Trachsel Rides Consistency to Majors : Baseball: Former Troy High and Long Beach State right-hander, 23, has been a pleasant surprise for Cubs.

LOS ANGELES —  Cub pitcher Steve Trachsel had read about the Billy Goat Tavern curse at Wrigley Field.

And he had heard the curses from the outfield bleachers, where everybody with a cup of Old Style and an unemployment check had an opinion on the Cubs’ club-record 12-game home losing streak through April and early May.

So carrying the burden of ending the streak, Trachsel stepped into the Wrigley bullpen May 4 only to have his warm-up rudely interrupted by . . . former Cub great Ernie Banks towing a goat?

Yes, the geniuses in the Cubs’ promotions department decided the best way to end a losing streak was to lift the hex put on the team in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner Sam Sianis.

Legend has it that Sianis brought a goat to a World Series game and put the hex on Wrigley Field when both were denied entrance.

So in a pregame ceremony, Banks led the goat around the field to lift the curse.

Along the way, Banks guided the goat and a parade of photographers and writers between Trachsel and his catcher. Trachsel was thinking chin music.

“In the back of my mind, I just wanted to grab the ball and drill whoever walked through there,” said Trachsel, a former Troy High and Long Beach State standout. “But what can you do? I just went out and pitched my game.”

And that was enough to pick up a 5-2 victory over Cincinnati to end the streak and send Banks and the goat packing. Trachsel pitched seven innings, struck out two and walked three, and afterward, he ripped one goat.

“I remember reading about the hex and all,” he said, “but I didn’t want it to detract from getting mentally prepared. I had heard the hex had been lifted three different times, anyway.

“The same thing happened to me at spring training with an elephant (scheduled to throw out the first pitch). Who needs that garbage?”

Nearly three weeks later, Trachsel sat in the visitors’ dugout at Dodger Stadium and laughed about the incident.

“I haven’t lied about my feelings on it,” he said. “I didn’t appreciate it. I don’t mind the goat being on the field, but when they brought it through the bullpen when I’m trying to pitch, it (ticked) me off.

“Sure, the fans and some of the players loved it. But I was there to prepare for the game, to do my job. There wouldn’t have been a problem if they had gone 15 feet around the mound and tried not to interrupt me.”

Cub pitching coach Moe Drabowsky said, “That’s about the most upset I’ve seen Steve all year.”

“But the thing that impressed me about him was how he refocused and still got the job done.”

Trachsel, a right-hander, has been a pleasant surprise in a roller-coaster Cub season that has included the 12-game home losing streak and a winning streak that ended at eight games Wednesday night at the hands of the Dodgers.

He entered Wednesday’s start against the Dodgers as the only Cubs’ starter above .500 at 4-3. He leads the team in strikeouts (52 in 62.2 innings) and his 4.31 earned-run average is nearly a run less than the staff average.

He ended a three-game Cub losing streak in his first start of the season, striking out eight in 7 1/3 innings of a 4-0 victory at Montreal. Afterward, Trachsel wanted to call his wife, Marilyn, to tell her about his first victory.

“But I didn’t even know our new number yet,” he said. “I had to call my parents out here and get it.”

Later, he pitched only the 11th complete game at Mile High stadium, giving up seven hits and striking out five in a 12-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

By early May, Chicago writers already were referring to Trachsel as a potential 20-game winner on a team that could lose 110 games.

And legendary Cub announcer Harry Caray was drawing comparisons between Trachsel’s rookie season and that of former Cub Greg Maddux, a Cy Young award winner.

“Composure-wise, he reminds me a lot of Maddux,” Caray said. “Greg was younger than Steve when he came to the Cubs, but he’s the same type of guy. Steve’s a little bigger and throws the ball a little harder. But he’s only a rookie and I think he can refine some of his pitching. All rookies need to.”

Trachsel calls the comparison “an incredible compliment.”

“I think we’re comparable control-wise, but poise-wise I’m still a rookie and I have a way to go,” he said. “But it’s going to be a long time until I’m ready to fill the empty shoes he left here.”

Trachsel struggled somewhat when the Cubs called him up briefly late last season. He allowed four hits in seven innings in his major league debut, a loss to the Florida Marlins. He finished 0-2 with a 4.58 earned-run average.

In the three major league games he pitched, half of the hits he gave up were for extra-bases and right-handed hitters averaged .303 against him.

Numbers like that usually buy you a bus ride back to Des Moines, but when new Cub manager Tom Trebelhorn took over, he penciled in Trachsel as the Cubs’ fourth starter for the upcoming season.

Why? Youth and consistency.

Trachsel is only 23, and was 31-13 in 2 1/2 years in the minor leagues. Last year, his first and only triple-A season, he finished 13-6 for the Iowa Cubs and was second in the American Assn. in strikeouts with 135.

“Coming into this year, my only goal was to make the team,” Trachsel said. “I didn’t want to go back to the minors, and I did everything I could to let them know I was working hard. I came into mini-camp and worked hard in spring training.”

After throwing five no-hit innings in spring training against Oakland, he solidified his spot on the staff.

“Trachsel was our most impressive pitcher this spring,” Trebelhorn said. “This is a young guy we were counting on to be our fourth starter, and he has exceeded our expectations.”

Drabowsky rates Trachsel above average on three pitches--the fastball, curve and split-finger fastball.

“He has pretty good command of all three,” Drabowsky said, “and when you can throw the fastball across the plate when you’re behind on the count, like he can, you have a very good chance to be successful.

“He’ll get better as he gets a little more accustomed to the hitters and comfortable with pitching technique and style. He needs to work on situational pitching and learning the strengths and weaknesses of the hitters.”

Trachsel agreed that it has been a tough period of adjustment. But a plane ride to Los Angeles beats a bus ride to Omaha, and he knows the only way to stay in the majors is to win.

“In the minors, you can go out and pitch well, lose, 3-0, and everybody’s happy,” he said. “But here, you lose, 3-2, and it doesn’t cut it. You have to win here. That’s the bottom line.”