James Shields Must Become The Road Warrior Today In Fenway

by Tommy Rancel on Apr 7, 2009 10:00 AM EDT

Mad Max, the Legion of Doom, James Shields. This is what the Rays need. They need a road warrior

James Shields is very good, even great at times. However, most of that goodness or greatness usually comes at Tropicana Field. Without researching every major league starter, I would say that most of them would have more success at home than on the road. Pitchers are creatures of habit. They go through the same routines before home games. They are more familiar with the mound and the dimensions of ballpark. In general, they are just more comfortable at home; James Shields is no different.

Shields learned a valuable lesson in 2008. Simply stated, he needed to get into a better routine on the road. His road numbers were drastically different than his numbers at home, which prompted some introspection on Shields' part. Eventually, Shields addressed the situation with Maddon and pitching coach Jim Hickey.

"I brought it up to them," Shields said. "Over the last three years, obviously, I've been a lot better at home than I have been on the road.--MLB.com

Here are the career home/road splits for Shields

	W-L	ERA	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPSA
Home	20-8	3.17	0.244	0.289	0.392	0.681
Road	12-16	4.71	0.276	0.321	0.458	0.779

Two different pitchers. Shields is an ace at home and your average 5^th starter on the road. Here are a little more in depth stats:

	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	K/9	K/BB	OPSA+
Home	8.28	0.99	1.8	7.5	4.11	88
Road	9.72	1.35	1.89	7	3.72	114

More hits, home runs, walks and less strikeouts. That would do the trick. Shields's control isn't awful on the road by any stretch. His 3.72 K/BB away from the Trop is very good, but the extra hits and home runs are what hurt him.

Remember, home field for Shields is a nice, climate controlled dome where wind and other elements of weather don't affect his pitches. He is free to throw that nasty change up and not worry if the wind is carrying out to a certain part of the field. I would think this is the biggest difference, however, if you talk to Shields, the biggest problem on the road has been getting into that same home routine.

"I'm a big routine guy. I realized that at home, obviously, it's easy to get into a routine, because you have all the amenities. Everything you need [is] right there in front of you. On the road, they've only got a couple of tubs. And we take BP second on the road, so everyone's in the clubhouse late. Everyone's using the tub. Basically what it was, it was kind of like I wasn't getting ready on time, or I wasn't getting ready soon enough, or too quickly. I'm a big routine guy."--MLB.com

Shields will make his fourth start in Fenway Park today. Obviously, Shields has not figured out how to get in a routine in Boston. In his three previous starts, Shields is 0-3 with a 10.13 ERA. Sure it's a small sample size, but Shields is averaging under four innings a start and has given up 18 hits in just 10.2 innings. That's just not going to cut it.

With the extra day off before opening day, I wonder if Shields has had enough time to sort out his pre-game ritual. As RJ pointed out, the Rays haven't had much success vs. Josh Beckett and if they want to start the season with a W, they are going to have to rely on the right arm of James Shields to do so. For our sake, I hope that Shields feels right at home today.

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Comments

His right cross has a 1:1 hit ratio, though.

by ReasonableDoubt on Apr 7, 2009 10:05 AM EDT reply actions

One of those three starts was the awful game where he was serving them up so he could hit Caca

Off the top of my head he gave up like 5 runs in an inning and a third. That will certainly inflate those numbers. I think you may have lost the forest for the trees on this one Tommy as not only was Shields that much better in the Pit, but our whole team was. We had a ridiculous record at home, which I plan to take a look at sustainability year-to-year of home/road splits a little later today, but check out our batting: LINK Our OPS was .072 points lower. Our OPSa, for the pitchers, was .097 lower at home. These are significant differences over a very large sample. Shields was not great on the road, but I think it shows, as a team, how much better we were at dome, sweet, dome. LINK TO THE PITCHERS

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it.

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on Apr 7, 2009 10:15 AM EDT reply actions

I should add that I don't want to seem like I'm relying on only those two stats to prove a point.

My aim is that you check out the links and see the vast chasm yourselves. I just wanted to supply at least one fact to go with my claim.

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on Apr 7, 2009 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Please also include more hearsay and speculation....

In fact feel free to completely shoot from the hip where possible.

by davelrogers on Apr 7, 2009 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Suck a dick Dave

The stats speak for themselves. What does that mean projecting forward who knows, but we were a .500 team on the road and a .700 team at home. .500 on the road is generally good enough to be in the thick of things, but this is not an ordinary year. Is playing .700 at home sustainable?

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on Apr 7, 2009 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Just havin a little fun is all.

Rather avoid felatio at all costs if thats ok by you.

by davelrogers on Apr 7, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Also -

My comment wasn’t meant to belittle your point, which I found interesting and agree with to some extent.

by davelrogers on Apr 7, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I think this is the case with everybody not just the Rays

As I said, people just do better at home, but if Shields can figure out his “routine” or whatever it is he that he feels he’s missing, he could be very good on the road. His control numbers indicate that he’s still in control on the road it could be a command issue(where he’s putting the ball in the strikezone). I think Shields is a smart enough guy to figure it out and be just as good on the road as he is at home.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Apr 7, 2009 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions

AL East only (so far)

Team OPSh OPSr Diff OPSah OPSar Diff
Bos .840 .772 68 .724 .701 23
NYY .789 .749 40 .707 .760 -53
Tam .800 .728 72 .666 .763 -97
Tor .745 .716 29 .665 .715 -50
Bal .748 .782 -34 .804 .788 16

Tampa had the most extreme differences at home for both their pitching and hitting. It is reasonable to expect a team to be better at home, but by how much. Boston’s pitching was actually better on the road it would appear, btw. I agree that Shields needs to do whatever makes him most comfortable, but we haven’t shown many of the Rays weaknesses this offseason and this could be one right here.

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on Apr 7, 2009 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions