The German Marquez hit the first eight clowns that he saw

I do not want to alarm anyone, but the following two things are true: the Colorado Rockies currently have a half-game lead in West NL, and that's largely because, for the most part first time, they launch well. German Marquez is one of those starters and he went really well last night.

Colorado beat Philadelphia 14-0 behind Marquez's seven cleared innings and 11 strikeouts. If his final line does not impress you, consider that he has eliminated the first eight batters of the game, becoming the third thrower since 1900 to eight consecutive batters. It was one-shot to break the record for consecutive withdrawals, but Nick Pivetta, of all the people, managed to establish a weak contact on a 0-2 account:

That kind of performance is not exactly an aberration for Marquez, who also set the franchise record for the strikeouts in a season last night. He beat 221 hitters in 191 innings and had a 2.55 ERA in the second half of the season.

Whenever a starter succeeds in rebuilding a decent season while launching into Coors Field, it is reasonable to assume that there is a lack of flexibility. But Marquez is not Jeff Francis dancing through the raindrops with an arsenal of junkballer, or Ubaldo Jimenez throwing 101-mph fastballs towards the board and hoping for the best. This season, and especially in the second half, he actually looked like a real polite ace. He gets ahead by putting 97-mph fastballs through the edges of the plate, then he puts the guys with a curve curve and a zipped slider. That's what good pitchers do, and it's a bit odd to see him doing it so regularly in a Rocky Mountain uniform.

Even stranger, Marquez is not even the best thrower of the staff. Kyle Freeland has an ERA of 2.84 and has been a good Tom Glavine player. And then there's Jon Gray, who has better things than Freeland and Marquez, but who has not really figured out how to get out of his head long enough to become a consistent ace.

If you prefer to have your elite pitcher on your qualifying baseball, do not get upset if the Rockies keep the division head. This year, for once, they might not let you down.