Shields pushed back to potential Game 6 at Ray's home fieldBOSTON -- The Tampa Bay Rays are making a pitching change for Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, turning to Scott Kazmir to start Thursday's game instead of James Shields.
"We're going to start Kazmir tomorrow," manager Joe Maddon said on Wednesday. "It's something we thought about since prior to this thing beginning. Being in the position we're in, we like the idea of pitching him with the day off to follow."
Maddon went on to express that Kazmir has had more success pitching at Fenway Park, while Shields has been very good at home.
As late as Tuesday, Shields was on track to be the starter. He started the series opener last Friday at Tropicana Field, taking a tough loss despite holding the Red Sox to two runs over seven-plus innings. However, Maddon had left himself some room for change, saying previously that Shields was "scheduled" to start Game 5 but not definitively saying that he would. More here:
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081015&content_id=3622231&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tbThis is a smart move on the part of Maddon. It looks like he's going to write off Thursday's game. Kazmir has been stinking it up for the last month and Dice K, right now, is the Sox best pitcher. Maddon is not going to waste another good performance by Sheilds against Dice K. He'll take the loss in Boston and let Sheilds and Garza take care of business back in Tampa.
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