Never in my life has my hand been so close to slapping the panic button. The man who was supposed to come into this season and be the corner stone of a new era has been about as good as Shawn Camp pitching the 8th with a two run lead. I looked over Shields numbers so far (including last nights start), and there was nothing pretty about them. In four appearances this season he has only gone 23 innings. That's less then six innings per start, or an average of about five and a third. No starting pitcher should average those numbers, especially when he is the ace of the club.
He has also already allowed 14 runs in those four starts. Now granted only nine of those fourteen are earned, but the fact is that a lot of balls are being put in play. Not only that but they are being hit in spots that make it difficult for fielders to make plays therefor leading to errors. And if you do the math from a couple of sentences ago, you get roughly three runs per five innings. And that is just putrid. To top all of this off he has also given up 28 hits, which is equal to about five hits per inning, WOW. Oh, and don't forget the w.h.i.p. of 1.473, AAAWWW.
Now to try to be some what positive, his E.R.A. is under four (barely), and his s.o./walks ratio is almost 3 to 1, which isn't too bad but not as good as last year. So for now I will keep both hands tied behind my back but the writing is on the wall. If this team is ever to become competitive then we can't have our franchise players spending the first two months of the season "warming up." For this team to be taken seriously they have to start playing like they belong, and that begins with your best players setting the example.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
SHIELDS, YOU'RE KILLING ME
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5 comments:
Shields was picked by one of the ESPN analysts to finish with more wins than any Yankees or Red Sox pitchers. I picked the Rays to steadily improve this year, and I do think it's just a matter of time until things come together.
holy crap let's step back from the ledge eh?
He's got a 3.52era, that isn't "barely" under 4. Yea, his whip is high but it will come down. The hits allowed will come down. He's been facing primarily lefty based lineups and they have been killing him but once he gets out of the AL East, his numbers should be even better.
Oh and here's his ERAs following each of his 4 games so far:
2.57, 3.00, 3.00, 3.52...
let's not panic yet. my god man, take a chill pill and look at the rest of the pitchers in baseball.
I'm still confident in Shields. If you want to see a real horror story, look at CC Sabathia. Now that's worrisome,
to awnser all,
Buster Onley sid the Sheilds would have more wins (I wish)
Fish, you're right, but with all the hype going into this season, it's hard to remember wich team we're talking about.
And Asponge, my d.j. is from cleveland and all I here about is C.C. Though I think he will do better, and I hope Sheilds will too.
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