Throw enough young starters with good arms out on the mound, and you're bound to get lucky with one or two of them. The Cubs are now 2-for-6 on the year, with Sean Marshall and now Carlos Marmol as (at least early) successes, and Rich Hill, Angel Guzman, Jerome Williams, and Jae-kuk Ryu as (thus far) disappointments.

Marmol entered today having thrown 4 shutout relief innings -- 2 each against the Cardinals and Astros -- since his call-up. Today he got his first major league start, facing the Cincinnati Reds, one of baseball's best offenses, in a hitter's park. He pitched better than the Cubs could have hoped for, throwing 6 innings and allowing just 1 run on 2 hits (one a homer) and 3 BB's, with 7 K's. 65 of his 99 pitches were strikes, a much better percentage than the Cubs are used to seeing out of their young starters. And Marmol performed like he did while trying to keep up with Eric Milton's work against the Cubs' offense for much of the day, as the Cubs didn't score their 3rd and 4th runs until Marmol's day was done.

If Marmol was nervous, he didn't look it. He looked like he knew he belonged. If he keeps pitching like this, he's not going anywhere.