Post by Fish Troll on Jun 1, 2007 14:21:40 GMT -5
Ray of hope
Shields emerging as bright spot for Tampa Bay
Posted: Friday June 1, 2007 12:10PM; Updated: Friday June 1, 2007 2:54PM
Their way-too-high-profile center fielder has been accused of making death threats against his estranged wife and kids, and the team's cautious handling of the matter has come under national scrutiny. Their attendance is the worst in baseball, even worse than it was last season, when it was the worst in baseball ... as it was the year before that, too.
The Devil Rays have never won more than 70 games, they've finished out of the cellar in the American League East only once in their nine years of existence (in 2004, when they were ahead of Toronto), they play in maybe the worst park in the game and they have -- probably not coincidentally -- the lowest payroll. Oh, and they're currently seven games under .500, back in the AL East dungeon.
So what could possibly be worth smiling about these days in Tampa Bay?
Try James Shields, for one, a tantalizing young right-handed changeup artist who has managed to make the most of a bad situation and someone who, with a little help, may guide the Devil Rays toward legitimacy. He's certainly going to give it his best shot.
"We've started, slowly, to put some things together," Shields said on Thursday, the day after he threw a dominating, complete-game 5-3 win over the hot-hitting Tigers. "We've got a lot of young talent on this team. We've just got to put it together, get everybody clicking. We're a really fun ballclub, really fun to watch. We're a pretty exciting team."
We've been hearing for years about the young talent and the impending breakout. And yet the Devil Rays keep finishing last. Their position players are never quite good enough to compensate for the lack of pitching. And then there's always everything else surrounding the Rays ... the ownership questions, the funky ballpark, the off-the-field problems.
Those problems came to an ugly head last week with the allegations that Elijah Dukes had threatened his wife and kids, even messaging a photo of a gun to her. The Rays sat Dukes for a couple of games, but he's back in the lineup now, angering many.
The team, evidently, is handcuffed in what it can do with a player who hasn't yet been charged with a crime. The powerful players' union could be the biggest impediment to anything that the club wants to do with Dukes, whether it's forcing him into counseling or sitting him down for any length of time. So the club still is debating.
"We take these allegations very seriously," general manager Andrew Friedman said. "It's something we're continuing to monitor very closely. But with the lack of information out there right now, we're still looking into things."
The Dukes situation cast a shadow over the entire organization, which has had to deal with several player transgressions in the recent past (including Delmon Young's famously flung bat, B.J. Upton's DUI arrest and Dukes' run-ins with teammates). On the field the Rays continue to struggle to score runs (4.65 runs a game, ninth in the AL) and their hitters strike out more than any in the league. Their pitching staff has the worst ERA in baseball.
Yet amid all the negatives are players such as the exciting Carl Crawford (.302, five homers, six triples, 12 stolen bases), resurgent first baseman Carlos Pena (a .957 OPS with 10 homers) and rookie third baseman Akinori Iwamura (.364 in 21 games with a 1.003 OPS). Dukes has 10 home runs, as does designated hitter Ty Wigginton. The Rays are among the league leaders in steals. The glimmer of promise is there.
And then there's the 25-year-old Shields, 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 starts this season. On Wednesday night he gave up three runs on five hits in the first inning to the Tigers, then shut down Detroit on two hits the rest of the way, mesmerizing the AL champs with an assortment of changeups (he throws two of them), breaking balls and fastballs. He threw just 105 pitches in the first complete-game win of his career.
"He's aggressive, has a great change-up, uses both sides of the plate, has a curve, a cutter. He has all the pitches. A good delivery. He's the real deal," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said after the game. "He didn't cave in either, when some would have. He took the bull by the horns and got tougher as the game went on."
Shields is in the Top 10 in the AL in ERA, and he's third in the league (behind Oakland's Dan Haren and Boston's Josh Beckett) in runners per inning at just under 1.00. Opponents are hitting just .214 off him, third in the league behind Haren and Toronto's A.J. Burnett. Eight of his 11 starts are quality starts. He is off to an All Star-type start.
The lanky Shields has begun a season like this before, though, and things didn't end well. In his rookie year of '06 he was 4-0 after five starts -- then lost six in a row. Hitters began to sit on his changeup, he said, and he didn't make the right adjustments. He let his emotions get to him. It got pretty ugly at times.
"I went through a lot of ups and downs in one season," says Shields, whose cousin is Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand. "Not a lot of players get to do that all in one season."
This season, with his newly developed breaking ball and better work with the fastball, his changeup -- he calls it a "half-circle" change, because his index finger does not come in full contact with his thumb on the side of the ball -- is much more effective. And it shows in the results. Shields' record could be even better, too. He's gone at least six innings in all of his starts. He's never been behind when he's left a game, and the bullpen has blown at least a couple of wins for him.
But Shields, ever the good teammate, insists the bullpen will come around with the rest of the team. He points to a loaded starting staff in Triple-A Durham, too. (The Rays may be ready to call up some of those starters, according to the St. Petersburg Times, including righties Andrew Sonnanstine and Jason Hammel, and lefty J.P. Howell, to revamp a struggling rotation.) As much negativity as there is around the Rays sometimes, Shields can see the light.
"All we're concentrating on in the clubhouse is just playing the ballgame. What's going on in someone's personal life, that's their own thing," Shields says. "There's no doubt about it. Once we put everything together, there's no stopping us."
