Sean Marshall is a perfect illustration of why Cubs fans have to bury their
past.
The Dontrelle Willis trade, to the Florida Marlins in March 2002, is never
going to change and look any better. But this Cubs team has made some
substantial changes, and Marshall showed lots of promise by beating Willis 3-1
Tuesday night.
Marshall's seven strong innings were the kind that could send shivers down
the spine. But the 39 degree weather beat him to that, enveloping a hardy
turnout of 38,680 at Wrigley Field in igloo conditions. And with a northeast
wind at 18 mph, all fly balls were going to stay in the park.
CUBS
3
MARLINS
1
"You're never going to replace guys like Kerry Wood and Mark Prior,''
left fielder Matt Murton said, "but it's huge to have guys like Sean come
in. Greg Maddux has had a great start to his season. Anytime we can get starting
pitching to do that, it's going to save the bullpen for later in the season when
Kerry and Mark get back and we can keep rolling.''
Murton drove in two of the three runs against Willis. On Monday, Murton's
two-run single in the eighth tied the score at 3, and the Cubs went on to win
6-3. Manager Dusty Baker has been making a lot of right decisions this season,
and one was his chat before Monday's game with Murton about his recent slump.
"He was trying to think too much,'' Baker said. "Ted Williams
always used to say about hitting that you have to be natural. I could tell he
was guessing [about pitches].''
Baker even had an answer for that irate Cubs fan who berated him in a
question-and-answer session last January at the Cubs convention, sneering when
asking him if he had ever heard of a squeeze bunt.
Baker tried the squeeze for the second time this season, and it was
successful. It came after Murton's RBI double in the seventh scored Michael
Barrett, who had led off with a double. Jacque Jones' bunt bumped Murton to
third, and after the Marlins pitched out looking for the squeeze, Jerry Hairston
bunted a 2-1 Willis pitch for the perfect squeeze that scored Murton.
"We have a different type of team, more of Bake's style,'' Hairston
said. "It starts at the top with Juan Pierre. He has done a great job as
the catalyst and keeping us loose.''
Marshall had gone no longer than five innings in his first three Cubs starts.
That loomed over him as the big question mark, whether he was capable of
breaking through that barrier. So for him to hold the Marlins scoreless for his
seven innings on two hits and two walks may have been the breakthrough that
raises his confidence and status.
"Let the Cubs win,'' he said. "I'll just keep pitching.''
While the weather conditions were horrible, Marshall saw them as perfect.
"It was a great day to pitch,'' he said. "I wasn't going to let the
weather affect me. I feel like I prepared well for this game, and we got a
couple of runs that let me go deep in the game.''
Marshall finally recaptured a breaking ball that he hadn't been able to
command since he left spring training.
"My breaking ball was probably my top pitch tonight, and it's been a
while since I've been able to control it like that,'' he said. "It feels
good to get that pitch back.''
The Marlins scored their only run off reliever Bob Howry in the eighth. But
Howry got out of a first-and-third jam by getting Miguel Cabrera to bounce into
a forceout. Ryan Dempster then added his sixth save.
Baker recalled what pitching coach Larry Rothschild and Maddux had told him
about Marshall during spring training.
"They said, 'Hey, we got something here special,''' he said. "He's
a poised, confident young man. He doesn't say much. Just goes about his job and
does it well.''
Willis also went seven innings, but he allowed three runs, five hits and
three walks (one intentional). That's as many runs as Willis allowed in his four
previous starts at Wrigley, where he's now 2-1 and still hasn't allowed a homer
in 33-2/3 innings.
