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Rays look to end regular season on good note

Sep 28, 2008 - 7:37 AM Tampa Bay (96-65) at Detroit (74-86), 1:05 pm EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays began the season as likely candidates to finish in the basement of the American League East. They finish it awaiting the playoffs.

James Shields takes the mound for a tune-up before the playoffs start this week, as the Rays take on the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

Shields (14-8, 3.57 ERA) will likely be the team's second starter in the postseason, behind ace lefthander Scott Kazmir. The 26-year-old righthander has surrendered three runs or less in seven of his last 10 starts.

He was impressive in his lone outing against Detroit this season, yielding two runs and nine hits over 6 1/3 innings on August 3 in a no-decision of Tampa Bay's 6-5 victory.

In a season of firsts for the Rays, Shields became the franchise's first 14-game winner. He surpassed Rolando Arrojo's mark of 13, set in 1998 - the team's inaugural season.

The Rays clinched the AL East title on Friday, but have dropped three in a row. Those losses guaranteed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (99-62) the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs due to possessing the league's best record.

The Tigers give Zach Miner (8-5, 4.26) the nod with hopes of ending a rather disappointing season on a positive note. Miner has been stellar in his short tenure as a starter, and has won three of his last four decisions.

Miner has given up three or less runs in six of his last 10 efforts, pitching at least six innings in seven of those.

If the Tigers lose this game and the Kansas City Royals defeat the Minnesota Twins, they will finish last in the AL Central - a stunning outcome after the team entered the regular season with serious hopes of getting to the World Series.