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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Shields can tie Kazmir tonight for team record in wins

Posted Aug 23, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Aug 23, 2010 at 10:56 AM

ROGER MOONEY
ANAEHIM James Shields has been pitching in Tampa Bay since the dark days of 2006, when the Devil was still part of the team, the uniforms were green and last-place finishes were expected.

Might as well toss in the worst record in baseball, too.

Who doesn’t want the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, right?

So, it’s only fitting that Shields move to the top of the list when it comes to team records.
The right-hander will tie Scott Kazmir’s team record for career starts at 144 when he throws his first pitch tonight against the Angels at Angel Stadium.

Should Shields pitch well enough and the Rays score enough, he could earn his 55th career win, which will also tie him for first on the Rays all-time list for career victories.

“This organization has blessed me with the opportunity,” Shields said. “I’ve been playing with them for 10 years, and to be able to pitch for one team for that long is pretty cool.”

Here’s the neat little twist:

Opposing Shields tonight will be the man he’s chasing, Scott Kazmir.

“It’s kind of ironic,” Shields said.

It’s been 101 days since the Rays last played the Angels, and that series took place here in Anaheim, typically a stadium of horrors for the Rays.

Tampa Bay hadn’t won a series here since 1999 until they took two of three from the Angels back in May.

Rays manager Joe Maddon saw that as another growth moment for his team, which finally learned to play well in another city.

Maddon also joked he can now stand a little taller when he walks around the streets of Belmont Shore, his offseason home a short ride from Anaheim.

“I’ll swagger a little bit better,” Maddon said. “Walking down the street in Belmont Shore people are just yelling barbs at me the previous offseason.”

And now?

“Less barberie,” Maddon said.

The Rays take a two-game winning streak into tonight’s game. They remain one game back of the Yankees for first place in the American League East and 5 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox in the Wild Card standings.

Some interesting notes:

Carl Crawford needs one home run to reach 100 for his career.

Evan Longoria is batting .345 in the 13 games since being moved to the cleanup spot. He’s two-run RBI double which provided the eventual winning run in Sunday’s 3-2 win against the A’s in Oakland was his 40th double of the season, making Longoria the first Ray to collect at least 40 doubles in two seasons. He had 44 last year.

Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann will rejoin the rotation this week: Davis is set to start Tuesday night; Niemann on Wednesday afternoon.

The Rays return to Tropicana Field on Friday for a three-game series with the Red Sox that concludes Sunday night with a nationally televised game on ESPN.