puke. You know, ‘enjoyable’– just as the ads claim.
ah, you young pup. Northwest Legend Pat O’Day does the ads.
I don’t think we’re at the point where we need to speculate as to whether or not JJ’s OK. The guy is absolutely kick-ass. He’s blown two saves this year. TWO. And they happened to come kinda close together, so we naturally want to draw conclusions that we simply can’t substantiate.
He wasn’t going to be perfect all year. What Gagne did with the streak was unbelievable. You can’t expect that to happen again. JJ is still the best reliever in baseball, and a blown save or two isn’t going to change that. Until he gives us a real streak of mediocre to bad performances, we’re doing nothing but spinning our wheels trying to gauge something we simply don’t know. We can’t peek into his mind, and no amount of speculation is going to get us anywhere closer to understanding what he’s thinking, so we just have to look at his performances.
JJ rocks, and his first half spoiled us and gave us unreal expectations. Here’s a spoiler: He’ll probably blow another save this year. Maybe even another three-run lead, who knows? Let’s be realistic and enjoy the stellar pitcher that we so enjoy.
GO M’s! And congrats to the bullpen. Who needs Dotel or Gagne? Not us. 🙂
btw, pre-game Drayer mentioned that during spring training when she talked to Adam about how things were going, & what veterans had helped him most, he said Guillen & Ichiro. Guillen said before the game that now Adam was here, and so was family, and it was handshakes all around during BP.
Yeah this whole Guillen thing has been blown out of proportion. Guillen wasn’t hating on Jones, he was sticking up for Ellison and Ibanez. No big deal.
So Ibanez’ OPS vs. RHP is .756. Guillen’s is .680. IS the 76 points of OPS you gain with Raul worth the loss of range and arm strength if you put Raul in right field? It seems like a good way to keep Raul in the lineup so he doesn’t get rusty. Assuming you don’t want to totally give up on the guy.
PH – “Why not PH Ben right there?” (See 233.)
Then Francona brings in a LH pitcher, and the only RH bat you have to PH is Willie B. – Say!
435- Ben would do better against a lefty then Sexson would at this point. And if he gets another AB he prolly faces a righty in Papelbon or Gagne. I know I wrote that just below my first comments which were not 233.
435:
Ben is better than Richie right now, period.
Willie is better than Richie right now.
Jamie Burke is better than Richie right now.
I started a “Let’s go Ad-am” in response to the “Let’s go Red-Sox” chant. And you know what? 5 or 6 people joined in.
It was good times, I tell ya. Good times.