9th inning drama continues

By Steven Chaitman | Jul 11, 4:07 PM

Kerry Wood, always good for a scare.

The Cubs continued to raise the already high blood pressure of Cub fans today when he went to close out today's game. Jason Marquis' best performance of the year followed by Aramis Ramirez's late inning blast were overshadowed when Wood surrendered a run and had men on second and third with only one out.

The Cubs felt more pain from the Giants' Matt Cain, someone they will be glad to never see again this season. Hats off to Marquis, however, because he stayed with him, only throwing 80 pitches in 7 innings of shut out ball, walking just 2. While Marquis is capable of those numbers, the key was doing it matched up against the most recently appointed Cub-killer, Matt Cain. Not many pitchers belong to that club, especially Giants pitchers like the 5-7 Cain.

The good news was pretty rampant today outside of Lou Piniella's projection that Soriano will not be ready right after the All-Star break. After yesterday's drilling, Michael Wuertz will be taking a vacation in Iowa. While his replacement, Kevin Hart, has been anything but stellar this season, at least Hart is a rookie who could eventually show tremendous upside, whereas Michael Wuertz has proved he's a streaky reliever who isn't good for more than a couple weeks at a time and never will be the rest of his career. This bullpen either needs a touch up now or a makeover in the off-season.

Tomorrow is the highly anticipated first start of Cubs' new pitcher Rich Harden. I would say that having Harden start against a team he has faced already this season where he pitched six innings of 1-hit baseballand is familiar with the batters is a very good thing. Let's break him in and let him break out on a team where he can make a difference.

Tagged: baseball, Cubs, Jason Marquis