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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 confident last start was a fluke

Posted Aug 13, 2010 by Tribune Sports

Updated Aug 13, 2010 at 01:06 PM

By TONY FABRIZIO

ST. PETERSBURG There are few traits more important to a major league pitcher than selective amnesia. James Shields will rely on his tonight when the Rays open a six-game home stand against the Orioles.

In his most recent start last Saturday at Toronto, Shields equaled a modern major league record by allowing six home runs in four innings. The Rays allowed a club-record-tying eight home runs and 12 extra-base hits in a 17-11 loss.

“I’ve forgotten about it,” Shields said. “It was kind of one of those freaky things, you know? I mean, I’d never given up six homers in a game, let alone that many in a row (three to four batters in the third inning). But I feel really good. I threw a bullpen (session Tuesday), and my mind’s exactly where it needs to be.”

Shields (10-10, 4.91 ERA) can more easily dismiss the game as a fluke because he won his three previous starts, including a 3-0 combined shutout of the Yankees on Aug. 1 in which he allowed only four hits over 7 1/3 innings.

And even if here were tempted to dwell on the Toronto game, Shields says, he wouldn’t allow himself to because the Rays are in the middle of a pennant race.

“My job is to win games,” he said. “If were dead last, I might be lingering on that last start. But I’m not worried about it. I feel pretty good right now.”

Pitching coach Jim Hickey said the reason Shields can be solid most of the time and ineffective on occasions (he also gave up 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings in a start at Florida on June 11) is his margin for error is small.

‘If he makes mistakes that are east and west, or side to side, he’s prone to getting hit,” Hickey said. “If he stays in line and his mistakes, if you will, are more north to south, where the ball is moving down or riding up, he has a much better chance for success.

“That was the difference between the Yankees game and the (Toronto) game. He was throwing on a nice downhill plane in the Yankees, game, and everything was up and down. This last game, most of his mistakes were side to side. That’s where his stuff flattens out.”

Hickey said he isn’t concerned about Shields’ staff-high ERA because in most of his starts, he keeps his Rays in the game.

“I don’t want to minimize it, but his ERA isn’t as important to me as maybe some of the other starters’ because of the fact he gives up a lot of hits just because he’s in the strike zone, which is part of the deal with him,” Hickey said. “He’s prone to that two- or three-run home run, (but) really, all we ever ask of him is to go out and give us a chance to win.

“If he takes the mound 35 times this year, he’s going to give us a chance to win 32 times, and that’s pretty productive.”

Catcher John Jaso, who caught Shields at Toronto, noted that with the Rogers Centre roof opened that day and the wind blowing out, there were doubles or fly ball outs that went for home runs.

“If kind of showed the other two days (with the roof closed), because there were some balls hit pretty well to the wall that didn’t go out,” Jaso said. “Like (Ben) Zobrist had that ball hit to the wall (in center field Sunday in a 1-0 Tampa Bay loss) that didn’t go out.

“I think a lot of it (Shields’ day) had to do with the day and then, after (the Blue Jays) got a couple of hits, they just got comfortable in the box. They weren’t too jumpy to chase the changeup and stuff like that, and they could wait until the ball was left over the plate.”