A Marquis Performance

By Neil on June 8, 2008 12 Vote 0 Votes

Game Sixty-Four - Cubs 3 Dodgers 1
WP - Jason Marquis (4-3) LP - Brad Penny (5-8) Save - Kerry Wood (18)

The Chicago Cubs are once again tops in the majors with a 40-24 record following the best outing of the season by Jason Marquis. Marquis turned in a gem and allowed only 1 unearned run on 3 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The big difference in Marquis' performance was he threw strikes early in the count with very good command. Marquis walked only 1 batter, the last one he faced, before turning the game over to Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood.

Carlos Marmol replaced Marquis with two on and 1 out in the 7th with the Cubs up 3-1. Marmol struck out Matt Kemp and Derrek Lee turned in a Gold Glove caliber play to save at least 1 run and end the inning. Lee made a diving stop on a ball hit in the hole by Blake DeWitt and threw a strike to Marmol from his knees for the third out. Marmol worked in and out of trouble in the 8th and retired Jeff Kent on a grounder to 3rd after a 2-out double by Juan Pierre and a 4-pitch walk to Andre Ethier.

Kerry Wood retired the Dodgers in order in the 9th with 2 strikeouts for his 18th save.

Mark DeRosa (3-for-5 with a home run, 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored) was responsible for all 3 of the Cubs' runs against Brad Penny. DeRosa hit his 8th home run of the season with 1-out in the 1st inning and drove in Alfonso Soriano with a single to right in the 5th. DeRosa stole a base and scored the Cubs third run on a double by Aramis Ramirez.

Lou Piniella's crew finished the always-difficult West Coast swing with a 4-3 record, their first winning trip since April 7th - April 13th. With the win the Cubs remain the only team in baseball that has not lost at least three games in a row....

The Cubs offense struggled to plate runs for the third straight game but their patience at the plate returned. They made Brad Penny work and forced him to make pitches. Mark DeRosa's home run came on a 3-1 pitch, DeRosa's RBI single came on a 1-0 pitch, Derrek Lee's groundout came on a 2-0 pitch and the double from Aramis Ramirez came off a 2-1 pitch. The Dodgers' four pitchers threw 164 pitches in 9 innings (110 from Brad Penny) while Lou Piniella's staff tossed 136 (89 from Jason Marquis).

Jason Marquis picked a good time to turn in his best outing of the year. His team needed a win and he more than delivered. Marquis was sharp on the mound. He displayed very good command and hit Soto's glove more times than he missed.

The only run the Dodgers' scored came in the 1st inning. Juan Pierre singled to center, stole 2nd with Jeff Kent at the plate and advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by Geovany Soto. Kent worked the count to 3-2 before grounding out to short to tie the game at 1. Marquis retired Russell Martin to end the inning.

Marquis did not allow another baserunner until a lead off single by James Loney in the 5th inning. Marquis retired the Dodgers in order in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings....12 in a row after the Pierre single. Marquis sat down the Dodgers in order after Loney's base hit and retired the Dodgers' in order once again in the 6th....

Marquis retired Jeff Kent to start the 7th before allowing the third hit of the game to Russell Martin....Marquis sat down 19 of the last 23 batters he faced. Sunday night was without a doubt the second best outing for Marquis as a Cub (the complete game shutout last season in Pittsburgh).

After Martin's single, Lou Piniella made the slow walk and it appeared Marquis' night was over. Piniella left Marquis in to face James Loney and he walked him on 4 pitches to put the tying run at 1st. Piniella made the walk again and brought in Carlos Marmol to face Matt Kemp.

Kemp struck out swinging for the second out (Geovany Soto thought the inning was over) but Blake DeWitt worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a sharp grounder into the hole between 1st and 2nd. Derrek Lee made a game-changing stop and threw out DeWitt from his knees to end the inning. Carlos Marmol pumped his fist....and the camera showed Carlos Zambrano doing the same.

Kerry Wood was dominant in the 9th inning. He hit 98 MPH on the gun and struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced....both swinging.

The top of the 5th inning was incredibly fun to watch. The Cubs manufactured 2 runs on 3 hits. Alfonso Soriano started the inning with a double to left off the first offering from Brad Penny. Mark DeRosa followed with a single to right that plated Soriano with the go ahead run. With Derrek Lee at the plate, Penny threw ball one in the dirt that short-hopped Russell Martin. Martin kept the ball in front of him but DeRosa took off for 2nd on a very aggressive play....DeRosa also had a very good secondary lead. Martin's throw was just a little late and DeRosa put himself into scoring position.

