in the best performance of any Cardinals starter in the series, pitching six innings and giving up three runs. He was bested, however, by Boston pitcher Derek Lowe, who threw shutout ball for seven innings to win the series for the Red Sox. "Whether you lose 100 games or win 100 games and go to the World Series, the last day of the season you're still looking around and saying, 'The season is over? What do I do now?' " said Marquis as he stuffed jerseys into a duffel bag. "It's hard to handle." Marquis had an up-and-down season in 2005. Although he started the season strong, he slid into a personal seven-game losing streak. It ended on August 27, 2005, when Marquis pitched a two-hitter against the Washington Nationals, for his first career shutout. Overall Marquis posted a 13–14 record, with a 4.13 ERA in 207 innings pitched. He appeared in 33 games, starting 32, and completing 3 (6th in the NL). He gave up the second-lowest percentage of line drives in the NL (17.3%), induced 29 double plays (T-4th in the league), and was 4th with 1.26 GIDP/9 IP. In the postseason he worked out of the bullpen in the NLCS, after not being used in the Division Series, and pitched in three games, finished with a 3.38 ERA. In January 2006, Marquis and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract for $5.15 million, avoiding salary arbitration. The season started off well for Marquis, as on July 23 he became the first NL pitcher to win 12 games, raising his record to 12–7. But Marquis followed with a losing second half of the season. Pitching in the starting rotation all year, Marquis finished 14–16, but with a 6.02 ERA, the 2nd-worst in baseball among players who qualified for the ERA title (Joel Piñeiro, of the Seattle Mariners, finished last with a 6.36 ERA). He led the majors in runs allowed (136), and led the NL in losses (16) and home runs allowed (35). "Obviously, those were tough pills to swallow," Marquis said. "I took one for the team." On the other hand, in games that were late and close, he held batters to a .188 batting average. Marquis did not pitch in the postseason, but despite that, his teammates still voted him a full playoff/World Series share. He was also given a World Series ring. Chicago Cubs (2007–08)