Peace out, dawg

(Tom Gannam/AP)

Way to rise to the occasion, Jason.

In what most certainly will be his last start wearing the Birds on the Bat, Jason Marquis had what has become a typical Jason Marquis outing: 6 earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 2 innings and his 35th home run allowed.

In losing his eighth of his past 10 decisions, his ERA jumped to 6.02. Six earned runs every nine innings, over the course of a full season. And for that, he was paid $5.15 million.

So, how bad was he?

He was SO BAD, that, even with 33 starts, he didn’t reach his first performance incentive: $25,000 for 200 IP. He’ll finish with 194.1 IP, or roughly 17 outs per start.

Just for giggles, let’s break this down further. In 2006, Jason Marquis made:

• $5.15M, or
• $26,500.90 per inning pitched, or
• $8,833.63 per out, or
• $68,666.67 per base on balls, or
• $147,142.86 per home run

See ya next year in Kansas City, pal.

For more Rage Against the Marquis, see:

• Good God (Bellyitcher)
• Twisting the knife (Redbirdbrain)
• Deathwatch, Day 9 (Stan Musial’s Stance)

Ridin’ quick and dirty

I actually got to catch a good portion of a Cardinals game on Tuesday; too bad it had to be a loss. I say “most” because after Yadier Molina’s throwing error in the eighth, I changed it from the FSN telecast to WSEC, which was showing “Best of The Joy of Painting.” I guess ol’ Bob Ross might say that Molina didn’t make an error, he just had a happy accident. Happy for the Reds, anyway.

Whichever. We still lost. I think I think these things:

Jason Marquis: Taken out after only four runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings? Come on, Tony… that’s like par for the course for Bipolar Betty.

Jorge Sosa: J-So had himself a decent line tonight: 3.1 innings in relief of Marquis, with one run and four hits allowed and four strikeouts. Fairly snazzy, you say. And I would tend to agree with that, except that I think he got lucky several times Tuesday. Several times Molina called for the ball low, and Sosa missed high. Two of his strikeouts came on such pitches (though they were of the 96 mph Gruyere variety), and the Reds’ threat in the fifth inning was ended on a Rich Aurilia popup, which was the result of his breaking his bat on some high cheese although Molina called for it low. I couldn’t help but notice that he got 3.1 innings; is the braintrust “stretching him out” to prepare for a possible start? The irrational sort (i.e., me) might think that there are better options in the bullpen (cough, Adam Wainwright, cough) to “stretch out.” But whatever. I guess that’s why I’m here whining about it.

Braden Looper: This was the second time in like a week that Blooper Laden was lifted in the middle of an at-bat. Dan and Al intimated that he was hurt, but it still looks bad.

David “You’re With Me” Weathers: Dude, calm down. Weathers took exception to a 2-2 pitch to Albert Pujols that was called a ball. Never mind it was a good 6 inches off the plate. Judging by Weathers’ reaction, you’d think the umpire accidently ran over his puppy. And by puppy I mean “son,” and by accidentally I mean “repeatedly.” Then Weathers had the nerve to initiate an argument with the ump after retiring Pujols. I’ll bet you a Coke that had that ump been a particular one I know, Weathers wouldn’t have been around to get Pujols out.

Heilman maneuver?

The latest and most intriguing trade rumor involving the Cardinals also involves the Mets, who are allegedly discussing sending Aaron Heilman for … wait for it …

Jason Marquis.

My first reaction was that it doesn’t seem like it would be a very good deal for the Mets, for reasons obvious to Cardinals fans. But author Will Carroll describes Heilman thusly:

Once expected to be a rotation fixture, the pitcher has instead found a home in the bullpen.

Kinda sounds like our boy Adam Wainwright. If this deal possibly could happen, we can finally move the Wainwright boy into the rotation. Time to see what he can do for six innings.

(Hat tip: Toddius396 via Viva El Birdos)

Marq Mulder

Tuesday night was the first time in a while that I could sit down and watch a ballgame more or less unencumbered by various obligations.

