Shields takes third in AL Cy Young voting

One day after starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson took home the American League rookie of the year award, another Rays right-hander secured a top-3 finish in the race for the league's most prestigious pitching prize. Tampa Bay ace James Shields finished third in voting for the AL Cy Young award, earning 66 points from the voters in the Baseball Writers Association of America. Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander (24-5, 2.40 ERA) registered 196 points and won the award in an unanimous vote after becoming the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2002 to win 24 games in a season. Angels right hander Jered Weaver (18-8, 2.41) finished second with 97 points, and Yankees southpaw CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.00) finished fourth with 63 points. "I was excited," Shields told the St. Pete Times when he learned of his third-place finish. "Just to be a part of that kind of talented group of guys that were up there with me, just to be named in the same class as those guys. It's definitely an honor." Shields had the best season of his six-year Major League career for the Rays, who won the American League wild card and reached the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. The 29-year old finished 16-12 with a 2.82 ERA and was a workhorse for Tampa Bay, tossing a career-high 249 13 innings 29 23 innings more than his previous high, set in 2009. Shields' high inning count was aided by the fact that the righty often finished what he started. He led the majors with 11 complete games in 33 starts and finished tied for second in the league with four shutouts. Before 2011, Shields had never thrown more than three complete games or two shutouts in a season, but his 11 complete games this season equaled the total of Verlander, Weaver and Sabathia, combined. Shields also set a career high in strikeouts, with 225 good for fifth in all of baseball and his microscopic 1.04 WHIP was also the best of his six-year career. And even when runners did reach base, they often didn't stay there long. Shields also led the majors in pickoffs, with 12. But things haven't always been so positive for the resurgent Shields. After leading the Rays to the World Series in 2008, Shields went 11-12 with a 4.14 ERA in 2009, and in 2010 he followed it up with a career-worst 13-15 record and 5.18 ERA. But he rediscovered his groove this summer, and Shields' stellar performance was what the Rays are expecting going forward from their 16th-round pick in the 2000 draft. In October, the Rays showed that they believe Shields is back for good when they picked up his 7.5 million option for the 2012 season. His top-5 finish in the Cy Young race bumps that option up to 8 million. "The season that I had is a season that I'm capable of having in the future, and hopefully I can just try to build on it," Shields told the Times. " You always want to try to beat the season before next year, (so) I'm going to try my best to repeat what I did."