Didn’t get to watch this one… just listened to 720 while enjoying this fantastic June weather.

The boys of Summer are making me a very happy man!

See, that’s just too much information on the Jumbotron.

The Stanley Cup is prominently exhibited, along with the metal bands of previous winners that have now been retired from the actual Cup. The one you see being held up by the winners is now on tour, and it’s not even the original, although that is also on display, in an old bank vault.

Anyone thinking the Cubs should make a play for AJ Burnett after yesterday?

1.. Marquis has been outstanding and I’m almost ready to expect it.

2. I like that jumbotron. It has the current game’s stats, and season stats. Most scoreboards only give you one or the other.

about the lineup when I saw it this morning, but Lou dialed up another gem. And Marquis has been a pleasant surprise these last two start, thank you sir may I have another? :-)

And they actually USE it! My views about Toronto baseball just went up a notch or two.

Before the game on WGN Radio, Lou Piniella said Marquis was having some success with a new split-finger pitch. I might do a fanpost on this later, but this is reminiscent of another Cub pitcher who suddenly got better in a playoff run: Kevin Tapani. The splitter can lead to injury. That’s why, even though several pitchers, many of whom learned the pitch under Roger Craig, had good seasons, it became known as a pitch that could end your career. Some players adopted it once their other arsenal lost its bite. Tapani, for example, stopped throwing it after a stint on the DL. But, once the Cubs were close to making the playoffs, he dusted it off and used it for a while.

So what? Well, Dempster is also throwing a splitter this year, something new for him. He’s past his prime years, trying for one last big contract, and he’s willing to take the chance that any arm damage won’t happen until next year. Marquis is in a similar position. He risks not staying in the starting rotation. The Cubs have a chance to win it all this year. Now is the time to play for the short-term. Thus, the split-finger pitch.

If I’m not mistaken, even Kerry Wood has been working on a split-finger pitch this year. Anyone recall?

partly because although we love to rag on him here, we know he’s actually capable of pitching really well in ballgames (he was the only Cub last year aside from Z to throw a CG). However, in watching the replay on mlb.tv, it seemed to me that he had lots of pitches hit hard, but that they were right at the Defense. I’m curious to see if anyone else felt like they saw this. It might be a product of the fact that I don’t watch many games on tv and opt for the radio, and am just not used to the “live action”

Marquis is going through his strong stretch of the season, its just coming about a month later this year then last year when he was strong in April and May. I think he’s good for 2 months every year but will lose it again. I think Howry is just getting his stuff up and he’ll find himself again. I think he’s moved down the ladder as far as Lou’s confidence goes without doubt for now.

Lets get a win tomorrow and win the series!

Someone made excellent use of one of the hotel rooms:

And here’s Marquis. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

I can’t think of another bullpen pitcher I would rather have…I just pray he doesn’t get overused. Kudos to Jim Hendry for picking up Reed Johnson. I try to follow the AL as much as I can and I knew upon hearing of the pickup of Reed for a meager 1.1 million (small in baseball terms) was a solid addition. Johnson also paid for his flight to meet up with the Cubs so he could get some more time in before they broke camp. Great win today against a solid pitcher…let’s bring it tomorrow and take the series.

so glad to see Jason have another great game.

timely hits today, great HR by Reed, DLee hit the ball well. Was not thrilled with this lineup, but they proved me wrong.

I’m still worried about Howry, but overall, the pen has been awesome.

I like the idea of Lou mixing it up, rotating the DH, at least for the first two games, just shows the importance of DeRosa and the many positions he can play.
Tommorows game could be a challenge, Litsch has thrown well for the most part and I don’t believe not to many Cubs have faced Litsch.
Hey but this team continues to play quite steady and with confidence.
Really do like the depth of this team, that is the one reason I believe the team won’t get into a long extended funk.
Go Cubs!!

Al, got to disagree with you on this one. Eckstein went to one knee, but the ball wasn’t even a full step to his left. It was a play that Eckstein would probably say he should have made.

Either way, a nice bounceback after Friday’s game.

aside from Marquis’ clutch performance, was the way the Cubs capitalized on the Blue Jays’ mistakes-which is one of the things that GOOD teams do.

Also, like a lot of us-I was pretty pessimistic about our chances of beating Halladay-but it also occured to me that good teams figure out ways to beat good pitchers.

While I don’t want to get too giggly about it too soon, today’s game was another statement by the Cubs that this team is for real.

to see Jason Marquis take a one-hitter into the 8th, while Derrek Lee was breaking out of his slump against Roy Halladay. This is one of the things that makes baseball so much fun. While all your expectations of what is likely to happen are going one way, the game goes just the opposite way. Reed Johnson rarely hits right-handers, but twice this year he’s had big HRs off of right-handers.

The 2008 Cubs keep finding ways to win.

Loved the Hockey HOF review.

Regarding Marquis, he’s a MLB pitcher. He’s not great, not even above average so he falls in to the huge category of MLB pitchers whose results vary quite a bit from year to year. He’s capable of gems, especially when he is not walking people and when he throwing GBs.

Marquis is not one of the Cubs’ problems, he’s very capable to fill the 5th starter role and even the 4th. As Lou pointed out in a Tribune article not too long ago the biggest problem with the rotation is Rich Hill

Is now and will continue to make BIG contributions for the Cubs this season…....a blue collar hard nosed player all Cub fans love….....

I always want our guys to do their best and Marquis really tested us for a few months. It has really been nice to see him pitch so well the last two games. I hope he continues to pitch this well in the future. Man I love this team.

i would pronounce it (see-yuk-ram).... ok, so not as cool as ONEDEC but hey same effect…. this guy is pitching like someone else right now! let’s roll on to the series win today! Go Cubs!!!

I was curious about something. Marquis pitched an amazing and efficient game today. I think he averaged something around 10-12 pitches per inning. Why is it that Marquis, unlike the rest of our starters, can’t seem to approach the 100 pitch mark? Even in his last great start before this one he threw only 85 pitches or so before tiring. Or do the hitter justs start picking up his pitches better after the second time through the order?

I want to reiterate that I am ecstatic to see Marquis pitching this well and hope that he can keep it up. I was just curious about his seeming inability to throw more pitches in a game.