The 2006 John Koronka

This year's John Koronka made his debut today in the form of Ryan O'Malley. O'Malley made a two hour drive from Round Rock early this morning with the Cubs in desperate need of a starting pitcher. O'Malley got a phone call at 6:30 this morning, made the two hour drive, and showed up for the Cubs game which started at 1 CT.

Quite the busy morning, but once the game started, O'Malley was right at home. O'Malley pitched 8 shutout innings spotting a fastball that sat in the mid to upper 80s, mixing in a nice changeup, and also a cutter and curveball. O'Malley got a way with quite a few mistakes though, and left his changeup up in the zone quite a bit. O'Malley ended up throwing 109 pitches, 60 of which were strikes, and ended up walking 6 batters while only striking out 2.

It will be interesting to see if O'Malley will get another shot after earning the win today. Most likely, Wade Miller and Sean Marshall will surface in the next week or so, which will mean the Cubs will have 6 starters fighting for 5 spots. O'Malley may get one more chance to make a start early next week if neither Miller or Marshall, and if the Cubs stick to the decision to use Angel Guzman in relief. If all of those happen, O'Malley will get one more start, but after that he will be either be moved back to relief to help as a lefty specialist (with Scott Eyre on the DL) or sent back to Iowa.