So ... I sure am happy that we'll never be able to trust Marmol again.

That was the sort of game that infuriates you as a fan, whether the team is in a playoff race or 40 games under .500. Just a catastrophic meltdown that I think a lot of us probably saw coming once the inning was a couple of batters old. Some observations:

1) Quade is hugely to blame. I know managers give the ball to their closer with the mindset of, "This is now your game to lose." Winning games for the Cubs at this point is strictly to protect the ego, but Marmol isn't the type of pitcher you can have the above mentality with. He's shown an ability to get out of jams of his own making many times before. But outings like last night are different. He didn't have it. At all. This was clear by time he walked the second batter.

To hell with protecting Marmol's ego. Quade should have had someone warming up the moment Marmol issued the second free pass. I knew at that point that the Cubs would be fortunate to enter the bottom of the inning tied. And really, would yanking Marmol out of the game before the wheels fell off been worse than leaving him out there to give up the inevitable big hit?

2) The Cubs are baseball retarded. More aggravating than Marmol giving up the double was his failure to back up Soto. Had he done that, then the tie is preserved since Wise was a dead duck after tumbling rounding third base. But more poor fundamentals displayed by the Cubs means that Wise scores easily even after literally falling down between third and home while the ball was back in the infield.

3) Marmol has to establish a good second pitch. He's becoming too predictable. And his slider is still dirty enough that when he's on, most hitters still can't make anything of it. But hitters seem to be catching on. In years past, Marmol primarily gave up runs via lots of walks or hit batters piling up in single innings. I was shocked to hear that last night was the first outing this season where Marmol had walked more than one batter in an inning. That stat paired with his 6 blown saves going into last night suggest that he's getting hit around a lot more now than any other season he's been a reliever.

Dave Campbell actually had a candid moment during Saturday's game where he compared Marmol to Brad Lidge and K-Rod in that all three throw ridiculous sliders. But that pitch has or is becoming a little less effective for them each season and that in turn makes them less effective. I'm interested going forward to see Marmol's progress. Most of his blown saves have come in outings he had just a one-run lead, so he hasn't been awful. But it wouldn't shock me to see Marmol flame out within a couple of more seasons if he can't establish a quality second pitch he can throw for strikes.

He's now had five straight appearances without striking out a batter. Maybe he's hurt.

Walks-I agree 100% with your points. I was sad there was no game thread last night as I needed a place to vent.

One funny thing about last night's game - Len shuttled a clearly disinterested Patrick Stump out of the booth in record time after the stretch.

I think he's hurt. His fastball is slow, his slider is breaking differently, and he's pitching like crap.

A round at the Fountainhead says he's on the DL within 6 weeks.

Well, here he comes again. I'm not optimistic, but then again, I rarely am when it comes to the Cubs.

This is just completely idiotic. But then again I jumped on the Fire Quade bandwagon long ago.

Marmol got very lucky there-Hanley Ramirez does not seem to have a high baseball IQ.

Has Marmol lost the ability to throw anything other then sliders? Are Hill and Soto calling for fastballs and he is waving them off?

Make that six straight Marmol appearances without a strikeout.

But Cubs win! Phew.

Thank God for Sean Marshall.

A round at the Fountainhead says he's on the DL within 6 weeks.

I'm not gonna bet against that.

And color me impressed with Fountainhead's beer and liquor selection, but hugely disappointed in their food.