Showalter responds to Jones' comments

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter claimed today that he hadn't read Adam Jones' quotes on how the center fielder wants to dish out punishment on fans who run onto the field. Showalter spent part of the morning and afternoon being asked about it and had to catch up. "I haven't read it per se," Showalter said. "I agree with most everything Adam says, but what did he exactly say that makes it newsworthy? He's said that before. A lot of people have said that before. They just didn't broadcast it. "I've been accused of saying some things that everybody else would like to say. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. How do you keep that from happening? It's one thing to go through security to get in here, but nobody can really read somebody's brain, what makes somebody do that. It's usually alcohol induced, right? None of us would like to have our lives judged by our worst decision. "Adam's entitled to his opinion and one a lot of people might agree with, but I think you've got to take it for what it's worth. I don't think you'll see Adam doing anything... He's a very smart young man." Showalter wondered why fans at Yankee Stadium broke out in applause yesterday as security chased the two male fans who hopped the railing along the third base line and delayed the game. "It just kind of hit me sitting on the top step listening to people cheering as they ran onto the field," Showalter said. "What does that really say? I'm sitting there on the top step thinking, 'Why are they cheering?' What would happen if everybody booed them? Think it would have changed anything. That's what hit me. They're all cheering. And nobody sees it anymore. They don't put it on TV, right?" Security personnel tackled one fan behind shortstop and the other near second base. They were planted face-down, handcuffed and led through a gate in center field. "They didn't exactly sugarcoat it out there," Showalter said. "I know Derek (Jeter) and Brian (Roberts) and our guys love the infield here, but I wonder how those two guys felt the infield was. They thought it was properly soft?" An instant classic.