TORONTO (TICKER) — Seeking another quality starter, the Texas Rangers hope they landed one today by acquiring lefthander Jeff Fassero from the Seattle Mariners for a minor league player to be named.
The Rangers own a relatively comfortable lead in the American League West, sitting 6 1/2 games in front of the second-place Oakland Athletics. But Texas surely could use a boost in its rotation, with no starter owning an ERA under 4.30.
If nothing else, the 36-year-old Fassero fills the Rangers’ need for a lefthanded starter. Lefthanded batters are hitting .252 against him this season.
Aaron Sele, Rick Helling, Mike Morgan, John Burkett and Esteban Loaiza, who currently make up the rotation, all throw righthanded.
A change of scenery may be just what the doctor ordered for Fassero, who lost his last six decisions with Seattle. He is 4-14 with a 7.38 ERA in 30 games, including 24 starts, and has walked 73 while striking out 101 over 139 innings.
Fassero posted a winning record and an ERA under 4.00 in each of the previous three seasons, the last two with Seattle. He went 44-32 in that span.
The nine-year veteran owns a 91-83 lifetime record with a 3.79 ERA in 359 games, including 191 starts. He pitched his first six major league seasons with Montreal before being traded to Seattle in a five-player deal in October 1996.
To make room for Fassero on the 40-man roster, Texas transferred pitcher Eric Gunderson from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. Gunderson has been sidelined since May with left shoulder problems and had surgery July 17 to repair a partial cartilage and rotator cuff tear.
The Rangers will make a roster move to accommodate Fassero tonight when he arrives in Toronto for the opener of his new team’s three-game series against the Blue Jays.
From Joe: The decision has not been made as of gametime Friday night – the radio announcers said he is not here yet, but is on the way.
Roster Transaction
- Acquired Pitcher Jeff Fassero off the waiver
wire for a minor league PTBNL. - Moved Eric Gunderson from the 15 day to the 60
day disabled list.
G129: Rangers beat Blue Jays, 8-2
Not available – didn’t catch the game.
G128: Rangers top Yankees, 7-3
This was better. A rather well pitched game by Loaiza (7innings, 3 earned runs), and against the Yankees. Some nice defense behind him, especially by Mark McLemore, who seemed to be playing the best I can ever remember seeing him play lately.
Rafael Palmeiro got yet another home run – he’s about to set offensive records for everything it seems by a Ranger, except probably Juan’s RBI record from last year – I don’t think Raffy will get to 158 there.
Was nice to see a win, although I would have rather have seen this more than once in the last three games. :( The Yankees don’t bother me in principle, but they bother me in the respect that we have that mental block with them still, it seems.
Patterson sent down, Corey Lee called up
The Texas Rangers announced today that lefthanded pitcher Corey Lee has been recalled from Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast Lee. Lee will be in uniform for tonight’s game with New York (#37) and will be making his major league debut.
To make room for Lee, righthanded pitcher Danny Patterson has been optioned to Oklahoma.
Lee, 24, has won both of his starts since being promoted to Oklahoma on August 12 with a 1.29 earned run average. He spent the majority of the season at Tulsa, going 8-5, 4.44 in 22 starts and still ranks 5th in the Texas League in strikeouts with 121 in 127.2 innings. Lee was selected by Texas in the 1st round of the June, 1996 draft and is 36-23 in his 4 pro seasons. His last outing was a win versus Las Vegas on August 19 (8 ip, 8 h, 2 r-er, 2 bb, 9 so).
Patterson is 2-0 with a 5.44 era in 43 relief appearances this season. He allowed 5 runs and 5 hits in one inning of work in Monday’s 21-3 loss to New York.
G127: Rangers lose to Yankees again, 10-7
What a disappointment. :( We battled great in this game, overcome some great bullpen pitching by the Yankees to tie it up, and go to extra innings. However, Corey Lee making his major league debut gave up a three run home run in the top of the 11th. That was too bad, he didn’t look that bad for a kid making his first appearance under pressure against the Yankees.
We try and salvage the third game, which honestly, was the only game I thought we’d win coming into this anyway.
Rafael Palmeiro named AL Player of the Week
NEW YORK (TICKER) — Texas Rangers first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, who had seven homers in as many games and drove in 17 runs, today was named American League Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday.
Palmeiro batted .458 (11-for-24) during the week and led the league with a 1.375 slugging percentage.
The four-time All-Star belted his 349th and 350th career homers on Saturday in a 9-2 win over Boston. He hit his 37th home run of the year on Sunday, tying the club mark for a left-handed hitter.
Baltimore’s Jeff Conine, Seattle designated hitter Edgar Martinez and Tampa Bay pitcher Rolando Arrojo were also considered for the award.
Roster Transaction
- Optioned Danny Patterson to AAA Oklahoma.
- Recalled Corey Lee from AAA Oklahoma.
G126: Rangers utterly destroyed by Yankees, 21-3
Oh dear god! That’s about all I have to say. Except the Rangers up there should be replaced by “Palmeiro” who had all 3 RBI’s.
G125: Rangers sweep out Red Sox, 6-0
My wife and I were at this game, and it was a most cool game to attend. First off, it was against the Red Sox, a team my wife and I love to see the Rangers play, because it’s usually good baseball. However, the main reason for us going tonight was that we didn’t have much else to do, so we decided to come here in the cheap seats. Both of us in the door for a total of $10, plus we both got a giveaway baseball cap. It was such an awesome deal, we couldn’t pass it up. I have some pictures of the giveaway hat in the pictures section below, if you want to see it – it’s a pretty well put together cap. For some reason, the Fina giveaway hats seem to be “cheaper”, but this is a good hat.
About the game… Aaron Sele was great last night. He wasn’t overpowering, as he only had a 1-2-3 inning once. However, the hits that the Red Sox got (8 in all) were scattered, and when they did manage to get more than one baserunner at a time, they couldn’t do anything with it. There was some nice defense in the field – Royce Clayton and Lee Stevens turned in some awesome plays. We also were helped by two double plays that were well timed.
On the flip side, our hits were scattered all over the place. Up until the end of the game, everyone had just a single hit, except B.B. Gonzalez who had nothing all night. “Mr. August” (Raffy) had yet another home run, and Rusty Greer just barely missed one in one of the most bizarrely hit balls I’ve seen at the Ballpark. Rusty hit the ball right in the corner of the black “New Dodge” sign in right center field. It went off the top of the wall and came back into the Ballpark. It certainly looked like a homer to me, until I saw the back back in play on the ground. He ended up with a triple, but missed a home run by literally one inch!
It was a great game, a pretty cool night, and my wife and I got in cheap, and came away with a hat. The Texas Rangers swept the Red Sox on this night, and it felt really great. I don’t know what else to say, I totally enjoyed this trip. I just wish I didn’t have to drive 38 miles to get to the Ballpark (all on Rt. 30). The Yankees are in town next. I don’t have a good feeling about this series, but then again, I didn’t have a good feeling about the Cleveland series, and we know what happened there. :)
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