Tonight's terrible 9th inning from the offense!

[Roll Tide]

Machado swung on the 3-0 count because he wanted to be the team hero. Jones swinging in the dirt has earned himself a new nickname: Adam "The Weed Whacker" Jones.

Swinging 3-0 is just terrible and part of the problem with the Orioles as a whole. I feel like with Jones it was the same thing ,,,,,Watching the game he was over eager to knock in the run there. The bases couldve been loaded and the pitcher might have even walked one in. The only guys that had good approaches to the inning were Davis and Nick. Cruz got the 1st ball fastball for a strike so I cant really blame him after that.

[baltfan]

I think many of you have Jones all wrong. I see a guy that can't recognize the curveball very well. When he is swinging at pitches out of the zone, he either isn't recognizing it is a curve or thinks it is going to be a strike. He knows this is a problem, so when he gets up there he is worried about it. This just makes him even more prone to bad swings. He is pressing cause he cares.

It isn't a lack of baseball IQ that is causing the problem. It is the fact that he cares too much--very similar to the playoffs where he was pressing.

[33rdst]

I think many of you have Jones all wrong. I see a guy that can't recognize the curveball very well. When he is swinging at pitches out of the zone, he either isn't recognizing it is a curve or thinks it is going to be a strike. He knows this is a problem, so when he gets up there he is worried about it. This just makes him even more prone to bad swings. He is pressing cause he cares.

It isn't a lack of baseball IQ that is causing the problem. It is the fact that he cares too much--very similar to the playoffs where he was pressing.

This is right on the money. I don't understand why analyses of Jones digress into personal attacks on his character. If you want to examine Jones' character just look at the time and money he gives to the people of our city. "Actions speak louder then words."

[weams]

As bad as Adam Jones looked, making contact, even on a bunt, is not as easy as you make it sound, against Holland. He struck out Clevenger and Cruz as well.

A very solid post here. Multiple bogies were terminated by Holland. We've won several of these type games with Tommy, and he is nowhere as good as Holland.

[joedogg9999]

At the end of the day adam jones has uet another abysmal at bat in a crucial moment. He struck out without being thrown a single strike. If he had even a below average plate discipline he walks there. Then either davis isbwalked with bases loaded or at the very least puts a fly ball in the air to tie the game. Im so disgusted with out AJ approaches the plate. He has to be literally the worst in the mlb in that regard

[joedogg9999]

A very solid post here. Multiple bogies were terminated by Holland. We've won several of these type games with Tommy, and he is nowhere as good as Holland.

The difference being that adam jones struck out on 7 balls thrown. Thats pathetic

[weams]

At the end of the day adam jones has uet another abysmal at bat in a crucial moment. He struck out without being thrown a single strike. If he had even a below average plate discipline he walks there. Then either davis isbwalked with bases loaded or at the very least puts a fly ball in the air to tie the game. Im so disgusted with out AJ approaches the plate. He has to be literally the worst in the mlb in that regard

What about Cruz then?

[ShoelesJoe]

I think many of you have Jones all wrong. I see a guy that can't recognize the curveball very well. When he is swinging at pitches out of the zone, he either isn't recognizing it is a curve or thinks it is going to be a strike. He knows this is a problem, so when he gets up there he is worried about it. This just makes him even more prone to bad swings. He is pressing cause he cares.

It isn't a lack of baseball IQ that is causing the problem. It is the fact that he cares too much--very similar to the playoffs where he was pressing.

Couldn't disagree more. Yes, the overall problem here is that Jones has very little skill when it comes to pitch recognition. The pitcher releases the ball, and he has no clue as to the rotation or eventual path of the pitch towards the strike zone. But here's the rub -- opposing pitchers know that so in situations like last night's 9th inning they deliberatly throw Adam breaking balls down and/or away out of the strike zone. They've been doing this for five years now and it's no great mystery.

Last night I asked my eight year old son " what's the first pitch to Jones here?" He said without hesitation "slider in the dirt".

Our announcers knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

The KC fans at the game knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

Every player in both dugouts and those in the bullpens knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

Every Oriole fan watching TV at home knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

All the astronauts orbiting the Earth in the ISS knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

Deep in the Himalayas, living inside a cave, there's a hermit who's had no human contact in thirty years, living on spiders and ice melt, who's never even heard of the game of baseball, and even he knew the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt.

In fact, I dare say that the only sentient being on this whole planet who didn't know the first pitch was going to be a slider in the dirt was Adam Jones. And why didn't he know that? Because he didn't care one bit what pitch was coming or where it was going to end up. He'd have swung at any pitch, going anywhere, at any speed. He cares too much? Balderdash. He cared not at all.

[mdbdotcom]

When the O's closer gets into trouble and blows the save, people blame the closer. When the opposition's closer gets into trouble in the 9th but holds the save, people blame the offense.

9th inning logic?

[Flash- bd]

I think Jones is a 90% guess hitter. He just guesses wrong an awful lot.

I get the very opposite impression: that his approach is predicated on trusting his instincts purely, that his philosophy is to be as un-cerebral as possible and simply see and hit. I'm pretty sure he's talked about this publicly as well.

[Flash- bd]

Yeah, I am probably wrong. Here's another theory. Maybe this one is wrong as well. When Jones is in pull mode, he commits to the fastball early (cheating for the fastball) and is dead meat on any pitch that appears to be in the strike zone out of the pitcher's hand and then moves out of the zone. A lot of sliders in the dirt appear to be fastballs at the knee for a split second. When Jones thinks about going to RF, he waits a split second longer, and is better able to lay off of those pitches. I get frustrated by Jones when I see him pull or try to pull most everthing. He did hit those two homers to CF a week ago but I'm not sure I've seen him drive one ball into the RCF gap for a double or triple this year. Last April, he was going to RF a lot. His homers were down but he was a better hitter, IMO.

Yeah, this is what I see. I think you're right with this assessment. Jones AND Davis seem best off when they "let the ball travel". Otherwise you get a lot of ground balls to 3rd/1st respectively.

[El Gordo]

What about Cruz then?

Cruz gets a pass because he is hitting .940 OPS to Jones .840 the last 7 days. Never mind that Jones is hitting .913 OPS to Cruz .748 the past two weeks, it's what have you done for me lately. Weird that people are piling on one of the few guys to even guys a hit last night. It's not enough to be good you have to look good. Jones is what he is and that's been pretty good. Where are you going to get a better CF?

[Roll Tide]

This is right on the money. I don't understand why analyses of Jones digress into personal attacks on his character. If you want to examine Jones' character just look at the time and money he gives to the people of our city. "Actions speak louder then words."

Your wrong IMO ... Jones is an over aggressive hitter. That was revealed wih his poor advice to Schoop that paid dividends for a very short time paired with a 35% Krate. Also Jones needs to walk more himself and realize that all you do by swinging at balls is help the other team.

[weams]

Your wrong IMO ... Jones is an over aggressive hitter. That was revealed wih his poor advice to Schoop that paid dividends for a very short time paired with a 35% Krate. Also Jones needs to walk more himself and realize that all you do by swinging at balls is help the other team.

Adam is flawed. But I think that somewhere between your post and the one you responded to is fact. Adam did not ruin Schoop. Schoop has been this same player all along. All along. Why do you think as big and strong and young as he is that he was never a top 5 prospect?