Three Aces

They arrived like a trio of gunslingers sauntering down the dusty main street of an old West town.

Tall, loose and lean, self-assured grins peeking from under lowslung caps, they were poised to rock and fire at the slightest provocation.

Jamie Shields, Matt Harrington and Chris Cordeiro came to the Area Code Games, proving grounds for young pitchers.

Imposing as they were, challengers were many. City slickers from back East. Prospects from the Arizona badlands. Even fellow Californians.

One duel after another was fought from 60 feet 6 inches. And still standing at the end of the week were the three right-handed pitchers who were teammates on the 818 team.

All are about to begin their senior years of high school, Shields at Hart, Harrington at Palmdale, Cordeiro at Thousand Oaks.

All brought stellar reputations to Area Code. They could have played it safe and been content not to embarrass themselves in front of a who’s who of major league scouts and college coaches.

True to their competitive natures, they went all out.

Jamie Shields

The bullpen can be a sanctuary, a place for a pitcher to collect his thoughts while warming up.

For Shields on Tuesday at Long Beach State, it was more like a zoo. And he was on display.

Dozens of scouts and college coaches crowded Shields on all four sides, intently studying each pitch as he prepared for his start against a team of players from the Northeast sponsored by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Shields, 6 feet 2 and 175 pounds, tried his best to appear nonchalant, but his guts were churning.

“I’ll never forget that the rest of my life,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘All these people in the ‘pen. This is crazy!”’

Any claustrophobia felt by Shields dissipated when he took the mound.

His first pitch, an 88-mph fastball, was lined up the middle for a single. Shields used his curve and changeup against the next two hitters, striking them out swinging. A run scored on a throwing error by the catcher on a stolen-base attempt, but Shields never wavered, retiring the cleanup batter on a feeble grounder to third.

The next inning he struck out the first batter looking and got the next two on a pop fly and ground ball.

Shields started Saturday against the Diamondbacks and pitched one scoreless inning. The leadoff batter singled, but he picked him off at first, rendering a two-out double harmless.

Lighting up the radar gun is the goal of many Area Code pitchers. As a result, they show little command and don’t change speeds.

Shields took the opposite approach.

“Everybody knows I can throw a fastball,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about that.

“I wanted to show that I can actually pitch. I was really happy with my performance. I wanted to pitch smart, and I think I did.”

Shields hit 91 mph several times and was consistently at 88 and 89. Coming off a Hart season in which he was 11-0 with 123 strikeouts in 71 innings, his ability to overpower batters is unquestioned.

At the Area Code Games, he showed he can pitch.

Matt Harrington

Harrington followed Shields to the mound against the Pirates, but was not in his shadow.

His third pitch was 93 mph and he stayed above 90 consistently for two innings. White pukka shells spinning around his neck as he delivered, Harrington proved to hitters who were the Eastern-most in quality that not everyone in California is laid back.

He struck out batters from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, then recorded the third out on the most memorable pitch of the week.

Harrington busted a 91-mph fastball on the hands of Ron Braun of Stony Brook, N.Y., a teammate of Harrington’s on the Junior National team last season. Braun’s bat snapped in two and a piece landed atop the third base dugout.

The ball trickled to third baseman Conor Jackson, who threw to first for the out.

“That was the greatest thing in the game, breaking the bat of that guy I knew,” Harrington said. “That was cool.”

Emboldened, Harrington continued to own the inside corner the next inning, striking out the side while walking one and giving up a bloop single to right field.

“I hadn’t been throwing hard the past few weeks,” he said. “But today, I threw like I can.”

He pitched a scoreless inning against the Diamondbacks on Saturday and twice hit 94 mph, equaling the fastest pitch all week.

Chris Cordeiro

The ball was on the ground, a good omen for Cordeiro as he took the mound in the first inning against the Angels on Thursday.

All ballplayers have superstitions, and that’s his. Had the ball been thrown to him by the umpire or another player, he would have dropped it purposely.

“I don’t like anyone handing me the ball to begin an inning,” he said. “I want to pick it up off the ground.”

Cordeiro’s first pitch was hit on the ground to first base for an out. After a walk, he retired the next two on a lazy fly and a ground ball to third.

A leadoff walk in the second was his only mistake. “A sin,” he said.

An error put runners on first and second, and the next batter hit a hanging slider about 370 feet to center field. The fence at Blair Field is 400 feet from home plate, however, and Delmon Young hauled it in for the first out.

A sacrifice fly to right brought in an unearned run and a single up the middle was followed by a ground ball to second to end the inning.

Cordeiro breezed through the third, exhibiting excellent command of his curve and changeup to retire the side in order on 10 pitches, eight strikes. He finished by striking out the cleanup batter.

Although his fastball peaked at 88 mph--he was hoping to hit 90--Cordeiro realized he held the best hitters from Orange County one hit in three innings.

“I had a good time out there,” he said. “I tried to relax. It’s kind of a load off my mind. I was nervous on the ride up.”

The nerves never showed, for any of the trio.