Everyone is piling on Jason Marquis and is thrilled that he is no longer in Chicago. As you know, I’ve been hoping that Sean Marshall would win Marquis’ job for the past two seasons. But instead of adding to the pile let’s instead flash back to Sunday, September 16, 2007. You remember 2007. Lou Piniella’s first year. Jason Marquis’ first year. The Cubs fell way behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the standings, then came roaring back to take a late season lead in the NL Central. On September 16th, they were clinging to a one-game lead over the Brewers, a lead which most Cubs fans expected to be gone at the end of the day as Marquis took the mound in Busch Lite against the St. Louis Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Brewers were hosting the hapless Cincinnati Reds up in Milwaukee.
Instead, Marquis was as brilliant as you can logically expect Marquis to be. He allowed only five hits, two walks, and one earned run in 6 1/3 innings of work. On the strength of a three-run homer by (holy shit) Matt Murton, the Cubs beat the Cardinals 4-2 to preserve their one-game lead over the Brewers.
Marquis then proceeded to suck ass during his next two starts in 2007, so let’s look at two more sort-of fond Marquis moments. On May 19, 2007, the hated White Sox were visiting Wrigley Field. As usual, Marquis was giving up just enough runs to barely keep the Cubs in the game against Javier Vazquez. With the game tied 3-3 and one out in the fifth, Marquis launched a two-run home run into the stands, giving the Cubs a 5-3 lead. Let’s forget about the fact that Marquis promptly surrendered the lead on a two-run Joe Crede home run in the top of the sixth inning, and focus instead on the fact that the Cubs beat the Sox 11-6. It would have only been 9-6 if Marquis hadn’t homered. Of course, it might have been 9-1 if he hadn’t started.
Finally, let’s fondly remember September 22, 2008. The Cubs were playing their last series in Shea Stadium, much to the delight of Ron Santo. With Marquis on the mound, the Cubs were trailing 2-1 going into the fourth inning. In the top of the fourth, Mets starter Jonathon Niese gave up four straight hits to score a run and load up the bases for Marquis. On the first pitch Marquis saw, he launched a grand slam, giving the Cubs a 6-2 lead that they would not relinquish in beating the Mets 9-5.
And if those three sort of glorious memories in two seasons aren’t enough for us to give Marquis a halfhearted “thanks for being the fifth starter,” at least the Cubs made the playoffs both seasons they had Marquis. That’s something. Right?
Take care, Jason. You were a much better fifth starter than Shawn Estes, and I hated you a lot less.
I was at the may 19th game. i believe michael barrett, joe crede, paul konerko, and AJ eyechart also homered that game, as well as DLee’s awesome grand slam. i also remember the annoying white sox fan who kept yelling out that banal hawk home run call after every sox home run, but then flipped me off and left when i went “youu can stick it up your asss!” after the DLee grand slam
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Marquis was #1 at being #5.
@Mark – Estes was #1 at pitching like #2.
Good post. How many teams can say that their #5 starter made around 30 starts and stayed above .500 for that time?
I hate Marquis, but nearly as much as I’ve hated some other Cubs.
If the Cubs could have paid him like 2 million a year, I wouldn’t have hated him nearly as much. Mark is dead-on with his assessment. He got the job done(mostly) and basically that’s all you are asking out of a #5.
Don’t know why anyone likes Marshall as a consistant anything. A poor mans Rich Hill at best and probably not a lefty situational guy either. A bottom guy on this staff at best. They really need a lefty that gets out leftys. Have they had one since Assenmacher? It is NOT Cotts.
@Mike – That’s weird, because I generally like my lefties (particularly ones that should be starters) to be able to get out lefties AND righties pretty consistently, which is what Marshall has done. And Marshall would be the “bottom guy on the staff,” which is exactly what the Cubs need. I’ll wager that if Marshall starts the entire year, he puts together a better season than Marquis did in 2008.
I agree,
The only reason that Marquis has held off Marshall as long as he did, was the big $$$ contract.
If both guys were on club controlled deals. Marshall would have been #4 in 2007 and #5 in 2008.
Pretty sad when you think that Jason Marquis had more home runs last year then Joey Gathright. We actually are losing some hitting power this season in this move.
If you say my name 7 times while watching a Cubs game, I appear in the bullpen and blow the game.
I was sorry to see the Cardinals leave him off their playoff roster in 2005 and 2006. I was happy to see him off our playoff roster in 2007 and 2008. Maybe we could have played him in right and seen some additional offense in Game 1. Now we’ll never know.
well put Kermit. Marquis was needed after the 2006 Cub’s pitching staff fiasco that had like 16 different starters. Marquis was in a great negotiating position. Give Hendry a lot of credit for only paying $875,000 of his salary. Marquis served his purpose in Chicago. The Cubs starters are just getting better & better.@Bad Kermit -
@Paul Assenmacher –
If I say your name 7 times in any situation, then I’m probably drunk…
And giggling.
@Adam B – You giggle?
Marshall is actually kind of a badass.
It’s going to be okay as long as Ted Lilly can look a little more confused then usual to pick up the slack with Marquis being gone. I will miss his impressions of Patrick Star.
The Cubs couldn’t trade Marquis until this year because without him they had nobody to run for the Fat Kangaroo.
Solid effort, BK. Marquis is nobody’s idea of a good time, but let’s face it, he’s a damn sight more steady than 95 percent of the Cubs’ fifth starters over the years. He ate innings, went .500, and put a few runs on the board FOR the Cubs his own self (I’m a sucker for pitchers who aren’t complete wussbags at the plate…) Moreover, he seemed to balance his crap-the-bed games with ones where he pitched over his head. Expecting much more out of a #5 is somewhat unreasonable.
My appreciative memory of Marquis is Sept. 1, 2007. Cubs facing the Astros at home in a game they absolutely had to have (it had been a rough week, and Milwaukee seemed to have regained their balance). Marquis scattered three runs over seven innings, giving up seven or eight hits. Classic “bend but don’t break” performance that would make Lovie proud. I gave him a standing O as he headed off the mound, to some perplexed looks around me, since the Cubs still trailed 3-2.
Screw them. He pitched to his ceiling on a day we needed him to, and he kept the Cubs in the game on a day the offense struggled. The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, and A-Ram went yard in the eighth to provide the eventual winning margin (since Mr. Joy Buzzer gave up the inevitable 480-foot moon-shot to Carlos Lee in the top of the ninth. Thankfully solo.) That was a huge and rather unheralded win down the stretch toward the division title.
I always rolled my eyes when he was the starter, because you never knew what you were going to get out of him. But I never hated the guy, because he did bring it occasionally, had some pop in his bat, and he pretty clearly busted his ass every time out. Lower his price tag a little, and I probably would have thought the guy was a relative bargain.