Don’t overreact about Jason Marquis’ first two starts

If Jason Marquis keeps it up he may earn himself the nickname ‘two face’. That’s because he’s been a drastically different pitcher than he was in Washington before the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired him.

Prior to being dealt to the desert at the trade deadline Marquis had put up stellar numbers. He had an 8-5 record with a 3.95 ERA in 20 starts. Solid numbers for a guy playing on one of baseball’s cellar dwellers in the Nationals.

His numbers since arriving in the Valley have been anything but solid. In two starts as a Diamondback he is 0-1 with a 12.38 ERA. That may concern fans, but not the team’s general manager.

“Sometimes it’s tough,” Kevin Towers said Wednesday to Sports 620 KTAR’s Doug and Wolf. “Maybe there’s a little bit of added pressure. You have to look at what these guys have done historically and I still think Jason is going to string together some good starts for us.”

While Towers is optimistic, Kirk Gibson sounds a little more cautious in his approach with the team’s newest member of the rotation.

“That’s something we’re going to have to look at,” Gibson told reporters following Tuesday’s game. “He’s not throwing the ball well for whatever reason. We know he has the ability to throw the ball well. He’s an experienced guy. We’ll put our heads together and figure it out.”

History shows that Marquis’ performance thus far as a Diamondback is the exception and not the rule. Over his 12-year career he is 104-98 with a 4.55 ERA and he appeared in the 2009 All-Star game.

Although his eight innings in Arizona have been pretty horrid, the other 1660.1 innings in his career probably paint a much better picture of what kind of pitcher he can be moving forward.

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