James Shields

With Scott Kazmir out to start the season, James Shields became the ace of the Tampa Bay staff, pretty much by default.

Not that he didn’t deserve the title, but he really only had about half a good season in his career before Opening Day ‘08 came along.

However, there will be no taking that moniker away from him anytime soon - especially if he keeps throwing up one-hit shutouts like he did Friday night!

Shields was superb in his start against the powerful Angels lineup, facing just one more batter than the minimum, while striking out eight and walking nobody.

However, his teammates weren’t giving him any support, as the game went into the bottom of the ninth tied at 0-0.

Thankfully, rookie Evan Longoria came up big, knocking out his first-ever walk-off home run, accounting for the 2-0 final.

The shutout moved Shields to 4-2 on the season and dropped his ERA to 3.14. He also has 39 strikeouts in just over 50 innings on the year.

It was one of the best two pitching performances in baseball this season, and because of that, we’re giving some MAD LOVE to James Shields today!