Jones's Hit Helps O's Salvage Finale
No Sweep for Sox After Late Rally: Orioles 6, Red Sox 3

By Marc Carig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

BALTIMORE, June 2 -- As 25,711 fans rose to their feet at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday night, Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones stood calmly at home plate, staring down a nervous reliever whose night was about to get worse.

Boston Red Sox left-hander Hideki Okajima had already allowed the tying run to score on Kevin Millar's sacrifice fly. The pitcher walked catcher Ramón Hernández to load the bases with two outs for Jones, who with one swing could push the reeling Orioles to a much-needed victory with a daunting nine-game road trip in the offing.

With the count at a hitter-friendly 3-1, Jones could settle comfortably into the batter's box and wait for a perfect pitch.

"It wasn't me that was under pressure, it was him," Jones said.

Jones got his pitch, hammering a middle-of-the-plate fastball off the top of the wall in left field. As left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury tumbled to the ground after his failed leaping attempt at snaring the drive, every Oriole on base scored.

With that, Baltimore took a 6-3 victory that helped them avoid what would have been a four-game sweep by the Red Sox, "It was a good baseball game, a game I thought we needed to win," Orioles Manager Dave Trembley said.

Before the fourth inning, Trembley used his finger to trace the chalk outline of the batters' boxes near home plate. The manager had already been sentenced to an early shower by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez, though it hardly kept Trembley from making his point about the strike zone.

He called out to the umpire several times from the dugout before Marquez had enough.

"Then I had to show him where I thought they were," said Trembley, explaining his need to draw lines in the dirt.

Facing Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, the Orioles broke through in the fourth inning when Aubrey Huff doubled to right field to score Melvin Mora and Millar followed with a single to right-center. The back-to-back hits gave the Orioles a 2-0 advantage.

As expected, the Boston offense delivered an answer.

In the sixth inning, slugger Manny Ramírez hit his third home run of the series, hammering a rare Jeremy Guthrie mistake pitch into the stands in right-center for a solo shot. Guthrie then paid a steep price for his only walk of the game: After Guthrie issued the free pass to Alex Cora, Kevin Cash lined a run-scoring double to right. And with that, Guthrie left the game, having allowed just the two runs in 6 2/3 innings.

"I feel like all the pitches are there for me and that's something I didn't really have [last year]," said Guthrie, who got no decision because the Orioles' bats failed him again. "I really feel like I can throw any of the four for strikes and I have confidence behind in the count even, so I feel good about that."

With the game still tied in the eighth, reliever Jim Johnson entered. He walked leadoff hitter Kevin Youkilis, and, after Ramírez's single, Mike Lowell delivered an RBI single to right. But Johnson managed to contain the damage, escaping a bases-loaded jam by inducing a double-play ball by Julio Lugo.

With the Orioles down a run, Jones went about erasing his teammate's sins.

Jones has worked with hitting coach Terry Crowley about the mental aspects of hitting. The eighth inning provided him with a perfect chance to put the lessons into practice.

Jones, who has been a free swinger at times, has worked on his patience at the plate. It proved key in the at-bat against Okajima, who tried to tempt Jones with a high 2-1 fastball. Jones admitted that earlier in the year he would have swung at the pitch.

"He didn't chase pitches out of the strike zone." Trembley said. "He showed real good poise, he didn't get himself out, he got himself in a good count."

At 3-1 Jones was assured of a ball to hit hard, and Okajima obliged, serving up a fastball down the middle of the plate. Jones's three-run double was enough.

"We haven't been playing as well as we wanted to, of course," said Jones, who improved to 3 for 5 with the bases loaded this season. "But to get on the plane and go to another city with a win is a lot better than a loss."