One Thing To Play For

Did you notice how much Jason Simontacchi sucks? He has the highest ERA of anyone over 50 IP (6.37)

Yet he leads the team in wins with 6.

There's a pretty good chance that he'll get into double digits in wins.

Wanna guess how many pitchers have won 10+ games with an ERA as high as Simontacchi?

Since 2000, it's just two: Ryan Drese in 2002 and Colby Lewis in 2003. If those names sound familiar, it's because they are. Drese had 13 starts for the Nats over '05-'06. And Lewis was in spring training with the Nats, before being released and catching on with the A's.

Worse, Simontacchi would be the first NL pitcher to pull off the feat since Harry Staley won 12 with a 6.81 ERA in EIGHTEEN NINETY FOUR!!!

Colby Lewis, incidentally, had one of the worst starting pitching outingsin baseball history (By game score, that's the 25th worst since 1957). He gave up 10 earned runs in just 3+ innings against the White Sox in May.

To bring it full circle, Jason Simontacchi also gave up 10 earned in a game this year (the single worst game I've ever been to). By game score, that game, sadly, is only the 71st worst outing by a starter in baseball history.

So there's a lot to play for for Jason Simontacchi. Can he be the next Harry Staley?

We can only hope. We can only hope.