Shields emerging as bright spot for Tampa Bay
Posted: Friday June 1, 2007 12:10PM; Updated: Friday June 1, 2007 2:54PM
Their way-too-high-profile center fielder has been accused of making death threats against his estranged wife and kids, and the team's cautious handling of the matter has come under national scrutiny. Their attendance is the worst in baseball, even worse than it was last season, when it was the worst in baseball ... as it was the year before that, too.
The Devil Rays have never won more than 70 games, they've finished out of the cellar in the American League East only once in their nine years of existence (in 2004, when they were ahead of Toronto), they play in maybe the worst park in the game and they have -- probably not coincidentally -- the lowest payroll. Oh, and they're currently seven games under .500, back in the AL East dungeon.
So what could possibly be worth smiling about these days in Tampa Bay?
Try James Shields, for one, a tantalizing young right-handed changeup artist who has managed to make the most of a bad situation and someone who, with a little help, may guide the Devil Rays toward legitimacy. He's certainly going to give it his best shot.
"We've started, slowly, to put some things together," Shields said on Thursday, the day after he threw a dominating, complete-game 5-3 win over the hot-hitting Tigers. "We've got a lot of young talent on this team. We've just got to put it together, get everybody clicking. We're a really fun ballclub, really fun to watch. We're a pretty exciting team."
We've been hearing for years about the young talent and the impending breakout. And yet the Devil Rays keep finishing last. Their position players are never quite good enough to compensate for the lack of pitching. And then there's always everything else surrounding the Rays ... the ownership questions, the funky ballpark, the off-the-field problems.
Those problems came to an ugly head last week with the allegations that Elijah Dukes had threatened his wife and kids, even messaging a photo of a gun to her. The Rays sat Dukes for a couple of games, but he's back in the lineup now, angering many.
The team, evidently, is handcuffed in what it can do with a player who hasn't yet been charged with a crime. The powerful players' union could be the biggest impediment to anything that the club wants to do with Dukes, whether it's forcing him into counseling or sitting him down for any length of time. So the club still is debating.
"We take these allegations very seriously," general manager Andrew Friedman said. "It's something we're continuing to monitor very closely. But with the lack of information out there right now, we're still looking into things."
The Dukes situation cast a shadow over the entire organization, which has had to deal with several player transgressions in the recent past (including Delmon Young's famously flung bat, B.J. Upton's DUI arrest and Dukes' run-ins with teammates). On the field the Rays continue to struggle to score runs (4.65 runs a game, ninth in the AL) and their hitters strike out more than any in the league. Their pitching staff has the worst ERA in baseball.
Yet amid all the negatives are players such as the exciting Carl Crawford (.302, five homers, six triples, 12 stolen bases), resurgent first baseman Carlos Pena (a .957 OPS with 10 homers) and rookie third baseman Akinori Iwamura (.364 in 21 games with a 1.003 OPS). Dukes has 10 home runs, as does designated hitter Ty Wigginton. The Rays are among the league leaders in steals. The glimmer of promise is there.
And then there's the 25-year-old Shields, 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 starts this season. On Wednesday night he gave up three runs on five hits in the first inning to the Tigers, then shut down Detroit on two hits the rest of the way, mesmerizing the AL champs with an assortment of changeups (he throws two of them), breaking balls and fastballs. He threw just 105 pitches in the first complete-game win of his career.
"He's aggressive, has a great change-up, uses both sides of the plate, has a curve, a cutter. He has all the pitches. A good delivery. He's the real deal," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said after the game. "He didn't cave in either, when some would have. He took the bull by the horns and got tougher as the game went on."
Shields is in the Top 10 in the AL in ERA, and he's third in the league (behind Oakland's Dan Haren and Boston's Josh Beckett) in runners per inning at just under 1.00. Opponents are hitting just .214 off him, third in the league behind Haren and Toronto's A.J. Burnett. Eight of his 11 starts are quality starts. He is off to an All Star-type start.
The lanky Shields has begun a season like this before, though, and things didn't end well. In his rookie year of '06 he was 4-0 after five starts -- then lost six in a row. Hitters began to sit on his changeup, he said, and he didn't make the right adjustments. He let his emotions get to him. It got pretty ugly at times.
"I went through a lot of ups and downs in one season," says Shields, whose cousin is Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand. "Not a lot of players get to do that all in one season."
This season, with his newly developed breaking ball and better work with the fastball, his changeup -- he calls it a "half-circle" change, because his index finger does not come in full contact with his thumb on the side of the ball -- is much more effective. And it shows in the results. Shields' record could be even better, too. He's gone at least six innings in all of his starts. He's never been behind when he's left a game, and the bullpen has blown at least a couple of wins for him.
But Shields, ever the good teammate, insists the bullpen will come around with the rest of the team. He points to a loaded starting staff in Triple-A Durham, too. (The Rays may be ready to call up some of those starters, according to the St. Petersburg Times, including righties Andrew Sonnanstine and Jason Hammel, and lefty J.P. Howell, to revamp a struggling rotation.) As much negativity as there is around the Rays sometimes, Shields can see the light.
"All we're concentrating on in the clubhouse is just playing the ballgame. What's going on in someone's personal life, that's their own thing," Shields says. "There's no doubt about it. Once we put everything together, there's no stopping us."
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/john_donovan/06/01/shields/index.html
