Carlos Marmol Is Literally Giving Me Chest Pains
So I went to Wrigley Field to catch a nice baseball game between my favorite team the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a beautiful night, and no matter what happened I stood to have a good time. The sun was shining, I got a delicious foot-long hot dog, had a few beers, joked with some friends and my girlfriend, and enjoyed looking at the beautiful women. If the Cubs lost, hey, no big deal. It was just one game and its not like the Phillies are bottom-feeders, they are one of the top teams in the National League.
The night actually went very well for a few hours. Rich Harden had a perfect game going into the 6th inning, and my girlfriend has progressed to the point in her baseball knowledge that when she said “this game is boring”, and I told her “no its not, its amazing, but I can’t tell you why, just look at the scoreboard”, I didn’t then have to try explain to her that there was a perfect game/no-hitter going on without actually saying the words “hit”, “no-hitter” or “perfect game”. Then, in the 6th, Rollins homered to tie the game at 2. Still no big deal, a great game.
That’s when things went south. Marmol came in and I turned to my buddy, known on NQTC as Kevin Tapani Fan Club, and said “I can’t see which Marmol that is out there, can you tell?” The question was in reference to the fact that when Marmol comes out, we either see 3 strikeouts and no baserunners (less and less these days though), or we see 2-5 walks in a row and a mess of an inning. KTFC replied “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
Sure enough Marmol walked the first batter, and we looked at each other as though the question had been answered. Although he got the next two Phillies to fly out, we were still a bit skeptical. Our skepticism was rewarded. Inexplicably Marmol beaned the next batter-Shane Victorino. After throwing a strike to Utley, he proceeded to throw 8 straight balls. 8. He ended up walking in the go-ahead run to put the Cubs down 3-2 in the 8th. At that point, I completely lost my voice booing Marmol. Lou then brought in Grabow (too little too late) with the bases loaded to face Ibanez who went down swinging.
The Cubs ended up losing in 12 innings, and while there were some bright points in the game (Bradley made some excellent defensive plays as well as some huge hits), the Marmol situation is becoming a problem. When I was walking home from the game, I literally was experiencing chest pains. Was it a result of smoking too many cigarettes, drinking too much beer, and eating too many hot dogs/nachos/peanuts? Maybe. Or maybe it was caused by Carlos Marmol’s infuriating pitching. This isn’t to say Marmol is not a talented pitcher. If anything the filthiness of his pitches makes his failures all the more mind-numbing. He has one of the best sliders I have ever seen and his fastball has a lot of movement, not to mention clocking in at the mid-high 90s. Its in his head. That’s the problem. He cannot or just will not throw strikes. At some point, which we have reached and passed, the rest of the league figured that out. I’m sure that Lou and Rothschild have told him to just throw strikes. His pitches, even when in the zone, are nearly unhittable, as opposing batters are hitting .166 against him. Unfortunately their on-base percentage against him is a whopping .380 as a result of 64 walks in 53.2 innings.
I say send him down. I know that might sound a little extreme considering how electric his stuff is and how shaky the rest of the bullpen has looked (not terrible, but definitely shaky), but this is a purely mental thing for Marmol. He needs to get back to throwing the ball over the plate. A change of scenery might do him some good. He is only hurting the team the way he is pitching now. And its hard to blame Lou for sticking with him. I mean if you looked down to your bullpen and saw Aaron Heilman, Jeff Samardijza and a slew of kids I’ve never heard of, I would probably go with the kid who has the unhittable slider and the good heater. That’s why Marmol needs to go. And now that I think about it, Angel Guzman has the stuff to be an excellent set-up man, at least for the time being until Marmol gets his head straight.
You know what is pissing me off the most after reading over this post? The fact that you and I both know that Marmol is not going anywhere and the likelihood he turns it around seems slimmer and slimmer by the day. If we have to live and die with Carlos Marmol, we will surely die. Goddamnit.
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Comments
Comment from Jeff Brokaw
Time August 12, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I’m with you on Marmol. He’s basically a train wreck these days.
But. In his defense, I do think the umps are squeezing him. Borderline pitches are called balls an awful lot of times. Outside, down, and up, especially. I think it’s a combination of his late-breaking movement on his pitches, and the umps letting their prejudices get in the way of their objectivity, i.e., “I know Marmol can’t throw strikes, therefore, any borderline pitch is obviously a ball”.
I know this sounds like excuse-making, but that’s not my intent. He’s still too wild, and needs to tighten that up. But pitchers are taught to throw on the corners. Taking that advantage away from a pitcher is taking away his best weapon and tilts the advantage much too far to the hitter.
Still, however you apportion blame for called balls, he is just as radioactive either way. Between Marmol and Gregg, that’s quite an adventure they’ve got going in the late innings. 
Whatever, I just can’t wait for the Bears season to start, myself. And then the Hawks.
Comment from Stormin’ Norman Disciple
Time August 12, 2009 at 2:27 pm
@JBrokaw: I agree with you in general about the tough calls, but then he needs to adjust to how the zone is being called for him. If he can’t adjust then he just isn’t mature enough yet. Bears season cannot start soon enough…
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Comment from Kevin Tapani Fan Club
Time August 12, 2009 at 9:55 am
It was definitely the bad Marmol out there last night. Hitting Victorino with 2 outs and I believe a 1-2 count (could have been 2-2) was completely inexplicable, unless you’ve come to know the Carlos Marmol that we loathe today. There is no reason that pitch should be that far out of the strike zone. It’s hard to contemplate sending him down when we are right in the middle of a race for the division title, but I agree that it is the right move. Marmol is no help to us right now. With a little luck and ill-afforded patience, a trip down to Iowa could exorcize the demons from Marmol’s head and get him ready in time for the playoffs. We’ll see.