As this season draws to a close, I’m finding it harder and harder to sit and watch an entire game without flipping channels, looking at something else on my TiVo… This game was no exception.
We lost, and we had chances. We couldn’t follow through and beat the Mariners’ closer for the win. Oh well.
Roster Transaction
- Recalled IF Mike Young from AA Tulsa.
G157: Rangers shut out by Sele and M’s, 5-0
Not much to talk about here. We lost 5-0 on a complete game shutout by our traitor old friend, Aaron Sele. He pitched a 6 hit complete game shutout. We couldn’t get anything going at all. Period.
About the only highlights on the other side was a pickoff of Rickey Henderson by Ryan Glynn early in the game, and the fact that our bullpen didn’t make the game any worse. :)
Worst Trades in Team History: 3rd Worst
On December 9th, 1976, the Rangers traded Jeff Burroughs (OF) to the Atlanta Braves for Roger Moret (P), Carl Morton (P), Adrian Devine (P), Ken Henderson (OF) and Dave May (OF). If you thought that the Rangers received little in return for the Righetti trade, they traded away one of their first stars for literally nothing in return.
Burroughs came to the Rangers with the Senators and was the nation’s first draft pick in 1969. He first came up with the Senators at age 19, and often clashed with manager Ted Williams, though Burroughs later credited Williams for teaching him to concentrate. In 1973, in his first season as the Rangers starting right fielder, Burroughs hit 30 homers and was immediately thought of as one of the premier young power hitters in the game. Burroughs followed that up by hitting .301 with 25 homers and a league-leading 118 RBI in 1974, he also won AL MVP that year. Burroughs often complained about the south wind at Arlington Stadium and he continued to strike out at a torrid pace. The Rangers felt that they could spare him. In his first year after the trade, Burroughs hit 41 homers with 114 RBI with the Braves.
Roger Moret was the “big-gun” in this trade and he played for the Rangers for 1 ½ years, going 3-4 in 25 games. The sidearming Moret’s aim for the strike zone was erratic as his personality, but when he had control of both he was a capable winner. Moret was coming off of a 14-3 season at the time of the trade, and the Rangers were looking to see more of that.
Carl Morton won the NL rookie of the Year award in 1970 for the Expos, he was never quite the same again. In fact, at the time of the trade, Morton was pitching in the minors. I don’t know if the Rangers were thinking that he would return to his form from 6 years earlier, but if they were, it was quite a stretch. Morton never played in the Majors again and died at age 39 of a heart attack after jogging.
Adrian Devine was actually a nice surprise out of this deal. He came off arm surgery in 1975 and rebounded to go 11-6 with a 3.58 ERA and 15 saves in 1977. Devine then returned to Atlanta in 1978, was then traded back to Texas in 1979 in a very complicated deal. Arm troubles were his demise in 1980.
The Rangers were looking at getting a superstar out of Ken Henderson when they made this deal. Ken was touted as Willie Mays successor when Henderson was only 19. Henderson only played in 75 games in 1977 and was then traded to Cincinnati. In those 75 games, he hit only 5 HR and 23 RBI.
Dave May also managed to stay with the Rangers for the entire 1977 season. Not that this was a good thing, May hit .241 with 7 HR and 42 RBI. May had showed some promise earlier in his career. In 1973, he hit 25 HR, 93 RBI and a .303 average. In a part-time role with the Braves in 1975, he hit 12 HR in only 203 AB”s. He dropped off again in 1976, thus prompting the Braves to trade him.
This trade boils down to one thing, the Rangers took players that they were either hoping would develop, or return to form from a few seasons back. They traded one of the best, young power hitters in the game for these guys, and not one of them panned out. Now, if Ken Henderson went on to star for the Rangers for 10 years, would I be writing this article? No way, but the fact is, the franchise took five separate chances when they made this deal, and not one of them worked out.
Remember the Rangers!
Jeremy Northrip
rangerhistory@hotmail.com
Ranger Player from the Past: Buddy Bell
Bell could do it all. In the field, he was a sure-handed third basemen with enough range to play SS when needed and he won six straight Gold Gloves. At the plate, he was a clutch hitter who had one of the best hitter’s eyes in the league.
The Indians traded Bell to Texas in December of 1978 for Toby Harrah. Bell had already established himself as one of the best third basemen in the game, but when he came to Texas, he responded with his best year to that point in 1979. He won his first gold glove that year while hitting .299 with 18 HR and 101 RBI, he also led the league in game-winning RBI with 16. Bell was never much of a pure power hitter. I liken his swing and approach to the plate of Rusty Greer. Bell was a line-drive hitter. Hie line-drive hitting eventually carried him to rank first among all Rangers in career doubles, RBI, extra-base hits, and total bases.
