Bo Porter, who broke in with the Cubs as an outfielder back in 1999 and today is the Marlins' third-base and outfield coach, has been counseling the Florida outfield corps in the fine art of negotiating Wrigley Field's ivy-covered brick walls.

No word on who counseled Jeremy Hermida on how to hit a Bob Howry meatball, but somebody clearly instructed him pretty well.

---

Things will be quiet around here for the next week and a half or so. Should be back around August 7th.

Go Cubs.

Before tonight's 6-3 win over the Marlins, the Cubs officially disabled Kerry Wood. After the win, the Cubs officially summoned righthander Jeff Samardzija from Iowa.

Though Samardzija appeared to be a candidate to share in middle-inning relief duties while Wood was out and Carlos Marmol slipped into the closer's role, Gordon Wittenmyer writes in the Sun-Times that Samardzija might start one of this weekend's games against Florida, which would allow Lou Piniella to give Rich Harden an extra day's rest. As Wittenmyer points out,

A Saturday start would push back Rich Harden's scheduled start to his sixth day -- a schedule that produced good results for Harden with Oakland earlier this year.

In fact, with the A's this season, Harden started seven times on five days rest. In those seven starts, he went 4-0, 1.43, with 60 strikeouts in 44 innings. Which is nice.

As for Thursday night's game, it was more "Fun with Carlos" as Marmol walked three men in just an inning-and-a-third on the way to his fourth save.

The save opportunities may end soon for Marmol, however, as the start of Wood's DL stint was backdated to July 14th, which means he will be eligible to return to the Cubs next Tuesday, when the team will play the second of four games against the Brewers.

— Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I found no fewer than eight positives in the concluding game of the Cubs' mostly miserable 2-4 road trip.

— According to the Sun-Times, Tribune Company has pared the field of potential purchasers of the team and the ballpark down to five, with all of those parties having bid at least $1 billion. Mark Cuban is among the five; John Canning, Milwaukee businessman and friend of Bud Selig, is apparently not.

— In light of Kerry Wood's ongoing blister problem, the S-T's Gordon Wittenmyer became the first reporter covering the team to utter those two words, one of which is virtually impossible to spell correctly: Jeff Samardzija.

The blister on [Wood's] right index finger hasn't come close to healing the way the club expected by now, and Wood could be facing another trip to the disabled list after seeing a specialist in Chicago [Thursday]. That might open the way for hard-throwing prospect Jeff Samardzija to make his major-league debut.

Since his recent promotion from Double-A ball, Samardzija has started six games for the I-Cubs, going 4-1, 3.13, fanning 40 and walking 16 in 37 1/3 innings. This past Monday, the former Notre Dame football star held Nashville to 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings while striking out 9.

— I'll be out of town next week, when manager Ryne Sandberg leads his Class-A Midwest League Peoria Cubs into battle against the Kane County Cougars in the special "Road to Wrigley" game right there at Clark & Addison, but it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. The Cubs have decided to open the upper deck for the contest, with some of the seats going for as little as $5. All in all, a brilliant promotional idea. Hard to believe the Cubs could have come up with such a thing in the absence of former marketing genius-in-residence John McDonough, now President of the Blackhawks, speaking of which...

— Having lived my entire life in the Chicago area, I am at peace with the idea that the weather here will be completely inhospitable to human life from November 1st through April 30th every year, without exception. However, this year on December 31st, I'm really, really, really going to pray that the high temperature on New Year's Day, 2009 hits about 85 degrees.

Tuesday night's Cub loss left me speechless, i.e., postless. If it wasn't a certain low point in the season thus far, it is at least in the running.

In trying to find some historical context for the Cubs' play through much of the first half—most of it related to the team's stunning record at Wrigley Field—I have continued to stumble across references to 1969 and 1977. In both years, the Cubs headed into the All-Star break with a hold on first place.

I won't go into 1969, but as for '77, it was unique because both the Cubs and the White Sox sat atop their respective divisons at the break and naturally, that gave rise to all sorts of 'what if?' talk about an all-Chicago World Series.

That season, the Cubs finished the first half with a 54-35 record, 2.5 games better than the second-place Phillies in the NL East. (This year's Cubs were 57-38 at the break, 4.5 games better than the second-place Cardinals in the Central.)

The '77 team split its first 12 games in the second half, holding onto sole possession of first place through August 3rd. The Cubs then split a 4-game series at home against an awful San Diego Padres team while Philadelphia, with Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, and Steve Carlton all in fine form, ran up a winning streak that would eventually reach 13 games, including a 4-game sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley.

By the time the Phillies finally lost, the Cubs had fallen 5.5 games in arrears and the season was over. At the finish line, the Phillies were division champions with a 101-61 mark, while the Cubs finished 20 games back at 81-81, damn respectable by Cub standards but deeply disappointing considering how things had looked in July.

