Marquis returns to Wrigley
This will be the third return for Jason Marquis, the third time he has started in what used to his home ballpark and stared toward hitters who a season earlier were teammates.
Marquis spent the past two seasons with the Cubs and will start against them Wednesday at Wrigley Field, which looks harsh and much less inviting in early spring because the ivy has yet to appear on the vines covering the outfield wall and where Marquis has no idea what the reception will be like from the Cubs’ fans.
“Only they’ll know, so I try not to worry about that,” Marquis said. “It’s out of my hands. I know I gave every ounce of effort every time I took the ball every situation. If hard work and hundred percent effort every time out isn’t appreciated, then it’s out of my hands.”
Marquis went a combined 23-18 in two seasons with the Cubs. They signed him to a three-year, $21 million contract as a free agent after the 2006 season and, seeking payroll flexibility, traded Marquis to the Rockies for reliever Luis Vizcaino this winter.
“Hopefully, we’ll get good weather, wind blowing in,” said Marquis, who is 13-12 with a 5.06 ERA lifetime in 36 games and 207 2/3 innings at Wrigley Field. “That was just one of three teams I played for in my past, but the most recent. It’s another chapter in my professional career, but a lot of friends, a lot of good memories.”
Asked whether he might touch the bill of his cap as a gesture of friendship or figuratively wink when one of his buddies steps in the batter’s box, Marquis said, “It might be all of them. I became close with everybody over there.”
And then he named starting pitchers Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano and “even Harden” _ meaning Wednesday’s starter Rich Harden, whom the Cubs acquired from the A’s last season on July 8 _ and first baseman Derrek Lee, shortstop Ryan Theriot and infielder Mike Fontenot.
“We had a close-knit group of guys, so it’s going to be fun,” Marquis said. “You really got to sort of take that out of the back of your mind once you step in between the lines and just focus like they’re another team.”
That mind set was impossible Aug. 14, 2004, when Marquis returned to Atlanta to face the Braves for the first time since they traded him in December 2003 to the Cardinals along with catcher-outfielder Eli Marrero for reliever Ray King and starting pitcher Adam Wainwright, who was then in the minors.
Marquis was one week away from his 26th birthday. He had signed with the Braves, reached Atlanta in 2000 and made a total of 38 starts for the Braves in 2002 and 2003, winning 13 games over those two seasons.
“You think the first team you’re with is going to be the team you’re with forever,” Marquis said. “So at that point, there might been ill feelings just because you’re young and immature.”
Asked how he did on his return to Atlanta, Marquis smiled and said, “I didn’t fare too well; I know that. I was just trying to overthrow. I was just trying to do too many things.”
Marquis pitched five innings for the Cardinals, who lost 9-7. He was lucky not to figure in the decision, since he allowed six runs and 10 hits, including four home runs. Chipper Jones went deep against Marquis in the second as did Andruw Jones two batters later. Chipper Jones homered again in the third, and Rafael Furcal hit a two-run homer in the fourth.
Marquis made his free-agent move to the Cubs and found it easier to return to St. Louis in 2007 to face the Cardinals than he did going back to Atlanta three years earlier to oppose the Braves.
“I was able to keep my emotions more under control,” Marquis said. “It was my second time doing it, a little more mature. And there were no hard feelings there, too. I was a free agent. I had my opportunity to go where I wanted.
“I think the fans might’ve got on me a little more because I was with their biggest rival. Maybe if I came in with the LA Dodgers or Colorado Rockies at that point, it might’ve been different.”
Marquis, in some ways, was able to warm up for his return to Busch Stadium. On April 21, 2007, Marquis shut the Cardinals out for seven innings at Wrigley Field and won 6-0. Six days later, he faced them in St. Louis, allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings and won again, this time 5-3. That season, Marquis went 3-1 in four starts against the Cardinals, three of them in St. Louis. He lost there 11-1 on July 26, giving up six runs in five innings, but won 4-2 at Busch Stadium on Sept. 14, allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings.
Marquis said he was “amped but not overamped” Friday when he made his Rockies debut in their home opener at Coors Field. He held the world champion Phillies to five hits and two runs in seven innings and won 10-3. There doesn’t figure to be near as much emotion in this start for Marquis, the 200th of his major-league career, not that his return to Wrigley Field will be blasé. You don’t need to have played two seasons for the Cubs to be inspired by Wrigley.
Still, the task at hand for Marquis will be trying to help the Rockies end a three-game losing streak and split a two-game series with the Cubs. If he starts against them again during the regular season, it will have to be in early August during a four-game series at Coors Field. So this will be Marquis’ only regular-season start at Wrigley, and it should be very different from the time nearly five years ago when a less-experienced Marquis returned to Atlanta and stumbled.
That could happen at Wrigley against a good Cubs team. But it won’t be because Marquis is revved up the way he was when he went back to Turner Field the first time to face the Braves. No, this third leg on his reunion tour will be like it was when Marquis, his emotions in check, went back to St. Louis with the Cubs.
“I have no hard feelings, no ill will towards anybody,” Marquis said, “so I’m going to go in there and try to win a baseball game. So I’m going to have fun.”
