Who is Garrett Jones?

Last night one of my best friends got married. I was in the wedding party and after the ceremony and reception I headed home and turned on the television because i wanted to watch Tim Lincecum pitch. Lincecum put together another great game, although for a change he did not get the victory.

I don't often get to watch the Pirates play, but I was impressed with a couple of players in particular. Paul Maholm pitched a great game matching Lincecum pitch for pitch. Both pitchers left the game tied at 1-1. The game went 14 innings before being decided by a walk off home run. This one off the bat of Garrett Jones.

Jones hit his 2nd homerun of the game and his 7th of the season in only 48 at bats. My math tells me he is hitting a home run every seven at bats. That is impressive. So who is Garrett Jones? Jones is a 28 year old in his second season in the bigs. two years ago he played 31 games with the Twins where he hit 2 HR.

He has basically spent the last 5 years in AAA baseball, where hae has hit 90+ HR's. Maybe he is finally getting the opportunity to show off his talent. There are times when players are given an opportunity to show their stuff and fail, but Jones is not letting that happen.

His story reminds me of Yankees player Kevin Maas, who in 1990 made his debut as a 25 year old. He played just 79 games in his call up year and hit 21 HR. It seemed like he was hitting a HR in every game he played. He ended up with a five year career where he hit 65 HR's total. Hopefully for Jones his career will last longer and he can be productive for another 10 years.

A great performance was turned in last night by:

Albert Pujols, who once again hit 2 HR's in a game. He now needs just 347 more for 700. He will make it!!!
Jim Thome who had 2 HR and 7 RBI. He now has 557 and is just 43 away from 600.
Clay Buchholz who finally got a start in the majors again after throwing a no hitter two years ago. He defeated the Blue Jays and looked good doing it.
Felix Hernandez pitched another gem moving to 10-3 on the year. He now has 49 career wins.