I could look at Jason Marquis' altogether solid outing yesterday and cry out, "All is well in Cubdom! Our pitching actually will be good this year!"

But it's just one start, and making a claim like that would not be unlike calling Carlos Zambrano anything less than an ace just because of a few bad Opening Day starts.

And it certainly doesn't help that Marquis has, in each of the last two seasons, started strong, only to finish the season with an ERA over 4.

Jason Marquis: Starting Strong

DATE	IP	H	ER	BB	K	SEASON ERA
April 6, 2005	6	9	1	1	4	1.50
April 12, 2005	6.1	5	1	2	6	1.46
April 17, 2005	8	3	1	1	5	1.33
April 6, 2006	5.1	5	2	3	5	3.38
April 12, 2006	6	7	3	0	5	3.97
April 17, 2006	8	3	1	1	2	2.79
April 5, 2007	6	4	1	2	1	1.50

Marquis' ERA was 4.13 in 2005 and, as we all know well, 6.02 in 2006. So even if Marquis does well in his next few starts, I'll still be skeptical.