Harden works out, settles in

Rich Harden put on a brand-new pair of Cubbie blue baseball spikes and headed toward the bullpen mound Thursday morning.

Waiting for him were pitching coach Larry Rothschild and trainer Mark O'Neal.

After loosening up, Harden went through a few pantomime pitches from the mound. Think of it as the towel drill without the towel.

Then it was a "light side" of about 20 pitches.

So what can a pitching coach really "see" while watching a veteran pitcher for the first time?

"Just, overall, what he's doing," Rothschild said. "I was talking to him about what he likes to do, what he needs to prepare, and if there are little things mechanically that you look for. I've got tapes of him. I'll go through those more than anything else, and then we'll sit down and talk."

Harden came to the Cubs on Tuesday as the centerpiece of a six-player trade with the Oakland Athletics. He spent a month on the disabled list early this season because of a strained right shoulder, but he has pitched well of late. Although he wasn't airing it out Thursday, he looked to be "free and easy," in pitching-coach parlance.

"Good," Rothschild said. "He threw the ball easy today. He says he's feeling good. As long as he's healthy, that's the biggest thing. We know what kind of pitcher he is when he's on the field. The ball came out easy. He did a nice, easy side, and that's all we wanted to do today."

Harden seemed to take something away from the session. He'll make his Cubs debut Saturday against the Giants, bringing with him a 5-1 record and a 2.34 ERA.

"It was good," he said. "I've talked to him (Rothschild) a bunch, and we're coming up with a regular routine of stuff we're doing. It's great to get to know him."

Although the Cubs have promised a cautious approach with Harden because of the shoulder, he said Saturday's start will be "pretty normal" as far as the amount of pitches he throws. He also discounted any talk that the velocity on his fastball has been an issue.

"The velocity's there," he said. "It's been up and down. I think the all-star break's going to be good, getting a few days off."

Harden's day wasn't done with his bullpen work. After that, it was on to home plate, where he worked on bunting with coaches Alan Trammell and Ivan DeJesus. He also navigated the bases.

"I talked to him as soon as he got here about running the bases and bunting," Rothschild said. "In Oakland, even in spring training, they wouldn't let him swing when we played them, although during the year, he's gotten a hit. When they get here (to the National League), they like to hit.

"You worry about rib cages and obliques and stuff like that. So we want to put them through an easy couple of weeks of swinging and getting used to swinging before we really get into it."

Harden was 1-for-4, a single, in interleague play. He also had a sacrifice bunt.

"There's some extra stuff I've got to work on," he said. "In the American League, we took batting practice a week-and-a-half before our games and get out there a few times. Fortunately, we're not too far from that. It was only a couple of weeks ago. Still, I think we're going to ease our way into it."

Harden also noticed a decidedly different atmosphere watching Wednesday night's game at Wrigley Field from what he experienced in Oakland, where things can be quiet.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "Watching on TV, you really don't get a chance to see how good at atmosphere it is until you sit down there. It was pretty cool to see the fans come out, and it's going to be like that every day.

"It feels good to be out here. It's definitely a different atmosphere. I like it so far. Everybody was telling me how much I'd like it. It was nice to sit here for my first game and see what it's all about."