(Saving grace—though the White Sox held up much better than the Cubs and finished the campaign 90-72, they still finished third, 12 games behind the AL West champion Royals.)

I don't mention any of this because I have given up hope or expect the Cubs to finish 20 games out, but given how poorly they have started the second half, how dreadfully they performed in Phoenix Tuesday night, and how well the Brewers are playing (with the overachieving Cardinals right behind them), it certainly does cross a Cub fan's mind that we could be seeing the beginning of the end of all those World Series fantasies we have shared so far in 2008.

With Arizona's 2-0 victory over the Cubs Monday night, Randy Johnson ran his career record against the Cubs to 13-0. Only one other pitcher in National League history has won at least 10 games against the Cubs without suffering a loss: Sal Maglie of the Giants, who went 10-0 between 1954 and '58.

At least Rich Harden, who pitching brilliantly for 7 innings—1 ER, 1 hit, 2 BB, 10 K—has some company in being the Cubs' losing pitcher in a game won by Randy Johnson. As you'll see, it's not good company in many cases, but it's company nonetheless.

Here they are...the 12 Cubs pitchers who preceded Harden in dropping a game to the Big Unit:

1. Calvin Schiraldi (9/20/88; Expos 9, Cubs 1)
2. Mike Harkey (9/26/88; Expos 3, Cubs 2)
3. Don Wengert (8/22/98; Astros 8, Cubs 3)
4. Terry Mulholland (6/9/99; Diamondbacks 8, Cubs 7)
5. Jon Lieber (8/16/99; Diamondbacks 10, Cubs 3)
6. Andrew Lorraine (4/30/00; Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 0)
7. Steve Rain (8/20/00; Diamondbacks 5, Cubs 4)
8. Jon Lieber (5/18/01; Diamondbacks 4, Cubs 0)
9. Jason Bere (6/14/01; Diamondbacks 3, Cubs 2)
10. Jason Bere (8/18/01; Diamondbacks 5, Cubs 3)
11. Carlos Zambrano (8/25/02; Diamondbacks 7, Cubs 0)
12. Carlos Zambrano (4/26/04; Diamondbacks 9, Cubs 0)

With Monday's 7-inning, no-run outing, Johnson sliced his career ERA against the Cubs to 1.93 over 102 2/3 IP. In that time, he has allowed but 66 hits, while fanning 142 and walking just 33.

He can't retire soon enough for me.

Yesterday on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike Show, one of the Mikes (Greenberg), recounted a conversation he had the night before at the annual White House t-ball game with former Cub Ryne Sandberg.

The subject was intimidating pitchers, and Sandberg confided that the only pitcher he was truly afraid to dig in against, a pitcher who actually caused Ryno to stand one step further from home plate than normal, was Nolan Ryan. Per Greenberg, Sandberg said when he stepped in against Ryan, his only thought was to reach out and drive the ball to right-center field. Pulling the ball was never in Sandberg's plans against Ryan.

Sandberg also said that if one was fortunate enough to hit the ball solidly and, say, end up with a double, Ryan would glare at the hitter as he ran the bases. Sandberg decided the best thing he could do was run out the hit, keep his mouth shut (God forbid there would be any fist-pumping), and most of all, avoid any eye contact with Ryan, lest he get one of those 100mph heaters in his ribs or under his chin in his next at-bat.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, Sandberg faced Ryan in 47 plate appearances between 1982 and 1988 when Ryan was with the Astros. Sandberg went 10-for-41 (.244) with a .340 OBP and .415 slugging percentage, with 2 HR, just 3 RBI, 11 K's and 6 BB's in those head-to-head matchups.

The All-Star break extended through Thursday night here at "A Hundred Next Years." Something new will be up some time Friday.

In the meantime, I have a post up at The Cub Reporter regarding the 10 biggest Cubs hits so far this season, according to the exquisite numbers at FanGraphs.

As a Cubs fan, I have several vivid memories of watching the All-Star Game, all of them back when I was much younger, pre-free agency and pre-interleague play, and the game seemed so much more interesting.

One of those moments occurred in 1970, when Pete Rose famously crushed Ray Fosse at home plate to score the winning run in the Nationals' 5-4, 12-inning victory over the Americans; a play only made possible by the line single to centerfield off the bat of the Cubs' Jim Hickman.

Another memory is from 1975, when I saw Bill Madlock rap a two-run, ninth-inning single against White Sox reliever Rich Gossage, scoring the lead runs in an eventual 6-3 NL win and securing co-MVP honors in the game for Madlock.

My third favorite All-Star Game memory comes from 1976, when Steve Swisher, who was a truly terrible catcher for the Cubs between 1974 and 1977, was selected as the lone Cub representative on the NL squad, though he never appeared in the game.

I don't know why this last recollection is so vivid—maybe it is the sheer, hysterical incongruity of Swisher stepping out for the pre-game introduction alongside the likes of Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt, Fred Lynn, Rod Carew, Rollie Fingers, and Catfish Hunter.

