The Cubs came into Philadelphia having won four in a row from baseball’s worst team and ready to take on the defending champs, in the midst of an eight-game winning streak of their own. The Phillies immediately showed the Cubs the difference between the worst and best team in the NL east, tagging them for ten runs in game one and winning two of three overall. Triple Play returns with three promising signs from Citizens Bank Park:

1. Back On Track

It was essentially an unstated fact that Rich Harden’s first two starts after the All Star break were to be his audition to stay in the rotation for the remainder of the season. Maybe it was stepping up to that pressure, maybe it was pitching on the road, or maybe it was the respite provided by the All Star break. Whatever it was, Rich Harden has proven his worth in the Cubs rotation.

His first start against the Nationals he was stellar, going six innings while allowing only one run on three hits, striking out seven in a winning effort. Tuesday night’s 13-inning loss to the Phillies was another showcase of Harden’s best. Squaring off against his former Oakland A’s teammate, Joe Blanton, he again gave up one run over seven frames of baseball, attacking Philadelphia hitters every time up. Unfortunately the Cubs would lose six innings later, but Harden did everything asked of him and more to give his team a chance to win.

Tweaking his repertoire may have helped Harden over his past two starts. He threw primarily his fastball and straight changeup, using the split-finger only sparingly. Whether it was by chance or intentional remains to be seen, but if Harden’s last 14 innings are a good enough indication for him, expect more of a two-pitch approach.


2. Encouraging Loss

Monday night’s 10-1 shellacking was far from encouraging. The last thing you want your All Star starter to do is allow nine runs in four innings. But Tuesday night’s game in which Rich Harden started was one of the more encouraging losses you can have from a pitching perspective.

The hitting still showed its flaws, but the aforementioned Harden pitched like his vintage self. Then, to follow up, the bullpen shut down the Phillies lineup for 5 2/3 innings before Jeff Samardzija allowed a three-run walkoff home run to Jayson Werth. Those scoreless innings included two innings from Carlos Marmol in which he struck out four, another inning from Angel Guzman, and a combined inning from Sean Marshall and Aaron Heilman. Samardzjia had gone 1 2/3 innings before Werth sent Philadelphia to their 10th straight victory.

On the whole, it was 12 2/3 innings of 1-run baseball from an incredibly potent Phillies lineup that features Shane Victorino (.306 average), Chase Utley (.302/21/66), Ryan Howard (.257/24/69), Raul Ibanez (.310/25/68), and Werth (.262/21/61) as its two through six hitters. So while it is tough to lose the game the way the Cubs did, containing an all star lineup for over 12 innings with a starter who has been questionable and a bullpen that has struggled to find its identity all year are signs of good things to come.


3. Getaway Day 'W' 

It was good to see the Cubs salvage one game from the series and do it on getaway day. Winning that last game before heading back home for a day off gives them some momentum to build on when they take on division rival Cincinnati on Friday.

Surprisingly, the Cubs hit no home runs—the entire series-- at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park. Scoring two runs total through the first two games doesn’t exactly help out the longball cause, but Wednesday’s 10-run homerless outburst wasn’t the worst thing. They played small ball when they needed to, and went with pitches rather than try and pull the ball. The first run of the game was scored after four straight singles from Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Milton Bradley, and Alfonso Soriano. They took advantage of Philadelphia fielding errors and ran smart on the base paths, something they have been notorious for not doing all season.

In the end, Kevin Gregg held it down for 1 1/3 innings to notch his 19th save of the season, and put the Cubs 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, who were scheduled to play later that night.
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