James Shields pitched a brilliant game only to have it wasted by a lack of offensive production. The only mark against Shields happened on his second pitch of the game. He hung it in the zone to Ichiro and he deposited it into the RF seats to account for the only scoring of the game. Shieldsy looked awesome for 7.1 innings scattering only 4 hits and allowing 1 ER, 1 BB while netting 4 K’s.
The shame is the offense for the Rays did not show up. The Rays had people on base through with a combination of 4 hits and 4 BB. They stranded 7 and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
The Rays big offensive problem to this point in the season appears to be pitch selection and a lack of patience at the dish. A lot of these guys are hacking away at the first pitch they see putting themselves down in the count. I think this is evidenced by the K/BB comparison that, in last night’s game, was 10 K to 4 BB.
I am a bit perplexed why Joe Maddon did not pinch hit for Dioner Navarro in the 9th inning with the tying run on 2nd base. Look, Navi has been struggling mightily at the plate. I would have liked to see Willy Aybar grab some lumber at that point. Willy is a switch hitter and sees a lot of pitches at the dish. Just a thought…..
Look I know “King Felix” is a pretty good pitcher and I also am aware of the sun/shadow issue BUT this is not the first game the offense has performed this poorly. These guys need to start showing some consistency in their performance soon as we cannot afford to get too far behind in the very tough AL East. Currently we have lost 4 out of 5 series played! We already have a tough mountain to climb just being in this division. Sitting in the cellar for a month or 2 will make it virtually impossible to find a spot in October.
