Harden Still Winless
Rich Harden has been outstanding since joining the Chicago Cubs, but so far, his record doesn’t show it.
The Cubs’ newest starter will try again for his first win with his
new club as Chicago continues its four-game series with the Florida
Marlins on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global
have made Chicago -245 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has
not been set at this time (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 47% of bets for this game have been placed on Chicago -245 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Rich Harden (0-1, 0.73 ERA) was
acquired in a July 8 trade with the Oakland Athletics and has allowed
just one run in 10 1-3 innings in his first two starts with the Cubs
(60-43). However, Chicago blew the right-hander’s 7-0 lead against San
Francisco on July 12 before winning 8-7 in 11 innings, and gave him no
run support Monday in Arizona.
Harden went seven innings against the Diamondbacks, allowing only a solo home run, but was saddled with the 2-0 loss.
"He
was lights out," teammate Derrek Lee said. "It’s a shame we can’t win
that game for him. You can’t get much better than that."
Of
course, the Cubs, who lead the NL with 538 runs, have been struggling
to score for most of their pitchers lately. Friday’s 3-2 loss to the
Marlins (54-49) dropped them to 3-5 since the All-Star break, and they
have managed only six total runs in those defeats.
"That’s
baseball," Harden told Oakland’s official team Web site after Monday’s
defeat. "The way these guys can hit the ball, they’ll come back and get
a lot more runs."
Harden made his only previous start against
Florida on June 20, allowing one run in 5 2-3 innings of Oakland’s 7-6,
11-inning win.
The Cubs got a look at another new pitcher on
Friday as Jeff Samardzija, the former Notre Dame football star, made
his major league debut after being called up from Triple-A Iowa before
the game. Samardzija took the roster spot of closer Kerry Wood, who was
placed on the disabled list Thursday with a blister on his right index
finger.
The 23-year-old right-hander was impressive at times
during his two innings, striking out two and hitting 99 mph with his
fastball. However, he also showed his youth, allowing a run in the
seventh inning to blow a 2-1 lead before throwing a scoreless eighth.
"I
felt really good coming out for that second inning. My mechanics came
together a little more," Samardzija said. "My whole goal here was to go
out and throw well and give confidence to the coaches that they can
throw me out there in any situation."
Jeremy Hermida led off the ninth with the go-ahead homer for the Marlins, who won for the fourth time in seven games.
"To
quiet those fans takes a lot," Hermida said. "It’s a fun place to play
all around. Real passionate fans and they back their players better
than any fans around. It was fun to go out there and do something like
that and quiet them down."
Jorge Cantu went 1-for-4 with an RBI double, and is 6-for-11 (.545) over his last three games.
Florida
will hand the ball to Chris Volstad (2-1, 2.16), who is making his
fourth major league appearance and third start. The 21-year-old
right-hander, a 2005 first-round pick, gave up three runs in six
innings of Monday’s 4-0 loss to Atlanta, 10 days after lasting 8 2-3
innings in a win at Dodger Stadium.
"I like the way he handles himself, every day," manager Fredi Gonzalez told the Marlins’ site. "He’s composed on the mound."
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