How do I modify or determine the direction of an animation?

Hello everyone, I am attempting to build a 2D side scrolling game. Originally, the avatar ran along the x axis. I noticed that when I used the basic "fancy" jump from the mecanim tutorial the avatar always jumped into the z axis. I assumed movement along the x axis was just baked into the animation. Now I changed my world so the avatar runs along the z axis. Now he jumps into the negative x. Always away from my camera. Also, the punching animation turns him to the negative z while he punches. How do I determine why the avatar is moving away from the camera for its animations? How do I fix or modify that?

Thank you