Bell started at third for the Rangers for seven seasons. When 1985 rolled around, Bell started the season slowly and felt that it was time to go in a new direction at third. They traded Bell to the Reds and gave the starting third base job to prospect, Steve Buechele.
The most amazing thing about Bell is that he achieved all of this despite being an epileptic. He suffered from seizures during his early years, and decided to seek medical help after he fell out of a golf cart and broke his nose in 1976. Doctor’s initially thought that a brain tumor might have caused the collapse, but later diagnosed him as epileptic; thanks to medication, he has never had a seizure on the field.
Since his retirement, Bell has gone on to manage for the Tigers and the Rockies. Bell and his father (Gus) are also 2nd all-time in father-son total homers with 407. Bell has also had three sons play pro ball. Bell goes down as one of the greatest Rangers ever any way that you look at it.
Click here to see Buddy Bell’s lifetime stats. Here’s some more pictures of Buddy Bell – you can click on any of them to see a larger version.
Remember the Rangers!
Jeremy Northrip
rangerhistory@hotmail.com
G156: Rangers lose finale of home season, 9-2
The final home game of the 2000 season played out pretty much like the rest of the year. Rather irritating weather, and rather irritating performance by the team on the field. After yesterday being 97 degrees with like 80 percent humidity, it was about 60 degrees at the game. Since I’m from up north these temperatures don’t bother me, but the day after 97, it’s very noticeable.
Kenny Rogers started off by walking the first three batters of the game, and surprisingly only gave up one run that inning. Kenny went five innings, and only gave up a single hit, but he also allowed a career high eight walks. Given that many walks, it’s surprising he only gave up two runs in these five innings. When he left, I was feeling pretty good about our chances to win the final home game. However, our usual problem reared it’s head. Jonathan Johnson came on and pitched a couple of innings, but gave up two consecutive solo home runs for two more runs allowed – those were his only two hits though, he didn’t pitch all that bad. Then the fun began. Tim Crabgrass came in and only pitched 1/3 of an inning, but he walked two, and with an error, ending up allowing four runs, because of Mike Venafro’s gopher ball to Mo Vaughn – a towering grand slam into the second level of the upper deck. That was the epitaph for the Ranger’s home season. Brian Sikorski came on for the ninth, and was the only pitcher not to allow any runs, but he too walked a batter – bringing the total walks allowed by Ranger pitching to FOURTEEN!!
Offensively, we didn’t have much – we had the solo home run by Randy Knorr, and an RBI bloop single by Ruben Sierra in the fourth, scoring Scarborough Green. That was it. Speaking of Ruben, he’ll be a trivia question – he made the final out of the home 2000 season, a come backer to the pitcher.
When the Rangers were coming off the field, they got (what I felt to be) a fairly decent standing ovation. Hardly anyone came back out onto the field after the game was over, but I can’t be surprised at that – they probably just wanted to get out. Raffy came out, and Scott Sheldon did, and I thought I saw Ruben Sierra, but I wasn’t sure. I was very pleased to see the fans give the team applause after the season was over. Given the usual Cowboy mentality that this town has, I figured they’d get booed – but they didn’t. I liked that.
Speaking of Raffy, he was given a special framed Rangers jersey before the game in honor of his 400th HR. It looked normal, except the number on the back of the uniform was #400. Was a nice gesture, for sure.
Raffy hits #400 at home
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rafael Palmeiro can now focus on what he considers a more significant milestone: 500 homers.
“There’s a lot more career ahead of me,” the Texas first baseman said after hitting his 400th career homer Saturday night in the Rangers’ 15-4 loss to Anaheim. “Hopefully, I can do a lot more in this game.”
While becoming only the 32nd major leaguer to hit 400 homers, and the first in a Texas uniform, Palmeiro wants to join the more exclusive club. Only half of the 400-club members have also hit 500 homers, and Mark McGwire (554) is the only active player among that group.
“Honestly, it felt like any other home run. I keep saying that to me right now 399, 400 and 401, it’s all the same,” Palmeiro said. “If I’m lucky enough to get close to 500, then I’ll feel a little bit different about it.”
No. 400 came when Palmeiro hit a 3-1 pitch from Anaheim reliever Scott Karl in the fifth inning Saturday night, with the Rangers trailing 8-0.
Palmeiro had three of the Rangers’ four hits and drove in all four runs in a loss that assured Texas, the AL West champion the past two seasons, of finishing last in the division. The Rangers are only the fourth team in major league history to go from first to last in consecutive seasons, joining the Philadelphia Athletics (1914-15), Oakland (1992-93) and San Diego (1996-97).
