At least we don't have to face John Smoltz today. That would have a been a tall order for a reeling offense and a young starter who is trying to regain his confidence.

Sean Marshall has been impressive so far this year, drawing comparisons to a young Mark Buerhle for his poise and command. If he ends up like Buehrle, I'd be happy to wear a #45 jersey for years to come.

What we have to remember is that Marshall jumped right from Double-A West Tenn this spring and came out of the gate guns blazing. Now that he is settled into the major league rotation, batters are beginning to figure his patterns and pitching style, which isn't over complicated - typically moving inside and outside with his 89-90mph fastball with good control and mixing in his off-speed stuff, including a nasty Zito-esque curveball.

What is killing Marshall, like the rest of the pitching staff, is his walks. He's walked 24 in 47.2 innings, and given up 37 hits. His control is usually pretty good and was his biggest asset in the minors, but it comes and goes sometimes up in the bigs. That's part of being a young pitcher.

If Marshall can command his pitches today and keep his walk total down, he should give his club a pretty good chance to win.

With the way the Cubs offense is struggling, just about any starter can look like Nolan Ryan. But it might be a good think that they are facing Horacio Ramirez today. He's making only his second start of the season and will hopefully have some trouble finding his groove. In his last (and only) start of the season, he went 3 innings and gave up 5 runs. If the Cubs are patient, draw some walks and put the pressure on Ramirez early, they can bust into the Braves bullpen that has some pretty high ERAs

Reitsma 6.10
Villarreal 4.22
McBride 4.50
Moylan 9.53

The earlier they can break into the bullpen, the better, because we don't want to have to face Ken Ray, Chad Paranto and ancient Mike Remlinger - their three best relivers - again like we did yesterday.

But the main thing for the Cubs today is this - patience. The crowd will be screaming for blood at Wrigley today, but the players can't start pushing. They need to take their time, swing at good pitches, don't chase bad ones. Execute. Play the game and don't worry about what will happen in the next inning or tomorrow.

I think the problem has been they just aren't playing the game like they know how. If they did and they still lost, they could at least hold their heads high because they know they gave it their all. But right now, they have to hang their heads because a lot of them aren't even playing the game like it should be played.

Maybe Tony Womack will light the fire...oh wait, he won't play today because Ramirez is a lefty and Womack won't be playing against lefties...