''He's throwing the ball much better now than earlier in the year,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''Six really good innings. We shortened him up a little [90 pitches], but he was outstanding.'' Harden came out only because his turn in the lineup came up in the sixth inning with Koyie Hill at second base and the Cubs leading 2-1. He would have liked to stay in -- even in a day game.
''I've been feeling good lately, and the big thing is I'm using my legs and being efficient with my pitches,'' he said. ''I figured out what I was doing just before the break.'' Harden's three starts since the All-Star break are among his best all season. He has allowed two earned runs in 19 innings, striking out 21 and walking two.
It was Piniella who suggested that Harden's statistics indicated he might be more effective in night games than day games, but the numbers might have been skewed because Harden struggled in the first half and nine of his 14 starts came in the daytime. ''It's my job as manager to identify our players' talents the best we can,'' Piniella said. ''It was me, not him, who noticed he had better stats at night. It's my job to notice trends. ''But the way he's pitching now, he could pitch at the Equator at noon.''
Chicago Cubs
".. he could pitch at the Equator at noon"
Lilly to DL, to have knee surgery
Lefty Ted Lilly will go on the DL with an inflamed left shoulder. He'll also have his left knee scoped Monday. He expects to miss 4-5 starts. That's probably an optimistic view. My guess he's out at least a month.
Lilly said the shoulder "got my attention" the day after his rough start in Philly this week. The upshot is that once Ryan Dempster comes off the DL, the Cubs will have a rotaton of Carlos Zambrano, Dempster, Rich Harden, Randy Wells and Kevin Hart. Lou did not seem to think the Cubs would try to acquire a veteran starting pitcher in a trade.
Harden only comes out at night
how bizarre.
Just call Rich Harden the Night Rider. Cubs manager Lou Piniella will try to start Harden as much as possible under the lights as opposed to under the sun. The reason? Harden entered Tuesday night's start at Philadelphia 5-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 6 night starts. During the day, he's just 1-5 with a 7.35 ERA.Thursday's off-day will enable Piniella to start Harden next Monday night at home against the Houston Astros."Then, he'll pitch again in Miami the following Saturday (Aug. 1), but that will be a night game, too," Piniella said Tuesday on his WGN radio pregame show. "Yeah, there's some things we can do to help out. If we don't have days off, it's very hard to do, almost impossible."
Struggling Bradley will never be all right
Another one of those Chicago pieces where the headline has nothing to do with the article. hmmm.
Meanwhile, the School of Lou continues today, when Piniella said they'll videotape the session, and Bradley should be back in the lineup Wednesday against lefty Jamie Moyer, Piniella said. ''It went well. He was receptive to it, and we didn't make many radical changes at all,'' said Piniella, who said he's trying to help Bradley feel more comfortable at the plate and get him to relax more.''I'm confident that this young man will start hitting the ball the way he has,'' Piniella added. ''Hitting a baseball is ability, and he's got ability. It's good eyesight, and he knows the strike zone well. But it's also good hitting mechanics, and you've got to get yourself in a good position to swing the bat. Those are the things we're talking about. And adding the relaxation to it more than anything else.''
How did Bradley think it went? ''It went,'' he said. ''That's all I can elaborate.''
Buyers beware: not every slumping star is a bargain.
I wouldn't trade for Soriano unless the other owner was giving him away, solid advice. But I have full confidence in Johan turning it around. Things couldn't go much worse for the Mets, and Johan is still pitching in very favorable situations, ie: the NL East, with half his starts coming in Flushing. Buy Low?
Each of the six most traded players are stars who have not performed up to their projections to date. Some are worth pursuing, while others are best left for other owners to acquire. Here are those six trade targets, in order of the frequency they have been traded.Alfonso Soriano, OF, Chicago Cubs: He has been traded more than any player in Fantasy over the last two weeks, and that means there are lots of buyers who may be sorely disappointed. Since May 1, Soriano has hit just .217 with eight home runs. An unusually high ground ball rate is behind his sagging average and power. Everything seemed to be fine back in April, so you have to wonder if there is something wrong with him besides his jammed finger.
