Again, no hard knocks for Harden
Rich Harden once again made Cubs history, and once again has nothing to show for it.
Harden became the first Cub to record 10 strikeouts in his first three games with the Cubs. Only Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have ever had three straight starts with 10 strikeouts.
All that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee. All that - plus a Milwaukee win over Houston on Saturday night - gets the Cubs a share of first place in the National League Central, which is where they sit for the first time since May 25 after wasting another dominating - and short - effort by Harden.
Harden left with the lead, only to watch Florida come back to beat the Cubs 3-2 in 12 innings in front of 41,471 at Wrigley Field. He allowed 1 run in 5 innings.
After throwing 112 pitches against Arizona on Monday, manager Lou Piniella pulled Harden after 87 pitches Saturday.
"We wanted to shorten him up a little bit and we did," Piniella said.
In 3 starts since coming over from the A's, Harden has 30 strikeouts in 17 innings with an ERA of 1.04.
And no wins.
"I have to be a little more efficient with my pitches," Harden said. "I feel I definitely could go deeper in games, take a little pressure off the relievers. My goal every time going out is at least 7 innings and unfortunately I've had a couple short ones."
Harden wasn't the only one with a short day at the office. Piniella didn't make it around to see the final out, getting tossed for the second time this season by Rob Drake.
Drake ejected Piniella and Cubs first base coach Matt Sinatro in the ninth inning. Sinatro exploded after Drake called a sliding Mark DeRosa out at first base. Piniella came out and also got tossed.
"It was a close call," Piniella said. "Umpire made his decision and that was that."
Drake ejected Piniella against the White Sox on June 29 and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on Wednesday.
"I went out there to get my coach off the field," Piniella said. "The only thing I mentioned to the umpire was why are you so antagonistic. And that's what he kicked me out for. And he is antagonistic, but outside of that I'm not going to talk about the umpires any more."
Sean Marshall relieved in the sixth, and like Harden, made one mistake. It came to the latest Cubs killer, Jeremy Hermida, who won Friday's game with a ninth-inning home run.
Hermida blasted 2 more long balls Saturday, in the third against Harden and eighth against Marshall. He doubled in the 12th and scored the winning run on Jorge Cantu's double off Chad Gaudin.
The bigger problem for the Cubs is their offense. They started strong, with Aramis Ramirez delivering an RBI single in the first and a solo home run in the third, then didn't score again the next 9 innings, managing just 3 singles.
"We're not stringing together hits," Derrek Lee, who went 1-for-5. "It seems like we all kind of stalled at the same time."
Carlos Marmol pitched 2 scoreless innings, only after DeRosa's running grab in deep right in the ninth, then Alfonso Soriano nabbing Dan Uggla's drive at the wall in the 10th. Reed Johnson also made a diving catch in center in the 10th, two innings before he gunned down Robert Andino trying to stretch a single into a double.
"We're playing good baseball, we're pitching well. We made some real nice defensive plays," Piniella said. "If we continue to swing the bats like this the rest of the year, we ain't going to win that many."