Center Fielder

— In his latest attempt to get Adam Jones out of his offensive tailspin, Orioles manager Dave Trembley removed him from the leadoff spot, batting him second in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and seventh in the nightcap. Jones, who has made 15 starts in the leadoff spot in place of the injured Brian Roberts, is just 12-for-64 (.188) with three walks and a .224 on-base percentage in those games. Overall, he is hitting .227 with three homers and seven RBIs after going 3-for-8 in the Orioles' doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins.

Center fielder Adam Jones was scratched Wednesday from the Orioles' lineup with a right hip strain less than an hour before their series finale with the New York Yankees. Jones called it precautionary and said he expects to be in the lineup Thursday night, when the Orioles begin a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins. "It was just smarter not to play today," he said. "I'd end up hurting myself more than I need to." Jones said he hurt his hip while taking a swing during his second at-bat in Tuesday night's game and it became more uncomfortable as the game progressed.

- What president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail billed as "Phase 2" of the organization's rebuilding process begins Tuesday night as the Orioles open the 2010 season against the Tampa Bay Rays with cautious optimism. "This is the third time that I will break with an Oriole team and I think this is clearly the most talented team going north," MacPhail said. "I have no reservations saying that." What MacPhail won't predict is how that will translate in the standings and the win-loss record.

He hit the first Orioles home run in Camden Yards history in 1992, but that poke is long forgotten. What Baltimore fondly recalls of Mike Devereaux is his game-winning homer in the summer of 1989 during the Orioles' improbable push for the American League East pennant. By the All-Star break, those Birds seemed a team of destiny, a ragtag bunch that could do no wrong. Devereaux proved that. On July 15, in a game fixed in the minds of Orioles fans, the rookie slammed a walk-off two-run homer that curled around the left-field foul pole at Memorial Stadium and gave the home team an 11-9 comeback victory over the California Angels.

MINNEAPOLIS - -His back still sore, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was unavailable for Monday night's game against the Minnesota Twins, and it's possible he might not play in the series. "My back hurts, so I've just got to deal with it," said Jones, who had mild mid-back spasms and was pulled from Sunday's 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox before the bottom of the first inning. Jones saw a doctor and received treatment Monday, and he was in no mood to discuss his condition. He did say he felt considerably better and estimated he would be out of the lineup "for a couple of days, probably."

Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton will undergo surgery today to repair a partial tear in an abdominal muscle and is expected to miss the next four to six weeks. The team had feared that the injury was a hernia similar to the one that shut down second baseman Ian Kinsler for 12 weeks last year. A magnetic resonance imaging Monday confirmed the diagnosis of the partial tear. In other news, the AL West leaders announced that they are sticking with manager Ron Washington at least through 2010.

SEATTLE - - The Orioles, of all teams, know how dominant Erik Bedard can be, so it would have been easy to dismiss Tuesday as one of those inevitable nights where they were shut down by a very good pitcher. The problem with that theory is it has been happening far too frequently to give the Orioles the complete benefit of the doubt. Bedard overwhelmed his former team, taking a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning in the Seattle Mariners' 8-2 victory over the Orioles in front of an announced 17,978 at Safeco Field.

Seemingly every few days this early season, young Orioles center fielder Adam Jones does something to highlight his continuing maturation as a baseball player. It happened in a big way Tuesday, when the 23-year-old had his first career multi-homer game in a 7-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. His solo home run in the first was on a dipping curveball from Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine (1-4) that he yanked 396 feet. Jones came back in the second with a three-run blast - his eighth of the season - in a five-run inning that essentially gave the Orioles the win. "I have confidence every single day," said Jones, who is batting .363 this season.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Orioles center fielder Adam Jones missed a second straight game last night as the team awaited word on the severity of his foot injury. Jones, who fouled a pitch from Seattle Mariners starter Felix Hernandez off his left foot Saturday, had a CT scan taken yesterday and was awaiting a consultation with Los Angeles Angels team physician and noted orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum. Orioles manager Dave Trembley acknowledged that even if there is no serious damage found to Jones' foot, it's unlikely that he'll play in the three-game series with the Angels.

The frustration from one of the most difficult days of his young baseball life still lingered April 13 when Adam Jones boarded the Orioles' team charter for the relatively short flight from St. Petersburg, Fla., to Baltimore. Just a couple of hours earlier against the Tampa Bay Rays, Jones struck out in all four of his at-bats, the humbling feat known as the "golden sombrero." His performance lowered his average to .211 and triggered talk that perhaps the talented outfielder, 22, would be better served at Triple-A.