Can somebody get Rich Harden some help? His Chicago Cubs teammates certainly won’t.
Since he was acquired from the Oakland A’s just under a month ago, Harden has struck out a total of 30 batters in just three starts. And yet he has zero wins to show for his effort because the Cubs have blown opportunities in a variety of ways.
In his Cubs debut on July 12, he struck out 10 Giants batters and exited in the six inning with a 7-0 lead. San Fran rallied for seven runs over the final two innings to hand Harden a no-decision. In his second outing, Harden limited the Diamondbacks to one run on one hit over seven innings while striking out another 10 batters. He took the loss as Arizona shutout Chicago 2-0. And in his latest start Saturday, Harden struck out 10 Marlins in rout to another no-decision as the Cubs lost 3-2 in 12 innings.
This is a Cubs team mind you, that has scored 538 runs this season – best in the Nation League, second best in all of MLB. And yet, they continue to leave Harden out to dry. It’s nice when a trade works out like Harden has for Chicago, but the Cubs have failed to capitalized on the acquisition and continue to be one of the worst second half teams thus far at 3-9.
