Boxscore

The Cubs came back against the Marlins and Jason Marquis’ incompetency yesterday, to return to sole possession of first place before heading to Milwaukee.

Marquis de Suck lived up to his nickname, allowing 6 runs in 6 innings. However, the Cubs showed their first signs of offensive life in the last week or so when they dropped a 4-spot on the board in the 7th to take their first lead of the game. Mike Fontenot provided the bulk of that, with a pinch-hit 3-run double.

Newcomer Jeff Samardzija got his first career save, ably filling in for a disabled Kerry Wood.

Now the Cubs head to Milwaukee for a series I hope to catch a few games of. The Brewers are about the only team playing exciting baseball in the Central right now, and it would be nice to watch a baseball game that wasn’t over after the starters were announced (I’m looking at you, Josh Fogg).

Boxscore

Apparently, Joey Votto was sending a message to the Reds managerial staff last week when he hit a line drive off of Josh Fogg’s face that resulted in him missing a start. Fogg had recovered enough to put in his usual “pitching” yesterday, allowing 7 runs over 3 2/3 innings. Now that’s the way to make your former team miss you.

It’s also the Reds way of attempting to not be swept by a team worse than them.

There were no offensive highlights and no pitching ones, either, although Francisco Cordero pitched a scoreless inning. When the Reds started the Rockies series, there were pie-in-the-sky rumblings about how a sweep would get the Reds back to .500.

Hopefully, that pathetic showing will prompt owner Bob Castellini and GM Walt Jocketty to use the trading deadline to load up for the future. Of course, perhaps the best way to do that would be to fire Dusty Baker.