Here's the thing folks.....Jason Marquis was not signed by the Cubs to lead them to overtaking the Universe. They don't even expect him to win 20 games, the Cy Young Award and Save Darfur all at the same time. The reason why the Cubs signed him is because he is able to make a lot of starts. See, for the past couple of seasons the Cubs have struggled to fill their starting rotation with pitchers who could make their starts consistently. I'm not sure if you knew that? Of course, every team would love all of their starters to win twenty times each season, but that's just not going to happen. So, are Cubs fans frustrated that Jason Marquis struggled his last few times out on the mound? I would say no. Are we happy with his production (8-6, 4.22 ERA, 1.32 WHIP) thus far? Certainly. Do we look forward to seeing him pitch the rest of the season? Absolutely. Are we tired of hearing from bitter Cardinals fans. Nah, we like to see/hear you in pain.

Onto the game! The Cubs won 7-3 over the Phillies as Marquis had a decent outing, the bullpen threw three scoreless innings and Jason Kendall, Mike Fontenot and Jacque Jones came through in the clutch. With the Cubs not making any moves at the Trade Deadline this is how it's going to be the rest of the season. Different Day, Different Hero. Ring it up, make the t-shirts already.

Rich Hill takes the mound tonight against former Cub, Jamie Moyer. My hope is that Hill watches Moyer in action to see how a pitcher who isn't overpowering can still control a ballgame with his consistency and work throughout the entire strike zone. With a win the Cubs will clinch at least a split in this four game series against a Phillies team that is playing well as they've won 8 out of their last 10.

In other news, the Cubs followed up their 17-11 record in June with a 17-9 record in May. If the Cubs keep playing at the same pace (.629 winning %) they'll win 92 games (35 wins in their last 57 games). At the start of the season, I predicted that the Cubs would win 93 games but I think a 92-70 record would get the job done in the NL Central.