Rich Harden didn’t look bad, pitching 6.0 innings and giving up four hits, including a homerun to Scott Rolen in his first at-bat since being beaned last week.  Harden gave up a total of three earned runs, while striking out nine and walking four.

Of the four hits mustered by the Cubs, Harden had the only extra base hit, a non-consequential double.  Alfonso Soriano had one of the other Cubs hits, but he was summarily picked-off first base to take away any threat he posed.

The Cubs will enjoy a day off today as they travel to Colorado for a three game set against the Rockies.  Carlos Zambrano (7-4) will kick things off on Friday against the Rockies Ubaldo Jimenez (8-9).

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The Cubs released BJ Ryan yesterday.  According to a tweet on Twitter from Gordon Wittenmyer, Ryan asked for his release because he didn’t think his velocity was coming back.

This situation seems strange to me.  Ryan was released from Toronto because his velocity was down and he wasn’t nearly as effective as he had been in previous years.  Toronto worked with him on his mechanics, but things didn’t work out. 

The Cubs took a flyer on Ryan and he reported to Mesa with a ton of enthusiasm to work hard and get his mechanics right.  Cubs officials stated that they were impressed that Ryan wanted to “do things the right way,” meaning he was willing to be patient and to work hard to solve his mechanical flaws.  Once in Mesa, a Cubs official (it may have been Randy Bush) said that Ryan’s problems were more mental than mechanical, making it sound like they could get him straightened out more quickly that first expected.

Ryan quickly made his way to AAA Iowa where he was pitching very well over the course of a week or two.  Rumors were flying that he was on the fast track to join the Cubs in August.  Then out of the blue, he asks for his release.

I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes nor do I know what motivation Ryan may have had for asking for his release, but the whole thing seems odd to me.  Does Ryan have another opportunity he wants to pursue?  Did the Cubs find out something negative about Ryan (Physical problem?  Steroids?).  I don’t know, but it seems like there’s more to the story than we know right now.

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I’ve been critical of JP Ricciardi for not dealing Roy Halladay at the trade deadline.  I felt he was asking too steep of a price for Halladay, he deluded himself when teams weren’t willing to pay his price, and he further deluded himself by believing that teams will pay even more for Halladay in the off season.  Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has chimed in with his thoughts, and it sounds like we generally agree.

In a nutshell, Heyman blames Ricciardi for talking too much about the trade and being too candid.  For instance, it certainly didn’t help Ricciardi’s negotiating position by publicly staing that the Yankees and Red Sox would have to pay more for Halladay that out-of-division teams.  Not only did it let both the Yankees and Red Sox know that they didn’t have to worry about the other obtaining Halladay, but it also let Philadelphia and other out-of-division teams know that the Yankees and Red Sox would not be serious competition for Halladay.

Heyman is also critical of Ricciardi for not being more creative in his negotiations.  According to Heyman, Ricciardi should have made an effort to package Halladay with either Vernon Wells or Alex Rios in an attempt to move a big contract that is hampering Toronto’s efforts to rebuild and contend.  I had mentioned the possibility of packaging Wells and Halladay in a previous post and I still think it would have been a good idea for Toronto.  True, adding Wells or Rios to the deal may have reduced the return the Blue Jays would have gotten for Halladay alone, but it would have created much needed payroll flexibility for Toronto.

In a radio interview, ESPN’s Jayson Stark was asked if Riccardi’s failure to move Halladay might lead to his firing.  Stark responded that he didn’t think Ricciardi would be fired because he didn’t move Haladay.  Instead, he thinks Ricciardi was already on the hot seat, and Toronto management may have wanted Ricciardi to trade Halladay so the new GM wouldn’t have to.  Now, he can see a situation where Ricciardi is fired and the first order of business for the new GM will be to trade Halladay. If that happens, the new GM will almost certainly get less for Halladay than Ricciardi was shooting for, making the new GM look weak in comparison.  Not a good way to start a new job.

Mike Fontenot was the hitting star (Yeah, you read that right).  He was 2-for-4 with a homerun, three RBI and one run scored.  John Grabow saw his first action as a Cub.  He faced two batters and did not allow a base runner.

But like most die hard Cubs fans, I can’t just be happy with a win.  I’m glad the Cubs won, but Carlos Marmol did everything he could in the ninth inning to give the game away.  The stats tell part of the story.  He pitched 1.0 inning, gave up two hits, a base-on-balls, and allowed one run.  But it was more than that.  He pitched like he was scared of each batter he faced and he refused to throw strikes.  There’s such a thing as being efferctively wild.  Marmol was just wild.

Marmol was blowing his fastball by hitters, but after a while, he refused to throw it.  He kept throwing his slider, but couldn’t locate it.  Koyie Hill was calling for pitches up in the zone, but Marmol kept throwing them low.  He’d miss his target by a foot a more.  One one occasion, Hill practically stood up behind the plate to get Marmol to throw higher.  It didn’t help.

