The Harden They Come, The Harden They Fall: Cubs 5, Reds 0

…where everyone in the stands spins around when Kosuke corkscrews….

to watch Harden on live TV (other than just highlights on Baseball Tonight). Seems that none of his games are on WGN (or ESPN/Fox) for those of us outside IL without EI or any of that. I was jazzed about being able to watch his last start, but it was the rain out. He sounded just about perfect last night.

can’t wait to get back and finally see a full game again… between work and travel I feel like an exile. Fortunately, this condition won’t last much longer…

… then down the stairs and out.

Plus, other teams know about Sori’s leg problems. Maybe Quade holding up the stop sign is just a ruse to get the defense to relax and get caught offguard when Fonzie comes barreling home.

…was visibly frustrated – presumably with Quade – after scoring in the eight inning.

i had to go boxscore by boxscore. even the Major League Baseball Portal doesn’t keep pickoff stats for position players.

He used to be a lot more insightful before he let this get to him. It’s like someone who keeps ripping on an ex . . .

…he did say in June that he thought the Cubs were going to win the division HANDILY, and he has stuck by those words…

I’m not THAT old!

…referring to Soriano, not Soto, Sue.

intriguing

and not listening to your 3rd base coach is a problem if it keeps up, but i can’t remember the last time he did this…..hopefully this doesn’t empower him to keep making his own decisions

i’m just glad he was safe so we didn’t have a 30 minute argument about how sori sucks and isn’t worth his money haha

The point is that no other player on the team would disregard the sign. There hasn’t been too much to be concerned w/ the past 2 weeks on this team, but one relative consistency has been Soriano’s mental gaffs. He stands apart from his teammates in this regard. I love the player, but like to see him clean this up.

I don’t think we can rip Fonzie for this one. He was right and Quade made a mistake holding him.

Who really has the final say? If your third base coach holds you up when you know you can score at what point is it right to go ahead and score? How many times did we wish runners had stopped even though Waving Wendell said go? Its easy to shirk any responsibility and just listened to your base coach and let him take all the blame if he makes the wrong decision, but at some point the runner should include his own judgement in the decision making process.

For example, if the stop sign comes up too late for you to slow up, you go. I had a very fast player on my softball team blow thru my sign. He told me later I was late on the stop sign even though I had started when he was just past halfway to third. He was just that fast.

He scored by the way.

but i think what drew was saying is everyone makes mistakes (including coaches), so i think the person that was ultimately right depends on what lou/quade would say after the game

if they side with sori and say it was a good call for him to run, then sori was right….if they would say it wasn’t worth the risk, then sori was wrong

we’re not talking about getting picked off at first, or watching what would have been a HR in almost any other park bounce off the wall.

We’re talking about him running through THIS SIGN. I think he knew he could score. I saw him turn his head to look and see where the ball was, and he realized he could go through. He hesitated for a second, then went for it, and scored pretty easily.

His legs are finally better. He’s got his confidence back. It was the right decision.

Quade is not Lou, and running through a sign is not ignoring your manager call a pitch-out.

For the first 10-15 feet out of Harden’s hand, the fastball and changeup are in the EXACT SAME plane, which is sick. I can’t remember the GIF i saw of this, but it explains why batters get so far ahead of the changeup.

dave otto? can’t remember… but whoever and pat were talking about this, how there is dozens of different change up grips and that it is just a matter of what works for that pitcher.

the goal is to find a grip that allows you to maintain arm speed and motion, mimicking a fastball with the delivery. i believe they said that glavine accidentally “discovered” his change up grip while playing long toss in the outfield before a game.

when the Cubs take the field

Even though it’s “Hey Hey Holy Mackerel” on the new CD.

BTW — that CD was made by local Cubs fans in my hometown — the booming metropolis of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Some of you know it as the northernmost suburb….

that with as much tradition as the Cubs have that something new was created this year – last year, technically, but it’s truly caught on this year.

That sounds pretty awsome with about 100,000 people singing.

They’re playing that again — part of the big WGN campaign. They play it before every Cubs game. Reminds me of the Spider-Man theme from the 1970’s.

(Bobby Hull, Bobby Hull. Friendly neighborhood . . . sorry, that’s just silly)

everyone knows we’re a power-based club, relying only on the long ball.

Someone should tell him it’s not ’04 anymore.

Though I would say if we had a non-AL pitcher in we could play small ball. Of course I should be shocked that they even know what small ball is considering who manages that team.

Nothing compared to the early May series against them where he was saying Soto was on roids and a team on a 95 win pace “should have a better record”

Geo scoring from third on Harden’s bunt was the definition of small ball. And the Cubs didn’t hit any home runs last night yet still shut out the Reds 5-0. Suck it, Brennaman.

(well, he is getting up there)

Or did she say it?

they need him to get there, but then they need him to WIN, too.

but that would be stupid. The Brewers are in a strong position to win the Wild Card. They ought to take it and be happy with it. Lots of teams win the World Series as wild card teams these days, and no one cares they didn’t win the division when they hoist the flag.

Dempster is much more likely to be able to do that.

I’d want Harden for the first game too. Nice to get that 1st. win out of the way.

Last appearance Oct 13 2006 at Detroit. Pitched 5 2/3 innings. Walked 5. Gave up 3 ER, including a dinger. Lost. Only start in the playoffs.

2 relief appearances in 2003 vs Boston. 1 1/3 innings, 2 ER. 2 walks.

Total playoff stats: 6.43 ERA. 7 innings, 7 walks, 5 ks.

Harden looks great. But I would rather have Z and Demps in a pressure spot right now, and thats not even including the bullpen usage problem.

starts over the next few weeks to make that kind of a statement. What would you say if Z gets hot and reels off 3 or 4 starts in a row where he dominates. I just don’t see a big of a gap between the two pitchers as you do.

there’s no debate in your mind. There never is.

Z has the stuff to be just as dominating a Harden, AND he can go much deeper in the game. I’d be very surprised to see Harden have a CG in the playoffs, I would be much less surprised to see Z or Demp have one.

on your average Deuces Wild video poker machine

He’s in one of his stupid streaks right now.