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Rays' Howell still uncertain for start of season

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By ROGER MOONEY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 19, 2010

PORT CHARLOTTE - Apparently there was more to keeping J.P. Howell off the mound this spring than just the amount of innings he pitched over the past two years.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said this afternoon that Howell's shoulder did not test well during a pre-camp strength test with trainer Ron Porterfield.

As a result, the left-handed has yet to pitch in a game this spring, and Maddon said he is not sure when Howell will take the mound or if Howell will be ready to start the regular season.

"Yes, if we don't get him going soon it could possibly jeopardize the beginning of the season," Maddon said before tonight's game with the visiting Yankees.

Howell had said he would pitch his first game Saturday. He also said it would be Monday. Maddon said he is not sure when Howell will pitch this spring.

Howell, who has thrown 156 innings since the start of 2008, was shut down for the final 10 days of last season to guard against an injury.

Maddon emphasized Howell is not hurt.

"Not from an injury," Maddon said. "At the end of last season he left in good shape. It's not from an injury. It probably had something to do with his offseason conditioning program. Maybe some things that he did not do that he had done the year before, something like that. Ronnie wanted to address that first."

Porterfield tests the strength of each player before the start of spring training and the end of each season.

"He did not like the strength level when (Howell) came here," Maddon said. "So with that, before we had him throw a lot we wanted to make sure we built up strength first. And that was the whole issue based on previous testing. And, of course, J.P. could feel it a bit when he was throwing that he didn't feel as strong. So we decided to just back off a bit and get that thing strong before we decided to move forward with it."

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