Stras reminds me of Camilo Pasqual in 1958, hard thrower with great stuff and posted an ERA of 3.15 but finished 8-12. On June 5 he pitched 13 innings against KC but lost 2-0 in a complete game for the effort when Woodie Held hit a 2 run homer in the 14th. He even hit a triple, going 1 for 5. All 3,652 fans in attendance got free baseball and the game lasted 3:10 which was shorter than the ESPN game Sunday night.
Ah, and then Calvin Griffith agreed to pay Pasqual and Pedro Ramos enough that they no longer had to pitch in the Cuban League. In 1959, Camilo was: 17 - 10, 2.65 ERA, 17 or 18 complete games, six shutouts, lots of K's, and led the team in hitting with a .300 average. The astonishing season when Killebrew, Allison, Lemon, and Sievers were "the Modern Murderer's Row" (see the photo on the Nats Park concourse), and the team set a record with 19 consecutive losses in late July and early August. The team had been a couple games under .500 before that streak. Oh the pain for all of us 10-year-olds.