After the first couple of innings, I thought, “Maybe it would be less frustrating to be at work dealing with the incredibly annoying intern than watch this.” After about four nanoseconds, I snapped back into reality. That doesn’t mean I enjoyed Jason Marquis’ latest outing.

A while back, I jokingly suggested that Marquis begin each start in the bullpen given his early-inning struggles at the time. So Tuesday, after the second inning, I checked his inning splits. Finding none, I then looked at his pitch-count splits (as of his previous start), the next best thing. Check it:

Pitches 1-15: 14 IP, 4.50 ERA, .298/.394/.544 against
Pitches 16-30: 14.1, 6.91, .316/.431/.509
Pitches 31-45: 19, 8.53, .221/.295/.471
Pitches 46-60: 18.2, 3.86, .333/.386/.590
Pitches 61-75: 22.1, 6.85, .218/.264/.385

So maybe that theory about him using up his first couple of innings in the bullpen is out the window. He continued to get hammered as Tuesday’s game went on. What was especially frustrating was that in each inning, save for the second, all the runs scored with two outs. How does that happen?

If anything typifies the erraticity of Jason Marquis, it’s the fact that, according to those numbers, the lower his averages-against line, the higher his ERA. As my friend Johnny Carson might say, “Weird, wild stuff.” The thing that’s killing him is the long ball. In pitches 16-30, he’s given up 3 HR in 14.1 innings, and in pitches 31-45, he’s served up 4 HR in 19 innings. Take each of those out to 200 innings and you get 41.8 HR and 42.1 HR, respectively. I don’t know how relevant that stat is, but it sure looks bad.

postscript: While working on this post, I had “Baseball Tonight” on in the background. The program closed with their stat of the day: Jason Marquis is the first pitcher to give up 12-plus runs twice in a season since Chubby Dean in 1940. Chubs gave up 21 HR in 159.1 IP (1.19 HR/9) that season. In 2006, Marquis has served up 24 HR in 130.2 IP (1.65 HR/9). Yikes.

Daddy issues

James A. Finley/AP

Albert Pujols entered Thursday’s game against the Dodgers with a career batting line of 9-for-14 (.643) with four homers against Odalis Perez.

He exited the game at 10-for-15 with five homers.

Odalis Perez: Who’s your daddy?

Curious move by Grady Little to bring in Perez, who has the aforementioned Daddy issues with Pujols (and with Scott Rolen, to a lesser extent), when Danys Baez, who obviously handles right-handers better, was still available. Plus, Pujols has never faced Baez, a situation that might work in the pitcher’s favor. Was Baez being “saved” for closing out a Dodgers’ lead? Kind of a moot question now, I guess, but nobody accused Grady Little of being handy with the bullpen.

Other things I think:

Jason Marquis won his third straight start, with a 3.17 ERA and a 14/5 K/BB ratio in that period, which followed two losses in which gave up 20 earned runs in 11 innings, which followed a stretch in which he won six straight decisions but had a K/BB ratio of 17/21, which followed four straight losses, etc. To say he’s confounding is something of an understatement. Good Marquis Thursday, though. So, yay!

Jim Edmonds went 1-for-6, but the 1 was huge, a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh. Things are looking up for Jimmy Ballgame: He’s .306/.400/.750 during July. Eight of his 11 hits have been for extra bases, and he’s routinely making the great catches again. Welcome back, brother.

Jeff Weaver makes his Cardinals debut as a pinch-hitter?

No ring around the collar

On Sunday, the Cardinals won the game but also officially lost Albert Pujols.

Thank gravy for Sunday’s win. Another sweep would have been tough to take.

At least Jason Marquis was thinking of El Hombre; for his fifth straight win he went five innings, gave up five runs, walked five and struck out five. He even threw 55 strikes. Five Alive!

With the quickness: A strong performance by the ersatz 2-5 hitters was nice to see in lieu of the Big Fella … looks like Chris Duncan is up for the time being; his single Sunday was a fine piece of two-strike hitting … Scott Rolen is climbing the NL batting leaders list.

p.s. Many thanks to Paper Boy Nick for the vile filth he posted. I’ll see you again next series.

