Jason, Are You Worthy?

Jason Marquis takes the hill tonight at SBC/PacBell/AT&T/Candlestick/The House That Barry Juiced Park tonight and a question instantly pops in my groggy little mind: Is Jason Marquis worthy of being a #3 starter on a MLB playoff team? And, quickly, as I attempt to comb through the cobwebs, an answer swims to the surface: No.

Of course, we could just look Marquis' '08 stats vs. that of the #3 starters of the Cardinals (Looper), Brewers (Parra), Phillies (Moyer), Marlins (Olsen) and Diamondbacks (Davis). But that'd be too easy. OK, what the hell. I'll even throw in John Maine from the Mets.

	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K/BB	K/9	BB/9	GO/AO	IP	IP/GS	P/IP
Olsen	4-4	3.47	1.25	1.45	4.91	3.39	0.73	106.1	6.0	15.05
Maine	8-6	3.86	1.36	1.90	7.35	3.86	0.76	98.0	5.2	17.92
Parra	8-2	3.95	1.55	1.48	7.06	4.78	1.38	86.2	5.1	17.49
Moyer	7-6	4.13	1.40	2.14	5.56	2.60	1.34	100.1	5.2	16.29
Looper	9-5	4.26	1.40	1.69	3.99	2.36	1.37	99.1	5.2	16.45
Marquis	6-4	4.96	1.52	1.29	4.64	3.59	1.26	85.1	5.2	15.89

Parra's BB/9 is going to catch up with him eventually, but that won't change what he's put up before July 1st. Good thing Manny walks so many, because then Marquis would have the worst ERA and WHIP of the bunch. (Oooo, do I get a trophy for that? No, Jason, go away). And that high near 18 P/IP for Maine can't be good for the Mets bullpen. That's 90 pitches after five innings. Every Time. Of course having the stalwart arms of Johan and Pedro ahead of him could help jut a bit. Although Pedro is pretty tender lately. Alas, I digress...

Serious bummer that it ended up being in order of ERA, but that's how I see'em, in order.

1. Florida Marlins (Scott Olsen)
2. NY Mets (John Maine)
3. Milwaukee Brewers (Manny Parra)
4. Philadelphia Phillies (Jamie Moyer)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (Braden Looper)
6. Chicago Cubs (Jason Marquis)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that going into the 2nd half of the season with the this low a #3, as compared to the rest of your competition, is not a winning philosophy. You won't find the idea on p. 187 of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War".

So, Peter Gammons rumor of the Cubs looking for another arm may just be the understatement of the League so far. Well, that, and ol' "the Cardinals and Brewers ain't going away" thing.

With the impending sale hanging over the heads of the team, can the Cubs make any moves that will matter? Seems worrisome to me. OK, seems more like "Oh Shit". Especially when you think about Big Z on the DL, and the question of how good will he be when he comes back.

Oy. Let's just hope the Northsiders roll over the Giants again tonight and Marquis puts up and shuts me up.

Good luck with that. Road Warrior? Sheeesh! OK, just make it six with two ER or less, and maybe I'll be nicer next time. Hell, if he only gave up three in six, it'd be better than his season and career average. Great. Better score some runs tonight, boys.

Go Cubs!!

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