Derrek Lee followed with a ground out to Jeff Kent and DeRosa advanced to 3rd....a productive out. With DeRosa at 3rd and 1 out, Aramis Ramirez delivered with a double down the 3rd base line. DeRosa scored, 3-1 Cubs.

Sunday night was a good victory for a team that needed a winning road trip.

The Cubs get a well-deserved day off in Chicago on Monday after finishing a 17-game stretch with a 12-5 record. The Braves open a 3-game series at Wrigley on Tuesday. Ted Lilly is scheduled to face Tom Glavine.

agustin rexach

I really enjoyed the recap and the very insightfull posts. Very good stuff being said here!

*If we accept that Marquis is a #5 I'm fine with it especially with his last performance, but he will not make any kind of playoff roster...Marquis has nothing to do with the fact that we need a #2guy. And we will in the playoffs.

*Zambrano's biggest assets do not show on paper; so its kind of unfair for both, he and Marquis to be mentioned in the same sentence. Come crunch time and Zambrano a solid #1.

**Wolf is no where near the guy we need.

**David I don't think Billy Wagner is intimidating anymore.

**Ryan he did not mention Pujols!unbelievable? and yes they gave the Cubs some love[little]...Peter Gammonds has allways been a Cub fan.

Have a good night guys...

Gramps

JimK,

Yes, they have those guys, but they have Dusty!!!!!

JimK

David and Jim...Let's compromise and add Wolfe if we don't have the ability to get someone better. Wolfe and Gallagher matches well with others' lower order combos.

Show...Several of us agree with you that the Cubs are likely to lose a critical short series in September or October if we don't another shut-down starter.

Not much talk about Edmonds lately. Maybe we're all holding our breath. What a plus it would be if he could hit .280 and drive in 50 runs the rest of the way.

Ryan...My take is that the Reds will go 46-35 in the second half. There's a whole lot of young talent in Phillips, Votto, Bruce, Keppinger, Volquez, Cueto and Bailey. Add in guys like Griffey, Dunn, Harang, Cordero and Arroyo, and the Reds can do some damage. Maybe you are looking at poor defense and Dusty's issues, but the Reds have talent.

Jim

I would much rather have Gallagher then Randy Wolfe. Dude the grass is always greener.

daverj

I like Kerry as much as the next guy (even have his signed jeresey hanging in my office) and think he's been great this year, but he has a long way to go before he becomes as "intimidating" as Billy Wagner.

What would it take to pick-up Wolf and Maddux from SD? ... from what I've read the Maddux thing isn't going to happen so I suppose I'm dreaming, but it would be pretty cool to see him come back to Chicago. Wolf/Maddux would be a better 4/5 combination than Marquis/Gallagher.

Theboardrider

One word to describe Kerry Wood...dominant!

He has turned into the most intimidating closer in the National league.

I really feel that he could give Gagne's scoreless inning streak a run if he continues to have good control to the 9th inning leadoff man.

Ryan R

Things that made yesterday a good day for the faithful:

1. The Cubs Won

2. Marquis pitched like a 7 million dollar pitcher although Lou seemed to still have a short leash in the 7th given his pitch count.

3. Unless I missed it, I actually got to watch the entire ESPN broadcast without Joe Morgan reffering once to Albert Pujhols. That has to be some kind of record.

4. Morgan actually gave the Cubs some love, not much, but some. Again a new league record. (Is it obvious yet I can't stand Joe Morgan?)

5. Dusty had a clip on the radio here in Cincy this morning about he thinks he has the talent to make a run in the second half and make the Wild Card. That just made me laugh.

Show

Joe: Recognizing the need for an upgrade isn't looking negatively, it's being realistic. Marquis has proven to be a horrifying second half pitcher in his career and he didn't even start off this year with his usual fast start. Team that with the fact that we were counting on much more from Rich Hill and you have to realize we need another front line starter for the long haul. I'm not negative. I love the team and completely agree with what you said about the road record. I was thinking the same thing all week. The Cubs aren't a "bad" road team, relatively speaking.

But when you are hoping for a championship and not just a playoff appearance, you have to admit things like "Marquis isn't the answer in the rotation and we'd be much better suited with an AJ Burnett in that spot."

Jim (Tinley Park)

Nice game by Marquis, real nice.

Joe S (San Diego)

I think with all of the success the team has had early on, some things have gotten distorted in how they are viewed.....

