Brewers 15-11, -1.0 (2nd)
Cubs 16-10 (1st)
POTG: 2B Mike Fontenot (2 H, 2B, 3 RBI, BB)
Runner Up: 3B A Ram (3 BB, H), RF Fukudome (2 R, H), 2B-LB Mark DeRosa (2 H, 2 R), C Soto (2 H, 2B, R)
This was not a great day for Jason Marquis in any stretch of the imagination. 10 hits in 5 innings isn’t going to work. Still, the conditions were surprisingly unfavorable to pitches (on both teams) and 5 runs in 5 innings are within the oeuvre of Jason Marquis. You’re going to get a few those starts with him every year, and it couldn’t hurt to flip those into wins.
The actual goats of the night were Keith Hart, who did not show much, Sean Marshall, who walked the only guy he faced and Michael Wuertz, who seems to be quite messed up. Michael Wuertz lives and dies on his ability to get easy outs thru ground balls and strike outs Had he been able to pitch to form, the Cubs minimize the disaster of the 7th (nothing could be done about the James Van Der Beek appearance) and are very much still in a game where both teams are scoring a lot of runs. They still almost come back, thanks to the wonder that is Eric Gagne in 2008, but Wuertz’s inability to limit the damage put this game out of reach.
Dropping K rate = bad news. Something’s wrong here.
The Cubs are one game away from deciding who goes when Soriano returns. I’m sure Murton and Fontenot, the two mostly likely choices, were happy to make strong cases tonight. I think Matt’s gone back to Iowa again barring a trade, but at least he’s going out with two more hits than Eric Patterson.
The weather is better today. Hopefully Dempster will be as well.