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Memories of Steve Trachsel

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 12:50 AM

It strikes me that he was the only remaining Met who played for Bobby Valentine.

Yancy Street Gang Feb 15 2007 06:21 AM

Pedro Feliciano?

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 08:15 AM

Good point. I guess so. He's come and gone twice since then, but baseball-reference.com makes it look like continuous service.

Rockin' Doc Feb 15 2007 08:55 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 15 2007 08:56 AM

Watching Trachsel pitch was similar to listening to William Shatner deliver a monolog. There were frequent breaks, pauses, and delays that were intermittently broken up by their performance. Trachsel always seemed to strike me as a decent pitcher who just seemed to lack confidence in his stuff. I wish him well in his new home at Camden Yards, particularly against the Yankees.

ScarletKnight41 Feb 15 2007 08:56 AM

As for Trax, I'll remember his love of fine wine. I'll remember him drinking champagne from a glass when everyone else was pouring it over each other's heads on the field at Shea after last September's clincher. I'll remember when he was the beneficiary of a triple play a few seasons ago. A reporter asked him, "If a double play is a pitcher's best friend, what's a triple play?" and he replied, "I don't know - a sexy mistress?" He received some slack for the comment at the time, but I just thought it was a demonstration of his dry humor. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come, though.... I'll remember that he took the Norfolk Cure, even though he could have contractually declined the move, and that he was more effective as a result of that. I always admired his desire to get better despite the blow that the minor league move had to have been for his ego. I'll remember that he signed D-Dad's banner, and that he seemed like a nice guy.

metirish Feb 15 2007 09:04 AM

This is tough,the constant walking off the mound was annoying,how every game he pitched seemed to take forever,I especially hated it when Steve pitched on a west coast trip,a 7:30PM start in LA would mean that the game might only be in the second inning by mid-night east coast time. To be fair to Trax he was a competent pitcher for the Mets,won some games for some bad Mets teams and never seemed to complain about things,IMO all in all he was a good Met. His look of exasperation after every pitch was priceless.

Willets Point Feb 15 2007 09:07 AM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: I'll remember that he took the Norfolk Cure, even though he could have contractually declined the move, and that he was more effective as a result of that. Another realization: we don't have the Norfolk Cure anymore. A New Orleans cure sounds like a bender or maybe Hoodoo.

Frayed Knot Feb 15 2007 09:19 AM

Between the trip to Norfolk and the back injury that derailed him in early '05 he was much better than Met fans gave him credit for; and, while he was often deliberate (esp w/men on base) his slowness was often exagerrated IMO. But the bad memories are going to survive longer than the good ones because both the beginning and the end of his stint here were pretty ugly. Maybe the details of how his marriage apparently fell apart means he was revealing something when he mentioned the 'sexy mistress'. He leaves the team as a Top-50 Met acc to the CPF Ranking project.

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 09:24 AM

Down the stretch in 2001, as the Mets clawed their way back into the division race, he was money: Date Opponent IP ER Result 8-19-2001 AT LA 7 4 W 8-25-2001 VS SF 7 1 ND 8-30-2001 VS PHI 7 2 W 9- 4-2001 AT PHI 7.2 3 W 9- 9-2001 AT FLA 6 2 L 9-22-2001 VS ATL 7 1 W Of course losing too the Braves on the 28th with the Mets four games out and two behind the Phils, then turning around and pitching a too-little-too-late shutout on October 3 may cut into the case for him as a gamer, but he was as much of a part of that comeback as anybody not named Armando.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 09:32 AM

His reputation for slow-working was way overcommented upon, while the fact that he was a numbers-defying genius on the mound was and remains a secret. At least until the back injury, Trax consistently outperformed what you might expect of a guy who strikes out as few as he did, and walks as many as he did, and gave up as many HRs as he did. For a time it seemed his results got better as his periferals got worse, and you finally had to throw up your hands and declare it -- The Man Was A Genius. Gave up the HRs when the bases were empty or the run support allowed, used the unitentional intentional walk A LOT, set up and set up and set up, used a ton of different pitches, and generally was a complete thinker out there. Couldn't be any less sexy.

