 |
 |
| Chris Sampson | Jason Marquis |
| 0 - 0, 0.00 | 0 - 0, 1.50 |
Cub X vs. the Houston Astros
| G | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | HBP | SH | GDP | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 28 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .357 | .400 | .536 |
Who is this mystery player? Is it Jacque Jones? Alfonso Soriano? Or maybe even D Lee?
Nope.
It's Jason Marquis.
Say what you will about his pitching (and he's got a career 4.53 ERA and 1.43 career WHIP), but the guy smokes him some Astros with his bat.
While no-one believes more than me that Garner did exactly what was necessary yesterday in demoting Brad Lidge, the unhappy fallout to this is another black eye to the Purpura regime. Already unsteady after the Huff deal and still buffeting considerable dissent in the wake of the 3-for-1 Jason for Jason thing, Purpura needed the news that the guy he had refused all offers for had been demoted to mopup like he needs a hole in the head.
Steve Philips was on ESPN Radio this morning saying Lidge was now valueless, but I wouldn't go so far. There is I'm sure still something of a speculator's market in Brad Lidge, but you gotta admit, the return won't be what it once was. There was a time when they could have asked for and gotten the moon for our beleaguered ex-closer, but those times are now long ago.
I remain a qualified supporter of T-Purp, but he may just end up ruing the day he crowed, "Not just no, but hell no!"
Did you see that after Corpus Christi's season-opener at Wichita was postponed by snow, its attempt at a doubleheader the following day was postponed by cold?
Or that when the opener finally went down on April 7th, Troy Patton kicked some serious Wrangler ass? Patton scattered a mere four baserunners, walking none, over six innings in picking up Corpus Christi's only win of the season thus far.
Juan Gutierrez also had a successful first start, giving up 1 run over five innings, while striking out 2 and walking 2 April 8 vs. Iowa. Paul Estrada pitched a perfect seventh (it was part of a double header) and earned his first save in the game. Estrada carries a 0.00 through his first three appearances.