One in particular seems to slip and sail WAAAY high once every fourth or fifth pitch.

He doesn’t throw as hard as he did a few years back when he’d get 101 on the gun.

Unless it was on one of those useless ESPN guns, I highly doubt Scot ever threw anywhere near that. As long as hes been pitching for the Angels I’ve seen him sit around 91-92, with him occasionally hitting the mid-to-high 90’s when hes really on. Its always been the movement on his pitches that make him so nasty. I do agree that he loses his arm slot once in a while and lets those pitches sail, but with the exception of a rough patch last year, it never seems to last beyond one outing. Overall Scot isn’t as valuable as he was at the beginning of his Angel career, when he would log about 100 innings out of the pen. But with relief pitching being so combustable, I think we have to be happy that we’re still getting reliable performances out of him.

I’ve noticed in the last couple of years that Shields control becomes erratic either at about 50 innings pitched or late August. The first sign is always his fastball sailing up and away on left handed hitters. Once this happens the hitters start looking for his two seem fastball exclusively because as you noted he can’t consistantly locate his devistating 11-6 curveball.

The good news is that he regains form in mid/late September and the Angels always close the regular season strongly.

I know the Angels have been concerned about this in the past, hence the signing of Spier and the development of Arredondo.