News
Maddon, Rays not overworking starters
Tampa Bay (75-73) vs. Toronto (66-81), 7:08 p.m. ET
By Zach Schonbrun / MLB.com
09/19/09 12:57 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Tampa Bay's rotation has been difficult to place this season. The pitcher with the best stuff is 7-10. Its current ace has been a rookie penciled in barely as the No. 5 starter in April. And its former ace is now pitching for the Angels. Well, at least they have their health. Throughout the rotation's ups and downs this year, Rays manager Joe Maddon has been able to pencil in starters remarkably consistently, without much need for fill-ins or spot starts -- a rarity in baseball these days. As the year closes, though, the question for Maddon now becomes how much to push his five starters and when to ease back on their innings. James Shields and Matt Garza are the rotation's two proven commodities, both with track records of being able to pitch late into the season. The other three starters -- Jeff Niemann, David Price and Wade Davis -- are rookies, meaning Maddon and pitching coach Jim Hickey have to be especially wary of their limits. Maddon said that each pitcher seems to be timed out well, meaning that they are not too far off the predicted innings marks allotted before the season began. And by not needing to shut any of the rookies down prematurely, they can continue to gain experience and build toward next year. "They'll all probably be like on the upper end of how much we wanted to extend them from last year to this year," Maddon said. "But long term, that might be a good thing. We've just got to monitor." In the case of Davis, who threw a shutout against the Orioles on Thursday, having two off-days in the coming week also factored in Maddon's decision to allow him to finish just his third career start. Davis threw 124 pitches, the most by a Rays hurler since 2005. But Maddon said he felt Davis was pitching in a groove, never looked uncomfortable and will have an extra day to recover before his next start. "If you're playing like 20 or 15 games in a row and you know you can't skip his next start, then it's a little bit of a different talk," Maddon said. "But [Thursday] was more comfortable because of that." Shields was seventh in the American League at 198 2/3 innings innings coming into Friday's start and added six frames to that total. But he's thrown over 215 innings each of the past two seasons. Garza threw a career-high 209 2/3 innings last season (including the postseason) and is at 185 innings this year entering Saturday's start. "They're both OK," Maddon said. "I think they're both right where they're supposed to be also. It's not a huge concern." In the final two weeks of the season, the opportunity is there for Maddon to see what he's got from his young starters, while also not pushing them unnecessarily. For all the bad breaks the Rays have gotten recently, the best one may be that all five starters' arms are healthy as the season tapers out. "You want to take advantage and stretch them out this year so that you know you feel comfortable with them next year when you want to go a little bit deeper with them," Maddon said. "It might all just work out just right."
Pitching matchup
TB: RHP Matt Garza (7-10, 3.84 ERA)
Garza pitched well Sunday against the Red Sox at Boston, giving the team his second consecutive quality start while allowing three runs in 7 1/3 innings before picking up his 10th loss of the season. Garza has the best stuff on the staff, but he has lacked consistency. When he is on top of his game, he can be dominating. It's when he doesn't have his good stuff that he struggles. Since most pitchers don't have their good stuff more than 20 percent of the time, Garza needs to learn how to get by without his good stuff. He should have far more victories this season, but he leads the staff in having the least amount of run support when he pitches. Garza is 5-3 with a 1.90 ERA in nine career starts against the Blue Jays; he is 11-7 with a 3.15 ERA in 30 career starts at Tropicana Field.
Romero, who is trying to stay in the running for the AL Rookie of the Year Award, has struggled of late. Over his past four starts, the young left-hander has gone 1-3 with a 6.04 ERA, striking out 20 and walking 16 over 22 1/3 innings. During that stretch, Romero has allowed a .337 opponents' batting average. On Sunday in Detroit, Romero picked up a loss after yielding four runs on 10 hits over six innings. Tidbits
The Rays named outfielder Desmond Jennings their Minor League Player of the Year and right-hander Jeremy Hellickson its Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Both players, along with the team MVPs of Tampa Bay's nine Minor League affiliates, signed autographs and were honored before Friday's game. "There's plenty of people that could have won this award," Jennings said. "I feel good about it, I'm glad that my play was noticed a little bit." Jennings batted .318 with 11 home runs and 52 stolen bases between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham this season. Hellickson went a combined 9-2 with a 2.45 ERA between Montgomery and Durham. ... Left-hander Darin Downs was named team MVP for Class A Bowling Green. Downs was struck in the head by a line drive on Aug. 17, ending his season. ... Maddon said there may not be any more callups if everyone on the team stays healthy. Durham plays in the Triple-A championship Tuesday, so a new callup wouldn't be with the Rays until Wednesday. "If nobody gets hurt and everybody's well, just to bring somebody up might not be realistic or necessary," Maddon said. "We're still trying to play some guys that are here."... Maddon said outfielder Fernando Perez has a sore left wrist, but is healthy enough to play. Perez left Thursday's game after hurting his wrist making a catch in center field. Tickets
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• Sunday: Rays (David Price, 8-7, 4.60) vs. Blue Jays (Roy Halladay, 15-9, 3.03), 1:38 p.m. ET
• Monday: Off-day
• Tuesday: Rays (Jeff Niemann, 12-6, 3.80) vs. Mariners (Ryan Rowland-Smith, 4-3, 3.59), 7:08 p.m. ET
Zach Schonbrun is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
