The Marquis de Shutout
(Yeah I got a million of those for the rest of the year for Marquis)
If you're a fan of the pitching duel, last night's game may well have been the highlight of the season. If Chicago-native Tom Gorzelanny could have a mulligan after the leadoff home run to Soriano, we could have been looking at another 15 inning affair. The good news this time would have been that our bullpen would have been plenty rested as Marquis cruised through 9 innings and 30 batters including the first five innings of perfection. All this on a 109 pitches, 72 of which were strikes, in other words about 5 innings for Zambrano.
Marquis earned himself a game score of 86, which will put him tied for the top spot in the NL along with Jake Peavy and Cole Hamels. He is now 6th in the NL in ERA, to go along with Rich Hill's four spot and Ted Lilly at the 12 spot. Who would thunk that our starting pitching would be our biggest strength?
Not much to criticize on a day when your starter gives your bullpen a day-off after a 15-inning affair but a few quick notes.
- By sending Cedeno down and keeping Pie up with the team, Lou was basically forced to either start Jacque or Pie in centerfield against the lefty. He could have got creative and moved Soriano back to CF, Murton in LF and Derosa in RF with Izturis and Theriot in the infield but starting all your middle infielders is one of the reasons the Cubs got in trouble on Sunday. I would have probably gone with Pie because if they're both going to be liabilities with the bat, might as well go with the better glove. Lou didn't see it that way and gave Jones the start but at least had the decency to bat him eight. Jones responded appropriately by stranding nine runners in the game. Sadly it was completely predictable.
- I'm also not sure why after the eight, Piniella brought in Pie to play CF for Jones but left Murton in RF.
Rubber game of the series today and the Cubs can win their fourth straight series. Let's go Z!
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