Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Centerfielder Fear Factor

Before the season, I participated in an AL East chat at Beyond The Boxscore. A question was posed by a Rays fan that wondered if there would be an more feared pair or hitters in the Al East than Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton. I replied that Longoria is certainly a fearsome slugger but that I had a hard time "fearing" a hitter like Upton who has a career slugging percentage under .500. This was not a popular response based on Upton's postseason exploits but I stuck to it...good young hitter, not fearsome.

So last night, the Rays trotted out their "fear spreading" center fielder who on May 12th is sporting a .167/.277/.216 line. No homers, only 5 extra base hits. He's jealous of Felix Pie's bat.

The Orioles countered with a center fielder sporting a .358/.418/.625 line. He meekly hit a couple homers and drove in four. You know, just the kinds of things we're used to here in Baltimore now.

So if we're going to throw around that overused "feared hitter" tag, you might as well toss it Adam Jones' way.

Says Jones: "I got a bat in my hand. I'm not going to go up there swinging gingerly. I got three strikes and I'm just trying to make the best of it up there."

That seems to be working.

Adam Jones: Keeping American League pitchers up at night since 2009.

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In other news, Oriole legend Brooks Robinson reveals that he has been battling prostate cancer. Happy to see that he is doing better and wish him good health in the future.

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Felix Pie was in the hospital with severe stomach pain. I don't think it's any coincidence that he left the game after laying out for a ball. The O's could use this situation for a convenient DL trip, clearing the way for a Nolan Reimold tryout. Just a thought...

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