Despite his past heroics, I don’t have faith in Marmol any more.  With him as the set up man and Kevin Gregg as the closer, it’s like throwing gasoline on a fire every night.  I’m not sure what the Cubs can do about it at this point in the season, but I hope that Jim Hendry addresses the issue in the off season (or better yet, with a waiver claim in August).  If BJ Ryan can get back anything close to what he used to have, I wouldn’t mind seeing Lou Piniella give him a chance at the back of the bullpen. 

The Cubs and Reds clash again tonight.  New Cub Tom Gorzelanny (3-1) will face Johnny Cueto (8-8) at  Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.

Ryan signed a $47 million deal with Toronto in 2006.  He is still owed $15 million, but Toronto is on the hook for most of that.  He will only cost the Cubs about $200,000 in 2009 and $600,000 in 2010.  Coinsidering the cost and the upside potential, this is definitely a risk worth taking.

When he’s ready, Ryan figures to slot into the Cubs bullpen as a left-handed specialist, allowing Sean Marshall to return to the rotation.  It has been speculated that ryan may also contend for the closer’s role, but I think that is unlikley.

Over his career, Ryan has some suprisingly impressive numbers (at least I was surprised…and impressed).  Over his 11-year career, Ryan has compiled a record of 21-28 and an ERA of 3.37.  He has 117 saves and he averages 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.  Admittedly, his stats haven’t looked good this year (especially against right handed hitters), but his history gives reason to be hopeful.

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The Cubs started the secon half of the season in good fashion by beating the Nationals in Washington 6-2.  Rich Harden pitched 6.0 innings giving up just three hits and one earned run.  According to the radar gun on CSN, Harden was consistently hitting between 93-96 with his fast ball.  He also was throwing his slider with confidence, a feat not seen in recent outings.

Derrek Lee hit 3/4 of a cycle, missing the full cycle by just a triple.  On the night he was 3-4 with a homerun and an RBI.  Alfonso Soriano batted fifth and went 1-3 with a run scored.  Reed Johnson assumed the lead-off duties and went 2-5 with an RBI.

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Rich Harden has some rather odd home-road splits this year.  So far this season, Harden is 6-6 with a 5.06 ERA.  But on the road, he is 4-1 with a 2.17 ERA.  Harden downplays the splits, but Piniella said he thought that Harden had some troubles with day games, particularly with the heat.

Last night, Harden recorded his 700th career strikeout.  Congratulations, Rich!  For his career, Harden has struckout 702 batters in 692.2 innings over  just 124 games.  That’s good.

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Yesterday I talked about a possible Roy Halladay trade and mentioned that the Cardinals might be one of Halladay’s likely destinations.  But according to Joe Stauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are downplaying any interest in Halladay because they don’t have the necessary pitching to trade and because they are unwilling to give up CF Colby Rasmus.

If they don’t have the pitching, then they don’t have the pitching.  But why wouldn’t they trade Rasmus?  I understand that Rasmus is a highly respected prospect, but Holliday is argueably the best pitcher in baseball.  I don’t understand teams’ refusal to trade guys who might someday be good for players that are very good now.  Of course, I’m happy to hear that St. Louis may not be in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes after all, but their refusal to part with Colby Rasmus puzzles me.

First, let me preface what I am going to say by stating that although I am a glass-is-half-full kind of guy, I am not a cock-eyed optimist.  What does that mean?  Well, it means that I tend to be optimistic and positive most of the time, but I also see a hopeless situation for what it is.  I may be positive, but I’m not completely unrealistic.

Having said that, I think the Cubs are in a fairly good position heading into the second half of the season.  True, they are just .500 (43-43) so far this year.  It’s also true that they have played some really bad baseball during the first half of the year.  Even so, I think there is cause for optimism.

The Cubs got good pitching during the first half of the year, but their hitting stunk.  According to David Pinto at Baseball Musings, the Cubs are 4th in the NL in team ERA and 2nd in strikeouts per 9 innings, but they are 14th (out of 16) in Runs per game and batting average.  They’re 13th in on-base percentage and 10th in slugging percentage.

The loss of Aramis Ramirez to a dislocated/strained/sprained shoulder early in the year didn’t help matters any.  Whether it was due to his absence or not, both Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley have been horrible this year.  Soriano is hitting just .233/.298/.413 and Bradley is at .243/.379/.381.  Others have been bad as well, including Kosuke Fukudome (.251/.367/.421), Geovany Soto (.230/.336/.396), and Mike Fontenot (.230/.307/.358).  But even with the Cubs poor offensive performance in the first half, they still have a record of 43-43 and sit just 3.5 games behind division leading St. Louis.  I would prefer that the Cubs led the division by a substantial distance, but considering how they played, things aren’t too bad.