TheOldMole Feb 15 2007 09:39 AM

Accepting the demotion to Norfolk took a lot of guts, and he sucked it up and learned from it. I always thought Trax could be counted on to go out and give you a professional performance.

Yancy Street Gang Feb 15 2007 09:43 AM

It's amazing that he lasted six years with the Mets, since he seemed dead on arrival in early 2001, when he was pitching so poorly. I remember him giving up four homers in a game (or was it an inning), maybe against San Diego. When he went down to Norfolk in 2001 I thought we'd never see him again. I'm also sorry to say that my last memory of him as a Met will probably also be one that lingers. Him coming off the mound after only one inning in the NLCS.

ABG Feb 15 2007 10:06 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I'm also sorry to say that my last memory of him as a Met will probably also be one that lingers. Him coming off the mound after only one inning in the NLCS. Yep, same here. Sad to say.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 10:12 AM

A few other things worth mentioning about Trachsel: He fielded his position well. He was a decent hitter. His irritating runner checks probably depressed SB attempts, and caught a few straying every year.

Farmer Ted Feb 15 2007 10:14 AM

The Human Rain Delay.

MFS62 Feb 15 2007 11:48 AM

The concessionaires at OPACY are going to love him. While sitting through those long games, the fans are going to get hungry. And the fans standing in line at Boog Powell's barbecue place behind the right field wall might even catch a few home run balls, too. Later

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 12:01 PM

Yeah, I agree that the delay stuff was as much rep as reality.

attgig Feb 15 2007 12:04 PM

ABG wrote: ="Yancy Street Gang"] I'm also sorry to say that my last memory of him as a Met will probably also be one that lingers. Him coming off the mound after only one inning in the NLCS. Yep, same here. Sad to say. agreed. like someone said. horrible when he first came. horrible when he left. all the in-between was a decent 4-5 pitchers with NO flashes of brilliance to make his time here more memorable. :-(

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 12:07 PM

I do believe he damn near no-hit the Angels. (Reyes also grand-slammed in that game iirc)

metirish Feb 15 2007 12:07 PM

Didn't he throw a one hitter once?

Gwreck Feb 15 2007 12:23 PM

Two one-hitters, both in 2003: First one, 6/15/03, vs. the Angels [url=http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B06150ANA2003.htm]Retrosheet Link[/url] Second one, 8/18/03, vs. the Rockies: [url=http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B08180NYN2003.htm]Retrosheet Link[/url] That second one might be his finest performance as a Met. 9 innings, 1 hit (in the 6th inning), 0 walks, 3 Ks. Only other baserunner reached on a Jason Phillips error.

Edgy DC Feb 15 2007 12:27 PM

What Trachsel luck. The only hit being by Chin-hui Tsao, who has had two career hiits. A double for Pete's sake.

Johnny Dickshot Feb 15 2007 01:33 PM

Bad play by Timo

iramets Feb 15 2007 01:39 PM

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Bad play by Timo or, as we say it more succinctly, "play by Timo."

metsguyinmichigan Feb 15 2007 08:20 PM

iramets wrote: ="Johnny Dickshot"]Bad play by Timo or, as we say it more succinctly, "play by Timo." Brilliant! Amazingly, he's in camp with the Tigers this year. Hope he likes Toledo.

Rotblatt Feb 16 2007 02:24 PM

Am I the first to bring up his solid effort in the pennant-clinching game last September? He pitched sharp and had a no-hitter going through 3+, I think, before giving up a double to Cabrera. He had his curve working early, along with a decent splitter, and IIRC, his fastball was topping out at around 91--a couple MPH more than he averaged last year. That was just a great game to be at, and Trachs was a huge part of it. You may have sucked in the post-season, Trachs, but I'll always remember how you helped us clinch.

G-Fafif Feb 16 2007 05:42 PM

Trachsel became that rare Met (for me at least) whose moments of bad outdefined his general years of good. The two playoff appearances were so dreadful that it's already obscured the clinching game. I wished no ill will on Kris Benson but anything that facilitated the expulsion of Steve Trachsel from the free agent market was cheered in this corner. I didn't think he was coming back but I didn't want to take any chances. On a more positive note, he did hit a home run last June. Not too many Mets pitchers swinging the big lumber in recent years.