Jones' bat starts to warm as he takes the team homer lead

Adam Jones took over the Orioles team home run lead with four with his three-run shot last night off CC Sabathia. In recent games, we have seen Jones drop bunts for hits and also pick up key hits by driving the baseball to right and right center field. His homer last night went to right. It provides perhaps a glimpse into a future where Jones realizes his vast potential and puts it all together at bat. He has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games and his six RBIs over the last six games. He is now 5-for-11 with two homers for a .455 average when batting with runners in scoring position. Maybe he is starting to put some things together. "I know we live in a world where we want to know about something before it happens, but I don't know," manager Buck Showalter said today of Jones elevating his game. "You see that potential and that possibility and you see that capability. Jonesy has kind of gotten the novelty and emotion of the start of the season behind him and he's starting to settle in a little bit. He wants to make something happen every pitch. That is tough to do, you have to grind through it and take what they give you." In 18 games Jones is batting .224 with four homers and 11 RBIs, which ties for second best on the club. His homer last night was the 12th of his career in April, the most in any month for him. Showalter also praised Jones for his bunting skills and said it could help him by getting rival third basemen to adjust their positioning when he comes to bat. "He's a good bunter and he works at it," Showalter said. "Within the scheme of what the team needs, I think it's a great thing. He'll hook some balls down there (the left-field line) because of where the guy is playing that will get through that wouldn't have if the guy was playing back. Just about all third baseman, they don't like to be in between. They want to be all the way back or all the way up." Jones is now batting .279 with eight homers and 31 RBIs in 53 career games versus the Yankees.