So what has to happen in the second half for the Cubs to win the division?  First, the Cubs need to start hitting.  Ramirez is back and hopefully he picks up right where he left off.  Soriano and Bradley are bound to start hitting, aren’t they?  They’ve never hit this poorly for a full season before in their careers, so I expect them to come back to somewhere near their career numbers.  Derrick Lee has already started to come around, so hopefully some of the other Cubs (like Fukudome, Fontenot, Soto, Ryan Theriot, Reed Johnson, etc) can contribute.

The pitching staff also needs to stay stout.  The starters have been very good, but Rich Harden continues to struggle with his velocity and Ryan Dempster just went on the DL with a broken toe.  If the Cubs pick up the recently released B.J. Ryan, expect to see Sean Marshall back in the starting rotation.

I’d also like to see the Cubs get serious about obtaining a topline starter.  I know the sale of the team may be throwing a monkey wrench into those efforts, but it looks like teams are willing to part  with some of their front of the rotation pitchers.  Names like Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Eric Bedard, and Jake Peavy (on the DL) have been floated out there.  These types of pitchers can help the Cubs this year, and guys like Halladay and Peavy could be longer term investments.  The starters have carried the team up until now, but the rotation needs to be shored up.

Of course, this type of talk may be moot.  If the Cubs aren’t allowed to take on additional payroll, then Jim Hendry’s hands are tied.  Also, do the Cubs have the prospects that would be needed to get a Halladay or a Peavy?  I’m not sure.  The farm system is improving, but is still not considered one of the best.

A lot of other teams are looking for bullpen help, but the Cubs are fairly well set.  Marmol and Gregg have been good (but not great) in the eighth and ninth innings, Marshall has worked well as a LOOGY (although he is capable of more), and adding B.J. Ryan is a low risk/high reward scenario.  Aaron Heilman bugs me, but he hasn’t been horrible.  And the cast of “others” (including David Patton) have done okay as well.  I can see some tweaking with the bullpen, but not a full overhaul.

The two teams the Cubs are chasing, the Cardinals and Brewers, have weaknesses of their own.  The Brewers pitching is their achilles heel and it’s questionable whether or not they’ll be able to do anything about it. 

The Cardinals pitching has overachieved so far this year.  Can they continue to pitch as well as they have?  Only time will tell.  Their offense lives and dies with Albert Pujols.  Can he continue to stay healthy and carry the team?  Again, only time will tell, but the point is that both St. Louis and Milwaukee have weaknesses that could derail their playoff hopes.  If the Cubs can start playing up to their potential at the same time that St. Louis and/or Milwaukee starts to falter, it could mean some very good things for the Cubs.

The bottom line for the Cubs is that they already have the talent and potential to win the division.  They just need to start realizing that potential.  Even without a Cardinal or Brewer collapse, the Cubs should be able to catch the division leaders.  And if they can improve their roster even slightly, all the better.

So as a glass-is-half-full kind of guy, I like the Cubs chances to still win the division.  Of course the usual caveat applies:  If they can stay healthy and play up to their potential, they should be fine.

So what’s happened since the last time I posted?  Let’s see:

• The Cubs took three-out-of-four from the Brewers
• The Cubs split a four game series with St. Louis
• During the home stand, the Cubs went 6-4 to bring their record to 43-43 on the year, and 3.5 games behind the division leading Cardinals.
• The Cubs are tied for third place in the NL Central with Houston…Houston?  Where did they come from?
• Ted Lilly was selected to represent the Cubs at the All-Star game.  I guess someone had to go and Lilly is as deserving as anyone.
• Alfonso Soriano was moved out of the lead-off spot (finally) in favor of Sam Fuld.  Fuld played CF against the Cardinals and Soriano batted fifth.
• Milton Bradley is hitting just .243, but he claims he’s figured out what he is doing wrong and will have a much better second half.  I hope so.  Bradley has been working with Cubs hitting coach Von Joshua and thinks he’s found what he’s doing wrong.
• Rumor has it that the Cubs are interested in B.J Ryan, who was released by the Blue Jays last week.  Ryan is owed $15 million over the next year-and-a-half, but would only cost the Cubs the league minimum with Toronto picking up the balance.  This is a good risk.  Ryan won’t be the closer (I hope), but could become a killer LOOGY.
• Roy Halladay is rumored to be on the trade block, but the Cubs are not rumored to be interested in him.  Is Jim Hendry really not interested or is he just playing it cool?  Of course, it could be that the Cubs 1) don’t have the budget room to take on Halladay’s contract, 2) don’t have the prospects that will be needed to get Halladay, or both.
• The Cubs may file for bankruptcy in order to clear some debt from the books.  Supposedly, this could speed up the sale process and put Tom Ricketts in charge.  If it will help the Cubs get some help before the trade deadline, I’m all for it.

Now we’re all back up to speed.  The All-Star game is tomorrow (in St. Louis) and then after an off-day, the Cubs travel to Washington to take on the Nationals.