Marq it 8.1, Dude

Jason Marquis’ performance Tuesday lent even more credence to the theory that he needs about 20-25 pitches under his belt to settle down.

His first inning Tuesday went as such: 2B, L9, 3B, 1B, K, F8, with a coupla runs scored. That was followed by three perfect innings. The homer he gave up in the fifth wasn’t that bad of a pitch; just a curveball on the hands that Randy Winn turned around. It was more a fine piece of hitting than it was a bad pitch. Then three more perfect frames, followed by a ninth inning that started to get away from him a bit.

For whatever reason, Marquis really does seem to settle in once he’s past a certain amount of pitches. The obvious solution: Make him get those 20-25 pitches out of the way in the bullpen, before the game starts. That way, we have 18-20 outs worth of Good Jason when it counts.

Scott Rolen: With a three-hit night, Scott Rolen is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, going 11-25 (.440) during that time. He’s still sitting on just the one home run since his return from a bout of cholera, but I expect that to change soon. I have no science to back up that assertion other than he’s Scott Rolen and is a big, burly guy who probably beat up nerds like me when he was in high school.

Matt Morris: Good to see you again, MattyMo. It’s also good to be on the receiving end of one of your patented six-run, six-inning outings for a change. Save for his most recent start against Houston and his first two this season, he’s shown ample evidence why Walt Jocketty didn’t go hard after him. Tuesday, his deuce was looking vintage MattyMo at times, but he kept leaving other pitches up and over the plate to get smacked. Hard. Albert Pujols’ home run in the first inning reminded me why I used to call Morris “Chef Boyardee.”

Florida Marlins=Baseball Zoloft

Give me that Z, O-L-O-F-T
No longer pissed, you don’t bother me
I’m making it through, I’m giving my all
When base are loaded, I’m whacking the ball

– “Zoloft,” by Ween

There’s no better cure for the four-game schneid blues than the Florida Marlins. Saturday’s game was a bit shaky of course, but we hit the ball well the whole series: 36 hits and 23 runs scored.

The good hitting has a chance to continue as the team faces the mediocre staffs (or is it staves) of Colorado and Arizona this week.

In injury news, Cards bloggers may just get what they’ve been wishing for. Sidney Ponson has injured his elbow, and prognosis is unknown at this point. This may just be the opening Adam Wainwright needs for a start. You hate to get all Schadenfreude on a guy, but it would be nice to see what the Wainwright boy could do given six innings.

Of course, there’s always the matter of Anthony Reyes. Sportsline seems to think that it’s the Reyes boy who could get the call. He also pitched on Sunday, going 6 innings and allowing 2 earned runs, 5 hits and a walk while striking out 7.

It’s worth a shot either way. Wainwright certainly has earned the chance to start with his stellar work out of the bullpen. Reyes, though, has been more or less mowing down the Pacific Coast League, and Ponson’s next turn also would be Reyes’ next turn. That and he’s on my fantasy team.

Perhaps best of all, it could possibly free up Jason Marquis for a trade, perhaps with Marquis’ hometown Mets, who lost Victor Zambrano for the season on Sunday.

A dude can hope, anyway.

On the Lidge

Wednesday’s game ended up as a mark in the wrong column, but it was a treat to watch. Certainly, our crimson-clad superheroes played a hard nine. Some things I think:

Jason Marquis: I either called this one, or I jinxed him. I left a comment on VEB’s Game 28 thread about 10 minutes before first pitch:

“… pitching against your team’s actual rival, who is sending out the guy who ended our season last year, would tend to get a guy geeked up. And a geeked-up Jason Marquis tends to overthrow, which is bad news for a sinkerballer.”

Sho ’nuff, Marquis came out locked and loaded with both barrels blazing… and

Mar-keys to the Bentley

Good gravy… $5.15 million? I don’t think anyone in the Cards blogosphere foresaw Brother Marquis getting that much money, even through arbitration. Guess he really isn’t going anywhere.

Dan at Get Up, Baby! takes a good look at Marquis now that he’s officially under contract for 2006. Check it out, dudes.