Game Thirty-Nine - Cubs 3 Padres 4
WP - Shawn Estes (1-0) LP - Jason Marquis (1-3) Save - Trevor Hoffman (7)
Lou Piniella's crew lost a game they should have won on a rainy night at the old ballpark. Shawn Estes shutdown the Cubs offense and picked up his 100th career win. Alfonso Soriano led off the bottom of the 1st with his 5th home run of the season, and second in as many days. The Cubs tacked on a pair in the 2nd off a Reed Johnson double but Jason Marquis once again struggled with his command and lost his third game of the season.
Jason Marquis gave up all 4 of the Padres runs in the 4th inning. The big hit was a 3-run homer by Kahlil Greene. Marquis gave up a 2-out single to Shawn Estes and after a wild pitch put the go ahead run in scoring position, Estes scored the winning run on a double to right center by another former Cub, Jody Gerut.
Lou Piniella said after the game when asked about Marquis' performance, "One bad inning. I have no idea, they are all about the same. One bad inning. Five good innings and one bad inning and it cost him a ballgame."
Michael Wuertz retired 9 of the 10 batters he faced in 3 solid innings of work but the Cubs offense could not mount their 5th consecutive comeback of the homestand....and ended their 4-game winning streak.
Jason Marquis was very sharp early on. He was keeping the ball down with very good movement and location but that all changed in the 4th inning. Marquis' sinker flattened out and he started leaving everything up.
Adrian Gonzalez led off the 4th with a ringing single to right on a 1-2 pitch. Scott Hairston followed with a single to left. Marquis then served one up on a tee to Kahlil Greene. Greene came in hitless in his career against Marquis. Greene singled in the 2nd inning and then tied the game with one swing of the bat....a no doubter to left.
Marquis retired Edgar Gonzalez on a fly out to right center and Luke Carlin on a ground out to short. Marquis got ahead in the count to Shawn Estes, 1-2, before giving up a 2-out single to the opposing pitcher. Estes then advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch and scored on a double to left center by Jody Gerut.
Marquis retired the Padres in order in the 5th and left after putting 2 on with 2 outs in the 6th....and Scott Eyre retired the only batter he faced with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning.
Marquis allowed 4 runs on 9 hits in 5 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. a walk and a costly wild pitch.
After Alfonso Soriano gave the Cubs the 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, Geovany Soto reached on an error by Edgar Gonzalez with 1 out in the 2nd. Mark DeRosa followed with a single. With runners on 1st and 2nd and only 1 out, Reed Johnson doubled to right center. Soto scored easily, DeRosa followed closely behind and scored on a very good slide at the plate.
With the Cubs down by a run in the 5th, Jason Marquis and Alfonso Soriano started the inning with back-to-back singles. Ryan Theriot attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt but instead bunted the ball too close to the mound. Estes threw out Marquis at 3rd for the first out of the inning....Piniella called it the turning point of the ballgame. Derrek Lee flied out to left and Aramis Ramirez flied out to right to end the inning.
The Padres bullpen shut down the Cubs and Trevor Hoffman recorded the 531st save of his career.
Tuesday night was one of those games teams lose during the course of a season....but with Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux scheduled to start the final two games of the series, a win against Shawn Estes was needed. It was the first win for Estes since September 5, 2005.
Ted Lilly will face Jake Peavy in the third game of the series on Wednesday night.
god we should have won this game marquis needs to be kicked out of the rotation....kerry wood back to a starter and marmol as the closer
Guys...Marquis is a 5th starter.
We only gave up 4 runs.
the offense let us down tonight...you can't always get a 1 or 2 run gem by the pitching staff.
I am not defending Marquis in the sense that I also believe we can do better...I just think all the bile is a little misguided.
Dump/trade Marquis and put Marshall and Gallagher in the rotation, and see how they do.
I think we still need a trade for a top of the line starter, even if it is only a 1-yr rental for a long playoff run.
Seriously...you have Lee, Ramirez, and Soriano in their prime, with a solid supporting cast in Soto and Fukudome. Barring injuries, this should be our best offense in years.
Great pitching usually beats great hitting, though...so we need the starters kicking ass on the way into the playoffs. I think Lilly is a #3 starter at best.
Who knows...maybe Gallagher can be this year's version of the 2003 Prior (minus the Bartman game, of course)!
Jim,
I also love the idea of Kerry Wood back in the rotation. It is too much common sense though, so it won't happen while Hendry is around. He wants to be proved right about Wood as a closer.
But Wood would certainly be a solid #2, wouldn't he!
Z, Wood, Lilly, Demp, and Gally/Marshall
Jason likey...
Wood needs to stay as closer! Marquis wasn't that bad....well yeah he was but Wood should stay as a closer. Can somebody please tell me why Jason is such a head case?!!? I mean to me the loss can be pin pointed to two things. Estes' single off Marquis, followed by the wild pitch, followed by Gerut's hit...WTF???? Get your act together! The 3 run bomb I can see...but that bs....well.....it's BS!!!!
The other is Theriot not getting a good bunt down! Come on dude! I stick up for your ass on this site and that's the bunt you lay down????? Man if you execute that bunt Marquis scores on that gay fly Lee hits after working the count to 3-1, instead you all look like chumps!
Now here comes Peavy....this team is frustrating! Oh and by the way if somebody would tell me that Estes would be on the mound and Lee, Ramirez, and Fukudome would go 0-12 with a double play i'd tell them to go get f'd.....unfortunately thats what happened!
Wow! That game SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cory, you wrote my comment for me. Not only did Marquis give up 9 hits in less than 6 innings to the worst offensive team in baseball (by a lot), but he gave up a pivotal hit to a pitcher who has had only 5 or 6 MLB at bats in the last 2 years! Hoping Gallagher will keep a spot in the rotation, the Cubs still have Hart, Marshall, and eventually Hill, waiting in the wings. There is no need to tolerate Marquis' performances.
Man, I was really hoping for a sweep of the Padres to counter the games they could lose to the red hot Pirates and Astros.
Bring Hill back up soon and put him in Marquis' slot!!!
Kerry's doing fine as closer, give him a chance to grow in that position!!!
IMO release Marquis when we sign Edmonds, send Pie to AAA & bring up Hoffpaiur immediately.
I know I'm dreaming.
If Kerry Wood goes back in the rotation that means Marmol will be the closer. I do not have a problem with that, the problem is who is going to pitch the seventh and eight inning with Howry struggling.
I agree with some points in the earlier posts.
The first being that Kerry Wood should not start. As much as I think he could make a very good starter, his injury history stemmed from pitching a whole lot of innings. Keeping his amount of innings down to 75-85 should keep him from needing more surgery/rehab.
The second point I agree with is that we need a number 2 starter, and I think that all we need to do is look toward the opposing dugout to find him. Despite the fact that he and Derrek Lee went fisticuffs last year, I think that with the Pad Squad being as bad as they are this year, trading Chris Young would be beneficial to them. He isn't a clear cut number 1 by any means but he is consistent and absolutely dominant at times.
My two cents.
That game did suck last night and is one we should have won, but it is just one lose after four straight, so. I see Marquis getting one more start then, audios senoir. He didn't have a horrible game by any means, but with two outs and the pitcher is up, that is an out that needs to be made, no questions asked (unless the pitcher is Zambrano or Oweings).
Hopefully in a week or two our rotation will look like this
Zambrano
Lilly
Dempster
Hill
Gallagher
If Hill can't get back on track, I would love to see Hart get a shot.
Well, mayme the Cubs should turn Rich Hill into a relever and we keep both Hart and Galagher in the rotation and release Marquis or trade him for cheap.