Kaz/Shields/Garza=Glavine/Avery/Smoltz?

Apparently Troy Percival reads the Sunday paper. In case you missed it, the St. Petersburg Times ran an article on Sunday comparing the Rays trio to some other young trios of baseball's past: The A's trio of Hudson/Mulder/Zito, the Marlin's Beckett/Penny/Willis and the early 90's Braves trio of Glavine/Avery/Smoltz. Percival wanted to have a little fun with the Rays young guns, from The Heater:

Troy Percival continued to show his clubhouse leadership, and sense of humor, sporting a customized jersey. After kidding the pitchers over a Sunday Times article comparing Rays starters Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza to some of baseball's best young rotations, Percival wore a jersey that looked like this:

KAZMIR
SHIELDS
GARZA
-----------
GLAVINE
AVERY
SMOLTZ

"I might wear it all spring,'' Percival said.













I like the Glavine and Smoltz comparison, but I hope the third member of the Rays trio fairs better than Steve Avery. Avery had four good years (1991-1994) and then became very average. He was out of baseball at the age of 29 before attempting a brief comeback with the Detroit Tigers in 2003 at age 33. Let's just hope they don't turn into the next Generation K.