After an absence of over a week, Adam Jones is finally back in the O’s lineup tonight. In the season’s second game, against the Twins, Jones looked to be in pain after a strikeout late in the game. Combined with some other evidence, it caused us – and many – to wonder if he was playing through a shoulder injury.
However, it came out that it was actually rib pain that Adam was dealing with, and specifically when he swung a bat. Jones didn’t play at all in the finale against Minnesota, nor in either game against Tampa Bay. He wasn’t in the lineup at all in Boston, though he did enter each of the first two games of the series, on Monday and Tuesday, as a defensive replacement.
That he came in those games late eliminated any chance that the Birds were thinking of putting him on the disabled list retroactively to April 7. Had they done that, he would have been eligible to come off on April 23. We have to hope that the injury is indeed minor enough that a DL stint would be overkill, and not that Adam is just trying to tough it out and play through some pain to avoid being sat down for 15 days. We all remember when something similar happened last year.
There were also murmurings this week that the chilly weather in Boston wasn’t helping matters with Adam’s rib (heh), so now that the team is down in Texas, the thought was that higher temperatures might help matters. Whatever the case, AJ is back in tonight’s lineup:
Joey Rickard LF
Adam Jones CF
Chris Davis 1B
Mark Trumbo DH
J.J. Hardy SS
Chris Tillman RHP
With Jones out, Joey Rickard moved into centerfield, and the O’s defense suffered visibly, as Mark Trumbo, Ryan Flaherty, and Hyun-Soo Kim took turns in various corner outfield positions at Fenway. Those areas are tough enough for good defenders, what with the Green Monster in left and the huge area to cover in right, and it was an adventure this week, to say the least, with Trumbo especially.
With Jones back in center, Rickard slides to left, and though Trumbo will still be out there against righties (lefty Cole Hamels is on the bump for Texas tonight) when Pedro Alvarez is the DH, the Birds defense is immediately better with Jones, as is the lineup as a whole.
Welcome back, A.J. Here’s to continued good health.
