Those flags will fly above the Wrigley Field scoreboard for the rest of the Cubs' road trip; after the team returns, the flags will be autographed by the entire team and be auctioned off at cubs.com.

That's the good news from today. The bad news, of course, is that SBN was down all day -- once again, we apologize for the extended outage and we appreciate your patience. Or maybe that was good news, because I can only imagine the angst that would have been seen here in the game thread during the disastrous bottom of the 8th in the Cubs' 4-2 loss to the Rockies, snapping their winning streak at six.

There was still some good that came out of today's game -- Jason Marquis threw seven solid innings, allowing just two runs and striking out four. Even though the Cubs lost, the seven-inning outing was very important, because with the extra-inning games of late, the bullpen has been in danger of burnout. Only one reliever -- Kevin Hart -- was used today. Hart deserved a better fate than his first loss of the season. After allowing a leadoff double to Matt Holliday, Hart got Garrett Atkins to ground out. Holliday took third, and Brad Hawpe was intentionally walked. So far so good, right? Hart then got the slumping Troy Tulowitzki to hit a DP ball to Ronny Cedeno -- but his flip to Ryan Theriot was bobbled, Holliday scored, and the Rockies put it away with another run after the second out was finally recorded.

It wasn't because Cub fans didn't fill Coors Field for another day -- I was amazed at the number of blue shirts I could see in the stands. I doubt the Rockies would have drawn 32,791 on a Thursday afternoon in April if not for Cubs fans.

These two-game series, one against the Mets and one against the Rockies, are strange not only for their brevity, but because they were both night games followed by day games -- each being two games played in less than 24 hours. It's almost as if the Mets and Rockies were ships passing us in the night, hardly to be seen again. Colorado comes to Wrigley Field in about a month, at the end of May, but the Mets won't be seen by the Cubs till the season is in its final week. Those games could wind up being really important.

I was out for a while this afternoon and thus listened to most of the first half of the game on the radio, the first time I've listened to a significant chunk of baseball via Pat & Ron this season. As most of you know, though I love Ron Santo for his Cub support and fandom, I've never liked his radio style that much -- personally, I prefer an analyst who gives more, well, analysis. That said, I know many people do love Ron for exactly who he is. I mention him because for the first time, I thought he sounded really tired -- and not just because it was a day game after a night game. Ron will be 68 in June and I hope his health holds up. This team has a chance to be something really special and I want him around to see every inning.

After a winning streak this long gets snapped, about all you can say is: it happens. Go out there and get 'em starting tomorrow night in Washington -- the Nationals are really bad struggling. Even Jay Leno noticed, making this recent joke:

"46,000 people showed up to see the Pope in the Washington Nationals' ballpark. He beat the Nationals 15-1. … To make sure the crowd did not get unruly they cut off beer sales after the 7th commandment."

Finally, when I stopped by Wrigley Field to take the photos of the flags this afternoon, I found them in the process of filming a commercial with a large group of kids on Waveland:

No RAM failures (or A-RAM failures!) today!

The Cubs' last seven-game winning streak is one you all ought to remember -- it was last year; the seventh game of the streak was the Aramis Ramirez walkoff HR game vs. the Brewers on June 29.

Jason Marquis, who has appeared in the last two games (Tuesday as a PH, last night as a PR), will start. The use of pitchers in these situations was taken to absurd extremes by the Brewers and Cardinals in their extra-inning game on Tuesday, with Ned Yost and Tony LaRussa forced to ridiculousness (three different pitchers pinch-hit and Albert Pujols played second base) because they are carrying up to 14 pitchers. Joe Sheehan addressed this at Baseball Prospectus yesterday: ($)

It is my hope that the two-game Cardinals/Brewers series, featuring rosters of 27 pitchers and 23 hitters, will come to mark the nadir of the trend towards carrying more pitchers that began nearly 30 years ago. I hope that the silliness of Tuesday afternoon—three pitchers being used as pinch-hitters, Albert Pujols playing second base, sacrifice bunting with one out and a runner on first because there were no real hitters available—makes managers and GMs realize that it’s all gone too far, that the desire to make sure you can play matchups on the mound has led to a dearth of options on offense. The first manager to reverse field and concede platoon advantages on defense in exchange for getting them at the plate and restricting usage to five relievers is going to have an edge on the field.

It’s not like Ned Yost is using the eight relievers at his disposal with any dexterity. Despite a bullpen so crowded it could pass for the uptown 1 at 5:15 p.m. and an opponent with no bench, Yost managed to bring Brian Shouse into a situation where he would have to face three straight right-handed batters. Two hits and a sac fly later, the Cardinals were back in the game. If you can’t use your six right-handed relievers to ensure that Shouse and his specialist skill set don’t have to face righties, you’re just not paying attention.

I want to put a thought into the head of Cardinals’ fans. After Cesar Izturis was forced from the game by an Eric Gagne fastball, Albert Pujols took over at second base. Starting the bottom of the ninth, Prince Fielder singled. For the next two batters, the following scenario loomed: Prince Fielder barreling down to second base while Pujols stood over the bag and waited for a throw as the middle man on a double play. That’s what, $100 million, $150 million worth of value hinging on a guy playing out of position.

For my part, I think that even twelve pitchers (which the Cubs have been carrying for the last three years, at least) is too many in most situations. It gives you, essentially, a four-man bench, since one of your bench players is the backup catcher. When you extend that to fourteen pitchers -- as the Brewers have done -- it gives you a TWO-man bench. Maybe it's just me, but there seem to have been a larger-than-usual number of extra-inning games so far this year (the last time the Cubs played five extra-inning games in March/April was 2000, and there are still six games left this month), and it would seem useful to have extra position players around.

Today's Starting Pitchers

J. Marquis Cubs vs. A. Cook Rockies 1-0 W-L 2-1 3.86 ERA 3.12 11 SO 12 7 BB 8 2 HR 2 vs. Col -- vs. Cubs

Marquis had a real nice outing on Sunday against the Pirates, and he pitches today in a ballpark where he has never lost (3-0, 1.83 ERA). He's handled most of the current Rockies roster pretty well, except for Brad Hawpe, who is 8-for-15 vs. Marquis. Jason is also 4-for-8 with a double hitting in Coors Field; he's 2-for-6 against Aaron Cook.

Cook, for his part, hasn't faced any of the current Cub roster very much -- Derrek Lee has the most AB vs. Cook, seven. D-Lee is 3-for-7 with a double and four walks against Cook.

Today's overflow thread will post at 3:30 pm CDT; watch for it.

Today's game is on WGN, on cable in Colorado on FSN Rocky Mountain, and at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Discuss amongst yourselves.