Adam Jones is First Regular Season Orioles Injury

Apr 4, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones (10) hits a two run double during fifth the inning against the Minnesota Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

The news has come out this afternoon that Adam Jones is out of the lineup for tonight’s third game of the season, having tweaked an oblique to some extent.

Injuries are such a big part of the game of baseball in the modern era. There is no escaping it, it is going to happen. And it usually only takes a handful of games for something to arise.

Jones did not look good after striking out late in the game last night, squatting down while taking off his gloves and looking at the dirt, either in pain or simple anger from missing the pitch and ending the inning. Apparently this is where the oblique was fired up, the extent of it yet to be determined.

As I was thinking about this and pondering doing a post on the subject, I noticed a humorous question and answer in the comments section of Roch’s MASN blog that essentially said what I was thinking. A person asked, “How long has an oblique been part of the human anatomy?” And another answered, “Since they started lifting weights.”

I don’t know that there is necessarily a one-to-one correspondence to this. I do know that it is only in recent years that we have heard of this “oblique” injury … hearing about it rather frequently. One would think that weight training would work to prevent such occurrences. And maybe oblique injuries existed in the past at the same rate but were simply called a pain in the side.

We might recall that much of what made for the rather dismal Chris Davis season of 2014 was a recurring and persistent issue with the oblique … not that we heard much about it until the next season when he was healthy.

The embracing of Joey Rickard by the Orioles fanbase has been a unique (not oblique) story. He is immediately loved by all, having now played a grand total of two MLB games. But here is a chance for him to continue to add quickly to his resume and value for the team, as he will cover center field and bat leadoff for the first time.

Nolan Reimold is being tapped to play left field and bat second, with Manny Machado moving into the third hole ahead of Chris Davis. I will say that I really like this 1-2-3-4 arrangement, with a good choice of Mark Trumbo batting fifth.

But then I fall off the train. With Wieters being rested for tonight (a good thing), J.J. Hardy is in the sixth spot. Really? Why? Either Pedro Alvarez or Jonathan Schoop would be better. Heck, even Caleb Joseph (batting ninth) would be.