Odds & Ends (7/17)

For stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else:

Adam Jones gets a note in the Seattle Times about his "day off" in Toronto:

It was partly because Jones took a half an hour of extra work in the morning, chasing fungo fly balls hit to the wall by outfield coach Mike Goff.

It was partly for the reason the 20-year-old needed the extra work. He misplayed two tough flies on Saturday night, mistakes that wound up costing runs in a game Seattle lost 7-6 in 14 innings.

"Let's just say we're giving him a break," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said, noting that Sunday's move was not a benching or any other form of negative response to his defensive troubles. "It's a lot to come up here and deal with all he's dealing with. This is just a breather for him, that's all."

He also gets a story in the Tacoma News-Tribune about those two flyballs on Saturday:

“I should have caught both those balls,” said Jones, who until last year was a shortstop. “(Toronto’s) Vernon Wells catches them both. I should have. I got good breaks on both of them, and the first one hit halfway up the fence. The second one landed on the warning track.

“I pulled up late. I can’t do that. The wall is padded, I’ve got to run through it for my pitcher, make those plays. I’ll learn.”

The Everett Herald has a story on 6'-8" Doug Fister and 6'-9" Kameron Mickolio. Both are pitchers for the AquaSox:

When Doug Fister first stepped into the Everett AquaSox clubhouse before the season began, something happened that he'd never before experienced in his baseball career.

He had to look up at a teammate. Being 6-foot-8 is only good for second best with the AquaSox this season.

In Fister and the 6-9 Kameron Mickolio, Everett has a pair of tall trees on the mound, and those two have been towering over the competition so far.

Mariner #1 pick Brandon Morrow is headed for Inland Empire:

Pitcher Brandon Morrow, the first round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners last month, is ticketed to pitch for Inland Empire. The question yet to be answered is when.

Morrow is currently in Arizona working out with the organization's rookie level team but has pitched only one inning, striking out one.

Mariners minor league pitching coordinator Pat Rice, in town to work with the Sixers pitchers on the recent homestand, said the organization is taking a cautious approach with Morrow because he isn't used to pitching on a daily basis.

Fort Wayne Journal has a few sports business items from yesterday that I didn't get to yesterday. Leases and what Fort Wayne teams, the Wizards included, pay for rent. Also, how do teams figure attendance?

The Journal Gazette analyzed data going back to the fall of 2002, which included turnstile numbers and ticket distributions obtained from the Coliseum. The attendance figures came from the teams themselves.

...

On the surface, the figures announced by the Wizards seem astoundingly inaccurate, especially when compared with the Coliseum tenants. The Journal Gazette analyzed 224 games over four seasons, finding the average announced attendance was 4,032 fans per game and the average turnstile count was 2,406.

On average, the announced attendance was 94 percent higher than the
turnstile count. However, comparing the Wizards to the other teams is like comparing apples to oranges. That’s because the Wizards play
outdoors.

“Sometimes just the threat of weather will affect things,” Wizards
general manager Mike Nutter said. “It sounds like a line, but sometimes the threat of rain can be worse than the actual rain.”

The Peoria Journal-Star has a profile on an opposing player, again. First it was Travis Scott of the Timber Rattlers. Now, it's Justin Upton of South Bend.