Steve Trachsel, RH Jason Simontacchi, RH (1-3, 3.94) (1-1, 5.56) 2B B Roberts 2B F Lopez RF N Markakis SS C Guzman SS M Tejada 3B R Zimmerman C R Hernandez LF R Church 1B K Millar RF A Kearns 3B M Mora 1B D Young LF J Payton C B Schneider CF C Patterson CF R Langerhans P S Trachsel P J Simontacchi
There are few pitchers in professional baseball who actually have less pure stuff than Steve Trachsel. Jason Simontacchi is one of them.
You may remember Simontacchi from the 2002/2003 Cardinals. In '02, Simontacchi burst onto the scene like the newest Travis Driskill, pitching way over his head en route to an 11-5 record with a 4.02 ERA, all in all a pretty solid season, but the obvious signs of the wheels falling off were there. He was a Busch Stadium creation (3.15 at home, 4.88 on the road, drastic peripheral differences), and he was destroyed in August by teams that had seen him already, putting up a 7.03 ERA over six starts in the dog days of summer.
In '03, he wound up relegated to the bullpen, making 46 appearances and 16 starts, with a 5.56 ERA, a 9-5 record, a complete game, and a save. In 2004 he pitched 13 games of relief, and that was the last we saw of him until this season, when the Expos dug him up.
Trachsel just isn't giving up hits...yet. His K-to-BB sucks, but that usually accompanies a pitcher who's also getting lit up. Trachsel has not. AL batters are hitting just .241 off of him, so his ERA is fairly legit. Trachsel has basically had a season's work against the Expos over his career: 27 starts, 171 2/3 IP, 3.41/1.23, 128 K. Not bad.
This is, of course, our big rivalry. I don't hate this team. I don't really care about this team. They're just a crappy team, same as ours, with a crappy GM who is actually mostly in charge instead of just a crappy owner ruining everything from the top on down, and they've got crappy pitchers and crappy hitters and a crappy ballpark. So I guess we win? Hooray for Oriole Park!
Federal Baseball is the SBN home of the Expos, and I'd be lying horribly if I said that Basil didn't do a great job over there. The one thing I do see as rivalry between the O's and Nats is the simple fact that almost all Nats fans were likely at one point or another Orioles fans. So I hope for the Expos to continue being horrible so those traitors don't just get an easy out.