Clark & Addison Blog - CubHub.net

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With much curiosity but no ceremony, the newest Cubs, Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin arrived at Wrigley Field late yesterday afternoon to join their new team. With their gear in Oakland Athletics duffle bags, they arrived via giant SUV in time for Tuesday night’s game against the Reds of Cincinnati.

Photo of Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin arriving at Wrigley Field 7/9/08:

With Harden and Gaudin come high expectations and cautious hope.  Still, many Cub fans seem reluctant to express outwardly their secret, perhaps even desperate hopes for the club’s first successful post-season in 100 years.  By “successful” of course I mean to define success as bringing a World Championship to the North side of Chicago.

I was saying to a friend the other day that I want ‘the Cubs to go all the way this year, baby!’  He chided me - seriously - for saying such a thing out loud. He said that really isn’t a good idea, even not cool. Now he is a die hard fan like I am, but he feared somehow upsetting the baseball Gods, or squandering whatever karmic collateral the Cubs have built up could have an effect on the season.  Sometimes its just hard to hope - out loud.

I think it would be a mistake to assign too much responsibility to Rich Harden.  There has been talk the Cubs will go easy on him, letting him go an extra day this week so his Cubs debut will be Saturday.  Then he will reportedly get the fourth start after the All Star Break which would put him at eight days rest.  This is the right thing to do, go easy on him, keep the pressure down, cut him tons of slack… because we will need him in the playoffs, baby!

Photo of his first ever throw as a Cub, playing long toss with Larry Rothschild prior to Tuesday’s game:

Even though Jim Hendry denies it, trading for Rich Harden clearly serves the purpose of an answer to the Brewers getting CC Sabathia for the stretch run. The fans are invigorated, the team seems charged by the news, the beat writers are all over it. Not since the Cubs acquisition of Nomar Garciaparra has there been such excitement over a mid-season trade. Fun stuff.

In giving up Sean Gallagher, it figures the Cubs had to give to get. He will probably be a good pitcher for years to come, but sure worth the gamble to get 15 starts out of Harden. When the Cubs got Rick Sutcliffe in 1984 they had to give up Joe Carter and Mel Hall, a hefty price to pay. At least as of today, the Harden trade doesn’t look all that balanced. Eric Patterson has certainly showed flashes, but there really was no room for him in the Cubs infield plans. He was a butcher in the outfield so certainly worth letting go of. Matt Murton is a good role-player, but again no room for him on this Cubs team. Hendry made the statement that everyone wanted to hear: The Chicago Cubs are going for it all this year.

Soon enough, a headline somewhere is going to read “Cubs start Harden, finish with Wood”. And really, what’s not to like about that?

New poll posted on the CubHub.net blog - who do you think will win National League Rookie of the Year honors for 2008?  You can vote once per day to reflect how the season goes… Early in the season it was looking like Kosuke Fukudome was going to run away with it, but these days it seems more Geovany Soto’s to lose.  Let’s see what you think!

The Cubs diminutive (listed at 5 foot, 8 inches) reserve second baseman Mike Fontenot has found some power lately.  Maybe manager Lou Piniella will begin to take note as he has homered in 3 of his last 8 games - and Lou pinch hit for him immediately following two of those home runs!

On June 21 Fontenot went back-to-back with Jim Edmonds. Later that same inning Edmonds homered again, but mysteriously Lou pinch hit for Fontenot!  Lou later referred to it as a ’senior moment’, admitting his mistake. 

 Then on June 27 Fontenot homered in the 5th inning against the White Sox.  His next turn at bat, Lou pinch hit with Matt Murton who flied out.  Fontenot stayed in the game last night but did not come to bat again.  I wonder if Lou will sit him or play him in tonight’s finale in San Francisco?

Mike Fontenot is quietly hitting .321 over the past two weeks, going 9 for 28 with 3 doubles, 3 HRs and a .750 slugging percentage.

The Cubs win today in dramatic fashion over the Sox with an Aramis Ramirez walk-off homer.  This is a great win, in spite of a tired team that arrived back in Chicago from Florida after getting swept by the Rays at 1am, just 12 hours before the scheduled first pitch. My feeling is the electric atmosphere of rockin’ Wrigley Field propelled the Cubs to step up and beat the Sox at their own game - the long ball. How sweet it is to win in walk-off fashion but to do it over the crosstown rivals is extra good.

But this is one game, with two more sure to be draining games coming tomorrow afternoon and Sunday night. And its just one win in a 162 game season.  Long way to go, but these are the games you have to win.  They were just swept on the road by a pesky young Tampa Bay team. They got in late, there was no batting practice due to weather, they were facing the Sox, admittedly second-class citizens in this town and obviously envious of the attention paid to the Northsiders. The Sox came in hot after just sweeping the Pirates at home, hitting 10 HRs out of their 44 hits in that series. But the Cubs stepped up and made it happen. Bottom of the ninth muscle from A-Ram, his second dinger of the day to win in come from behind fashion.  This is a big, big game, but as Lou likes to say: let’s not get too giggly here. But enjoy the win nonetheless.

With the diagnosis today of Carlos Zambrano having a minor strain of the shoulder, Cubs fans can breathe a sigh of relief. No torn labrums, no Tommy John, no rotator cuff…probably just some rest and some strength building exercises for Big Z.

Here is a comment from read Gregg, followed by my reply:

Lou Piniella has apparently anointed Reed Johnson for his lead-off batter in Alfonso Soriano’s absence.  Of course Lou is apt to change his mind on occasion, but for now that’s the way it is.  Reed provides some spark and has a gamer attitude, but he’s far from the prototypical #1 slot hitter based on his numbers.

Johnson has a .342 on-base percentage which is actually ten points higher than Soriano. But the entire world knows Soriano is a free-swinger and OBP is not his claim to fame.  Johnson is batting just .267 this year and has 13 walks in 176 at bats. He doesn’t steal bases with just 4 bags all year. So why then does Lou want him in the leadoff spot? 

Ryan Theriot is batting .310 with a .388 OBP. He leads the team with 13 steals and has 32 walks. He, too, is a gamer who can work the count and makes contact with just 23 strikeouts as compared to Johnson’s 28 k’s in 76 fewer at bats.  So why is Lou not comfortable with Theriot batting lead-off with Fukudome 2nd, followed by Lee, Ramirez, Soto…?  This was the lineup I advocated in March (with the exception of Soriano in the 5th spot).  Statistcally, this lineup matches the modern day thinking of ideal hitters for each slot.  You want an on-base guy who can run leading off, a contact guy who can hit situationally second, your best overall hitter third, your power guy in cleanup, and a big bat in the 5th hole to protect your cleanup guy.  That’s how you draw it up on paper and if you have the personnel, its a winning formula. 

So tell me why Lou doesn’t buy into this?  Sure, hard to argue with the manager of a team 20 games over .500 in June, but surely worth discussion…