With pitch counts becoming so important in recent years it seems as though starting pitchers are working less innings every season. These days if you can give your team six innings of solid work every start you're probably going to end up making a lot of money in baseball because the Roy Halladays of the world are very few and far between. Because of this, bullpens are becoming more and more important for teams.It's not a coincidence that division-winning teams usually are teams with the best bullpen in their division, and as any baseball fan knows, the bullpen is also the least predictable part of a baseball team, which is why I've always considered Scot Shields to be one of the best relievers in baseball. Since 2002 he's been a very reliable part of the Angels 'pen and has never finished a season with an ERA over 3.86.
So with Shields struggling so far this season with a 6.62 ERA in 20 appearances and 15 walks compared to 12 strikeouts, you had to figure there was something wrong with the guy. Turns out there is, as Shields has been placed on the disabled list, but the good news is it has nothing to do with his arm.
Shields left Tuesday night's game against the White Sox after only recording one out and was diagnosed with patella tendinitis in his left knee.That one out Shields recorded on Tuesday night was Mike Scioscia's cue that something was wrong with his pitcher when he saw him gingerly covering first base on an grounder to first by Chicago's Jermaine Dye. The hope is that with a few weeks off, Shields' knee will recover and allow him to get back to the form we're all used to seeing from him.
"All I could think about when I was facing the hitters tonight was how much pain I was in," Shields said. "It just hurt the whole time."
In his place, the Angels have called up Rich Thompson from Triple-A.
