Tampa's James Shields has started 3 games this year with pretty much the same results. He appears to be very good for the first 5 innings and then implodes in the 6th or 7th. As a Shields owner (and a Tampa fan) this is very frustrating. Shouldn't it be obvious to the Tampa coaching staff that he is not ready to go more than 5 innings at this point in his career and maybe he should get the hook after 5. I'm sure they could slowly ease him into the 6th or 7th as the year goes on but, for the time being, get him out of there after 5. I realize a 5 inning starter can tax the bullpen but for the time being I think they've got to make the call to the bullpen a little earlier.
Bozo wrote:Tampa's James Shields has started 3 games this year with pretty much the same results. He appears to be very good for the first 5 innings and then implodes in the 6th or 7th. As a Shields owner (and a Tampa fan) this is very frustrating. Shouldn't it be obvious to the Tampa coaching staff that he is not ready to go more than 5 innings at this point in his career and maybe he should get the hook after 5. I'm sure they could slowly ease him into the 6th or 7th as the year goes on but, for the time being, get him out of there after 5. I realize a 5 inning starter can tax the bullpen but for the time being I think they've got to make the call to the bullpen a little earlier.
can't go to the pen they suck worse than what he is giving up. Did you watch the game? He even looked decent when he gave up the 3 runs, he was over 100 pitches when he came in for the 7th inning, but they could not bring in the pen b/c they would do exactly what they did after shields left in the 7th--- give up more runs. In a perfect world he could go 6-7 IP and he would be fine, but thats not the case. He has gone over 100 pitches every start. They could use him to use his pitches more effectively and than maybe he wouldn't have so many pitches come later innings
A little off topic...but, I think the Drays have a bigger following in the cafe than at the Trop. I guess it has to do w/ the fact that the Rays have good fantasy players, and with such bad pitching, a pretty bad team.
Less than 10,000 last night....no wonder they blew the lead.
If they take him out after 5 innings every time how is he ever supposed to gain the stamina to pitch into the 7th inning which is what I'm sure they want out of him.
Shields is a solid pitcher, but it looks like his stamina is not very long right now. If I was Maddon, I would continue to leave him in there as well though, because our pen is atrocious and we will need Shields to go 7 or 8 innings in the future if he wants to get some wins.
This sounds like Kelvim Escobar when he was in Toronto. Brilliant till the 5th but when the 6th rolled around he had lost all control. It could just be that Shields loses focus later in the game. If its anything similar to Escobar though, youre going to have to be patient as it took him about 3 seasons before he finally straightened himself out.
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by Bozo » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:03 am 