1) Cubs are awful on the road. Well, true they are not very good on the road. But, has anyone looked at all of the road records? There are only TWO National League teams with winning road records...and one of those just occurred this weekend. Philly holds the best spot thanks to their sweep of a very good home team Atlanta Braves. But their record is only 18-13. The only other winning record is the Cardinals at 17-14. The rest of the teams are under .500 beginning with Houston at 16-21, and the Giants at 15-16. The Marlins are 14-15 and our Cubs are 14-16. So we are only just a few games back from what the league is doing. The Braves are a prime example of playing poorly on the road with an anemic 7-21 record. Now THAT is playing awful. Hope it continues in Chicago.

It's the same trend in the American League with only ONE team over .500 and ONE at .500. The Angels play very well on the road and are 21-12. Good thing they play so well on the road because they are not very dominating at home. (18-13). The crosstown White Sox are at .500 with a 17-17 record. Everyone else is under .500 including the Red Sox who are tied with the Cubbies for the most wins overall. In fact the Red Sox are 14-20 on the road as compared to 26-6 at home. Sound familiar??

So all in all I think we need to back off the panic that the Cubs cannot win on the road. Seems to be the trend of baseball.

Next is how awful Jason marquis is. I'll admit I'm not his number one fan, but ESPN had an interesting stat tonight. Jason is 3-0 in his last 5 starts and has allowed 3 runs or fewer in each of them. he hasn't been perfect by any means...like to squeeze one more inning out of him...but then again if we consider him the number 4 or 5 guy, many times they only go 5 or 6 innings...which is what he is doing. He has had three games where he walked 5 guys. That has to change. But he also only lost one of those games.

In 2 June games he is 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA. As mentioned he is 3-0 in his last 5 starts. He hasnt allowed a homerun in his last 3 games. He hasnt allowed more than one homerun in any game that he did give one up.

In his 12 starts this year he has given up 3 or fewer runs in 8 of those 12. Thats not too bad. In those other 4 he gave up 4 runs twice and 5 runs twice.

His record is 4-3 with 5 No Decisions. In those 5 no decisions the Cubs are 3-2 and should be 4-1. One of the losses was a blown save in Pittsburgh by Kerry in the 9th. And the one game that the Cubs lost, Jason pitched 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs! So the Cubs are 7-5 in games pitched by Jason, and should be 8-4 counting that game the save was blown. Thats not bad. Your tail end rotation guys are not generally going to eat up innings, their job is to keep you in ballgames and give the team a chance to win. Thats what is happening.

He basically had three bad starts and they all came in a row when he lost to Milwukee, St Louis and San Diego in a row giving up 5 runs to both Milwaukee and St. Louis and 4 to San Diego. Take those starts away and he has only given up more than 3 runs once this year and that was his first start and a game that the Cubs won. All pitchers will have a few stinkers, Carlos just had a clunker in LA andit wasnt his first. And he's the ACE.

In fact here's a comparison between Carlos and Jason....Carlos is 8-2 with 4 No Decisions. In those 4 no decisions the Cubs are 1-3. (Like Jason's record, this also includes one blown save by Kerry) So when the ace Zambrano picthes the Cubs are 9-5. Call it 10-4 if you account for the blown save. As mentioned if you account for the blown save for Jason the team is 8-4 in his games.

So either way, the Cubs have the same amount of losses when Carlos or Jason picthes....and only two more wins for Carlos...which is because he has pitched two more games.

Jason has had 4 games that he allowed 4 or more runs. Carlos has allowed 4 or more 3 times. Just one fewer. Also, Carlos allowed 7 runs in LA. Jason's high is 5.

What this shows is that Marquis may not put up the flashy numbers like Carlos, but he is not the staff ace either. He sure is holding his own for a number 4-5 man in the rotation.

I think Cub fans need to enjoy what we have going and not look at everything so negatively. Let's embrace the team and support every one of them as we look for out first championship team in 100 years!!

Matt Haggard

Thats my boy, Jason!!

Told you guys to keep faith and sip the cool-aid!!!

Yes!!The coming off day is really needed as the team did well for the dreaded West-Coast trip.

Hey, when is the next CCO Podcast gonna be out? My PSP needs some Cubbie goodness!

Show

While I'm still very anti-Marquis for the long haul, that was a very well pitched and much needed start from him.

Successful road trip. Coming into it we'd all have taken 4-3.

In case no one saw, the three names Peter Gammons brought up for possible SP acquisitions were AJ Burnett, Randy Wolf, and Gil Meche. I'd take any of the three over Marquis in a heartbeat.