POTG: LF Reed Johnson (HR, 3RBI)
Runner Up: SP Jason Marquis (7 IP, 4 H, R, 2 BB, 1 K), 1B D Lee (3 H, 2R, 3B, BB), CF Jim Edmonds (2 H, RBI)
There are things you expect to happen in life. Jason Marquis out dueling Roy Halladay is not one of them. To be fair, Halladay got killed by his defense and most of the runs were unearned. Still, he’s the guy who threw the pitch to Reed that Reed hit out of the park, giving the Cubs a big 4-0 lead early on. Those runs may count as unearned, but Hallady had it in his hand to get out of it and go beat by his ex-teammate.
Meanwhile, Marquis just cruised thru short inning after short inning
1: 3 batters
2: 4
3: 3
4: 4
5: 4
6: 3
7: 3
It was the 8th where he finally got in trouble, but Marmol bailed him out as best as could be expected, and the game was over after that inning. Marquis just didn’t give up baseruners (6 in 7), and got enough ground balls to erase a couple of them. Starts like this are what average his numbers out to get large contracts – you just wish they were a bit more frequent.
If you’re going to face you ex-team, you probably want to face it like Reed did here.