To begin 1998, Dave Stevens was the hottest fire of the Cubs bullpen. He made his first appearance on June 21st and did not give up a run in his first seven appearances. Even when Jeff Cirillo knocked in a run against Stevens, it only raised his ERA to 1.12. And sure, the man would have some rough outings here or there, but going into August 7th, Stevens ERA was an even 2.00.
And then the Cardinals broke his magical spell. Now, to be fair, the Cardinals bats were at least slightly warm that day, if not downright hot. Steve Trachsel gave up nine runs while recording just one out (suck it, Ron Gant). Dave Stevens came in to clean up the mess, but he would go on to walk Brian Jordan before giving up a home run to Ray Lankford in the inning. He struggled through 3.2 innings, his longest outing of the year and would later give up a home run to Ron Gant (sorry about telling you to suck it, Mr. Gant). His ERA nearly doubled as it went up to 3.74 that day.
He did manage to keep his ERA around that very respectable number and on September 1st, he had his ERA at a very solid 3.60. But things fell apart for him down the stretch. He pitched in four games for a total of six innings, while giving up seven runs during that time. The most heartbreaking was when he came in to a tie game in the bottom of the 10th against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Jason Kendall launched a game winning walk-off home run. The Cubs stopped pitching Stevens by the middle of the month; his ERA still rose over a full run to 4.74 during the month.
For two months, Dave Stevens was a good reliever when the Cubs desperately needed one, and sure, it all fell apart after that, but he did have some good times. He was done in the majors shortly after his time with the Cubs following brief stints with the Cleveland Indians in 1999 and the Atlanta Braves in 2000. He did manage to play another year in the minor leagues before taking a break from baseball before trying to get back at it through indy ball in 2004, but just like in 1998, it was not in the Cards.
In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
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