“It’s been tough, because we’ve struggled so bad,” Palmeiro said. “This has kept me going over the last couple of weeks. It’s not as enjoyable as I would have liked it to be, but I’ll enjoy it.”
Even as he continued to downplay reaching the 400-homer milestone, Palmeiro acknowledged it was a special night.
Not every trot around the bases ends with a kiss from his wife and a high-five from his son, who were sitting in the owner’s box next to the Texas dugout.
“It was rewarding to see him be able to share it with them,” Texas manager Johnny Oates said. “That makes it worthwhile to me. I get chill bumps knowing they were able to share it, and that he went over and acknowledged them.
“I don’t think he’s through. He’s saying that this is just another number and he’s really looking forward to 500.”
Palmeiro got his wish by hitting No. 400 in front of the home fans who haven’t had much to cheer about this season. After No. 399 in the third inning at Minnesota on Tuesday, he didn’t bat again until returning to The Ballpark in Arlington, where he has hit 193 homers.
“It’s been building up. They came out to witness this, so I felt somewhat under pressure to come through,” Palmeiro said. “I think they appreciate that I came out and was able to do it.”
G155: Rangers lose big 15-4; Raffy gets #400
Well, it figures. The one game that I don’t have tickets for this series is the one where Raffy gets #400. My wife and I were in Baltimore last year when Cal Ripken missed getting his 400th by about two feet – and we missed this one, too. :)
However, Raffy was the only thing going last night. In this 15-4 loss, all four runs were driven in by Raffy. We had a total of four hits, three of them by Raffy (the other one a single by Ricky Ledee). Rick Helling was bad. Matt Perisho was fair. Darwin Cubillan was awful. Francisco Corder was fair to poor.
Was just an awful night all around – with the lone expection of Rafael Palmeiro who hit his 400th home run. I was watching, and when I saw him hit the ball, I hit pause on my TiVo (man these things are awesome). I went to get my wife, who was in the other room on the phone. When I came back, and backed the game up a few seconds so she could see it all (God, I really love TiVo). I had hit pause without even seeing it go over the fence. It was just one of those shots you could tell was going out off the bat. They shot off the home run fireworks 3 times for this one – which was cool. There was a rather large standing ovation, a curtain call from Raffy, and some nice family moments with his wife and kids who were in the first row behind the on deck circle. One funny note about the home run – a fan in the first row in the lower home run porch had the ball in his hands, and dropped it back onto the field. :)
Was a nice moment in a completely forgettable game. Oh wait, there was one cute thing. The Angels tied an AL record for using four pinch runners in an inning, and the two teams combined to set an AL record by using 5 pinch runners combined in a single inning. :)
G154: Rangers lose really tight game, 2-1
My wife and I were at this game – and we had tickets to Sunday’s final game, too. We’re thinking before we show up, you know, as we don’t have tickets to the middle of these three games, that’s when Raffy will hit his home run. And of course, I was right. He hit his 400th on Saturday.
Anyway, about this one – Darren Oliver was on the mound tonight, so I just assumed a big loss. Well, Darren didn’t pitch all that badly. He went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits, and two earned runs. Was actually a great performance, and really, he deserved a win. However, Anaheim pitchers were better than us. All five of them combined to allow only 8 hits, and 1 earned run. Hard to win when you’re outpitched like that.
The frustration of this season played out late, when Frank Catalanotto was ejected for tossing his helmet back out onto the field after arguing a close call. Every replay, and all the announcers said that he was ejected after arguing, but no one seemed to notice that it didn’t happen until he was in the dugout already, and his hat had been tossed back out onto the field.
On the injury front, Ricky Ledee was scratched from this game due to stepping on glass at home, and cutting his foot. Rusty Greer was officially shut down for the rest of the season due to the current foot problem he has. I doubt he’ll go on the DL now, but that makes yet another player (I think it’s 9 without looking it up) that have been finished for the season due to injury.
G153: Rangers take one against Minnesota, 6-4
I skipped back and forth between this game, and some other television I was watching.
It was very cool to see an extra inning win. I tuned back into the game right as Scott Sheldon was about to swing for a home run to tie the game in the ninth. That was cool to see – and then we went ahead in the 11th, but gave up a run, so the game continued.
This was a game that was started by a total of 13 rookies on both teams, out of a possible 20 players total. Rather a lot!
Was nice to see Ruben Sierra get some hits and a few RBI’s in this one – I’m really hoping he can hang around for next season, although my gut says he won’t.
This was our only win in the Metrodome all season. Sigh.
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