The Cubs split a doubleheader with Arizona today, losing game one 10-2 and winning game two 7-3. A few notes:

• Carlos Marmol has made a decent attempt this year of masking the fact that he's really not ready for the big leagues yet. It's as if inertia is keeping him in the rotation at this point, instead of either Angel Guzman or Jerome Williams. Marmol entered today's game with a respectable 4.39 ERA in 53.1 innings, though with a slightly higher 4.74 ERA as a starter (he threw 4 shutout innings as a reliever before entering the rotation). But he knocked the Cubs out early in game one today, allowing 5 runs in the first inning. Control was, again, a large problem. He has now walked 43 in 58.1 innings. Plus, he just throws too many pitches to get deep into games. In his last three starts, he's only thrown 14 innings.

• The Cubs had a lot of problems in game one driving in baserunners, typical for this season. Poor decisions, in addition to poor execution, contributed to the problem. For instance, in the bottom of the fourth inning, with one out Jacque Jones singled and then Arizona pitcher and former Cub Juan Cruz walked John Mabry on four pitches (something Cruz has been known to do). Angel Pagan then swung at the very first pitch and, though he hit the ball decently enough, flew out to right. Now, for some batters, it may be a good idea to swing at the first pitch after a four-pitch walk with a runner already on. The pitcher may try to get an easy fastball over for strike one, to help avoid loading the bases, so it might be a good idea for a power hitter to sit on that pitch and swing if it's there. But Pagan is not that type of hitter. Pagan started in leftfield in game one and rightfield in game two, but his future is most definitely not as a starting corner outfielder. Pagan, by the way, is seeing only 3.38 pitches per plate appearance.

• Great to see Matt Murton get the four doubles and five RBI's today in game two. I'm almost certain that Jim Hendry will go get a leftfielder in the offseason, but Murton has value and there's no reason he can't be a part of next year's team as long as he continues to improve. Jacque Jones still desperately needs a platoon partner.

• The Cubs stand 18 games under .500 with 54 games remaining. At the end of May, I noted that this Cubs team was on pace to be the worst in franchise history, as measured by run differential, surpassing the 1953 squad. Now, at the beginning of August, exactly two-thirds of the way through the season, things have settled down quite a bit. The Cubs, having been outscored by 104 runs through 108 games, are on pace to be outscored by 156 runs on the year. That would make them the eighth worst team in franchise history, "ahead" of the 1960 team but "behind" the 1947 team.

• Glendon Rusch goes to the DL and David Aardsma is called up. The Cubs are better for it.

• Elsewhere, AZ Snakepit is understandably, from a Diamondbacks' perspective, disappointed with the result, given the good showing from Arizona in game one and the fact they were facing a pitcher making his major league debut, up from double-A, in game two.

• Also, congratulations to Greg Maddux on a great debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight. A rain delay prevented him from going further. The Dodgers have won six straight and, despite being two games under .500, are just three games back of first place San Diego in the NL West.