Mariners Solve Clemens Seattle’s Good News Turns To Bad When Rodriguez Exits With Abdominal Strain

The quick review of Seattle’s 5-1 victory over Toronto on Wednesday shows the Mariners got a strong performance from pitcher Jeff Fassero and handed the Blue Jays’ Roger Clemens his first defeat of the season.

The long-term effect of the game, however, may not be so positive.

All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez had to leave the game after driving in a run in the fifth inning. He had what was described as an abdominal strain.

He will be examined today by team doctor Larry Pedegana, and his status for the next few days will be determined.

Whether he will rest a few days or go on the disabled list may hinge on how well he can hit. With the abdomen being so important in hitting, the strain could affect Rodriguez more than the typical muscle strain.

Even in the best-case scenario, there is little chance he will play before the weekend, so manager Lou Piniella said Andy Sheets will be called up from Tacoma to play shortstop.

Rodriguez initially suffered a bruise in the first inning when he scored on a wild pitch. Clemens dropped a knee into Rodriguez’s ribs on the play at the plate. After Rodriguez singled in the third, he felt pain and consulted trainer Rick Griffin at first base but elected to stay in the game.

On the swing for his fifth-inning single, Rodriguez realized the injury wasn’t minor.

“It was like someone put a 10-inch knife right in my rib and took it out nice and slow,” Rodriguez said. “I haven’t felt that much pain in a long time.”

Griffin wasn’t optimistic.

“These types of situations, we haven’t had really good luck with in the past,” Griffin said. “They usually are really annoying and take some time to heal. It’s on his left front side so everything he does throwing and hitting is initiated by those muscles.”

Rodriguez had played in all 63 games this season and is the American League leader in hits with 86.

“Some of the guys in here who’ve had rib-cage injuries before told me it hurts doing everything,” said Rodriguez, who had to take his time getting dressed after the game. The only good thing is we are in June and not in August or September.”

Sheets, who has been up and down between Class AAA and the majors over the past two seasons, can field Rodriguez’s position. But he won’t be expected to bat second, meaning the batting order is in for some changes.

“Now we’ll just have to overcome a little adversity,” Piniella said.

Facing Clemens is an adverse situation for most teams, but the Mariners had little trouble overcoming that obstacle.

Seattle has been the only team in the league to hit Clemens well this season. He has given up 11 earned runs in two starts against the Mariners, and 11 earned runs against the rest of the league in 11 starts.

Clemens (11-1) saw his earned-run average jump to 1.94.

“We’ve got a great offensive ball club,” said Seattle catcher John Marzano, who caught the entire game but had no official at-bats because he walked and had two sacrifice bunts. “I don’t think we’re going to be intimidated by any pitcher.”

The Blue Jays swung like a team that was intimidated by Fassero’s pitching.

“All three of his pitches were working today,” Marzano said. “It was a pleasure to go out there and catch him. He knows he’s got good stuff. He just goes out and lets his pitches do the talking.”

Fassero, with as a good a slider as he’s had all year, pitched 8-1/2 innings before giving way to Bobby Ayala.

An indication of Fassero’s dominance were the five foul pop outs caught by the catcher, one short of the major league record.

The only run Fassero allowed came on a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh.

He pitched out of jams in the third and fifth innings and said part of the reason for his success was the mound at SkyDome.

“We need to take and ship this mound around to every park we play at,” Fassero said.