Johan Santana, SP, New York Mets: He has had better results lately, but Santana hasn't struck out more than five batters in a start since May 27. This stretch of nine starts with this few strikeouts is the longest in his career by far. This extended downturn should be a source of concern and raise doubts as to whether you would get enough value from Santana, given what you would probably have to pay.
Milton Bradley has Lou Piniella's attention
Who knew Milton Bradley could be this bad? Bradley and Atkins are brutal in my NL only, they are just killing me. I knew the injury concerns going in with Bradley, but I never figured he would simply fall off the face of the earth with his stick.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella plans to take a turn soon at trying to solve Milton Bradley's seasonlong hitting slump from the left side of the plate that neither Bradley nor two hitting coaches have cracked. ''I had a nice talk with Bradley [Sunday],'' Piniella said. ''I'm going to work with him personally for a while and see if we can get him going.''That likely means benching Bradley tonight for the opener of a three-game series at Philadelphia and possibly Tuesday. The Phillies have righties scheduled both days. Jake Fox -- who's hitting .326 with almost as many home runs and RBI (five, 19) as Bradley (six, 21) in barely one-third the at-bats -- likely would start in his place.
Soriano out with dislocated pinkie
a blessing in disguise?
Chicago Cubs left fielder Alfonso (Guilleard) Soriano says he dislocated a finger and isn't sure when he'll return to the lineup. Soriano was scratched for Friday night's game at Washington because of a swollen right pinkie."We'll see how he feels tomorrow," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "I think it'll probably be a few days. I don't think this thing will just go down in one day."
Soriano said he got hurt Thursday night when he was thrown out diving into first base during a 6-2 win over the Nationals. "The problem is it's swollen," Soriano said. "It's very big, and I cannot even grab the bat." Soriano's hand was wrapped with ice in the clubhouse. He said he hoped the swelling would go down enough for him to play Saturday.
Ramirez admits home runs could be a stretch
I'd sell before this news gets out. Is that dirty or unethical? meh, I don't see it that way. You are just more informed. Nothing wrong with that.
As Aramis Ramirez neared a return to the lineup earlier this month, he and Cubs officials cautioned against expecting miracles. Now a week of games into his return, it looks like the miracle might be seeing any significant power the rest of the season from the slugger who averaged 30 homers the last eight years.And that's one more hurdle the run-starved Cubs will have to overcome in their second-half quest for a third consecutive playoff berth. ''I can't go to the plate and try to hit a home run because that ain't going to happen,'' said Ramirez, who told the Sun-Times before the second-half opener Thursday in Washington that his left shoulder bothers him more then he anticipated. ''If I try to hit it, I won't hit it. In BP maybe I would, but in the game, if I try to hit [a homer], I won't hit it. I've got to get my pitch and concentrate and do what I've got to do to drive the ball.''
Zambrano a hit
More "Big Bat." I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more players moving towards a heavier bat.
While not the first time Carlos Zambrano said one thing and did another, it might have been the most entertaining. After blasting his third home run of the year and 19th in his career in a 7-3 win over St. Louis in the first of two games Sunday at Wrigley Field, the subject of Zambrano as an everyday player came up. Could Zambrano see himself as a designated hitter in the American League? Could he making a living hitting big-league pitching?"No," Zambrano said while nodding his head yes. "No, my job is to pitch. That's the thing I know how to do better."
The Cubs' franchise leader in home runs by a pitcher knows how to hit. In 465 at-bats this year, outfielders Kosuke Fukudome and Milton Bradley have 13 home runs. At his rate, Zambrano would have 35. "He swings a big bat," shortstop Ryan Theriot said. "That's no surprise. If you throw one where he's swinging he's going to hurt you."
Geovany Soto the latest to join DL
read more »Geovany Soto will miss as long as a month because of a strained left oblique, the latest setback for the Cubs in a trail of injury woes. Soto will go on the disabled list today, when the team makes a corresponding move to add a catcher, either from a minor-league call-up, trade or waiver acquisition. An MRI exam Thursday confirmed the injury Soto suffered during batting practice Wednesday, making him a lineup scratch that day.
''He came to the park today, and he was still sore, so this is the right thing to do,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''What are you going to do? You can't complain about it. He'll go to Arizona and get some treatment and heal.''
