Some thoughts on Jones, Britton and Joseph

A few observations after the latest Orioles win which featured the latest escape by Tommy Hunter as he picked up his 10th save in 11 chances: * The most analyzed and over-analyzed Oriole I can ever remember, Adam Jones, got his homer swing back last night. He crushed two balls to center field and not one person complained he swung at the first pitch. At least not to me. Jones was due to hit some homers with just one on the year before the game. Many theories were thrown out about Jones here in recent days. But he can drive a baseball. He's going to chase some pitches and it will be brought up here every time he does, but he still has big-time power which leads to O's wins. Like say, last night. * Zach Britton continues to be a major weapon out of the Orioles' bullpen. In the eighth last night he got Tampa Bay's No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters out on just 12 pitches. He threw the ball right by Evan Longoria to strike him out. Britton has held American League hitters to just 11 hits over 71 at-bats for an average of .155. Left-handed batters are hitting just .129 against him and Britton has retired 18 of 19 leadoff batters. That is real impressive. While some clamor for him to get another rotation shot - and he may well at some point - I continue to think it's best for now to let him thrive in this role. He's embraced it and it's going well. No reason to change that for me right now. He can impact multiple games a week and he is doing just that. * What a great night for Caleb Joseph. Watching him seemingly stuck at Bowie for several seasons and not even getting a Triple-A shot, I thought this chance might never come for Joseph. I sensed he may have felt that way a few times too. But he never gave up the hope. He played winter ball. He kept working on his game. His offense and defense both took a big step forward at Double-A last year and the O's brass said they noticed. Then he was left off the 40-man roster last November and you had to wonder if they were just saying so. But then Joseph got a long look in spring training and Buck Showalter kept praising his defense. He finally got an extended Triple-A shot to start this year and now here he is. This is a feel-good story but only because Joseph never listened to those that said he was too old, not a prospect or not good enough to ever make it. He sure handled himself well back behind the plate last night, moving around to block balls and providing a solid target for several pitchers. Joseph has a lot of fans in the O's minors and it is clear he's popular with teammates both in the minors and in Baltimore. The O's brass kept insisting they liked him and he had a chance. They were right.