I'll bet Steve Swisher thinks of 1976 every year at All-Star time, and probably not because of the incongruity.

Naturally I am so worked up over Rich Harden's Cub debut Saturday afternoon, I have no choice but to stay up all night tonight in anticipation. As a result, I am following tonight's late games from the West Coast as they happen, including Sean Gallagher's first start for the Athletics, who are opening a series against the AL West-leading Angels in Oakland.

Gallagher pitched the first seven innings of the game, which the A's currently lead, 9-2. The 22-year-old righty allowed just two hits, three walks, and two earned runs before he was lifted. The seven-inning stint matches Gallagher's longest this year for the Cubs, back in late May when Gallagher and his mates beat the Dodgers, 3-1.

During tonight's late edition of Baseball Tonight on ESPN, Tim Kurkjian reiterated what has been written elsewhere, that Gallagher was the key player from the A's perspective in the Harden trade. For at least a moment this evening, Oakland fans also had to be feeling good about having acquired Matt Murton—the redhead smacked a bases loaded single to plate two runs in the middle of a 6-run Oakland rally in the third inning. That rally essentially locked up the game for the home team.

That was Murton's only hit in the game thus far. He is 1-for-5 with a strikeout.

In any case, I'm sure Rich Harden is happy to see his former team burying their chief AL West rivals.

Tonight I learned that Saturday, July 19th will be "Mullet Night" at U.S. Cellular Field.

Yes, the White Sox are making a point of honoring their fans who wear mullets.

I believe this is like the Chicago Symphony acknowledging their patrons who love classical music.

(Just something you think about when you'd rather not confront the fact that the National League's 12th-highest scoring team clubbed seven home runs Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field and flattened the home team, 12-7.)

Wednesday afternoon on WSCR, Cubs assistant General Manager Randy Bush contradicted something that had been said about new Cub Rich Harden by the Chicago Tribune's Dave van Dyck Wednesday morning...on the very same WSCR.

Van Dyck quoted a scout he spoke to right after Tuesday's trade who said that Harden has reduced his repertoire this season to just two pitches—fastball and change-up—to protect the balky shoulder that has been the culprit behind much of Harden's Disabled List time.

Bush, who heartily endorsed the proposed acquisition of Harden to his boss, Jim Hendry, and personally scouted the hurler this past Sunday when the Athletics played the White Sox in Chicago, said the no-breaking ball assertions about Harden are untrue; that he personally saw him snap off some nasty sliders at U.S. Cellular Field over the weekend.

Apparently we'll see for ourselves on Friday or Saturday, when Harden makes his National League debut against the Giants, whom Harden dominated (6 IP, 1 hit, 9 K, 2 BB and no runs allowed) in an interleague game just four weeks ago.

According to Fangraphs, whose pitch-type data goes back to 2005, Harden has changed his pitching mix quite a bit in the last few seasons. While the righthander is still throwing almost the exact same proportion of fastballs (about 62% of his total pitches), Harden has reduced the number of sliders significantly, from 10.7% to just 5.5%. He has also cut down drastically on the number of split-finger pitches he throws, from 18% to a paltry 7%.

And while, if we are to believe Randy Bush, Harden is not a strict fastball/change-up thrower, he is throwing many more change-ups than he was back in '05: from 9% to around 25%.

A couple more notes on Harden. First, this one from Will Carroll, writing Wednesday for Baseball Prospectus:

The Cubs, clearly in a win-now mode, got an upgrade with some downside. The Cubs were willing to take on that risk after a sign-off from their own doctors and the word of (Doctor) Lewis Yocum...While Harden is always going to be an injury waiting to happen, I think that the risk, and the team's relative assessments of that risk, are going to be the deciding factor in the perception of who "won" this deal.

Finally, a perspective on Harden from none other than the White Sox' A.J. Pierzynski, who fanned twice in three at-bats against him on Sunday and is quoted here from an article in the Oakland Tribune that ran during Spring Training of last season:

Pierzynski compared Harden's stuff to that of Atlanta's John Smoltz. Both combine velocity with a repertoire of other pitches they can call on.

"He can make the ball go down. He has a slider which breaks. His fastball kind of cuts a little bit. Sometimes he can sink it, too," Pierzynski said of Harden. "He can move it up and down. Most guys have one thing or the other, but it's the special guys who have three or four of those."

Shortly after the announcement of the Cubs' acquisition of Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from the Athletics on Tuesday afternoon, WSCR's Boers & Bernstein took a call from Dave in Bloomingdale, who decried the Cubs having to give up both Matt Murton—1 HR in 231 AB's this season, with Iowa and the Cubs combined—and Eric Patterson, who has hit the hell out of the ball in the minors, but simply fields like hell.

That conveys all one needs to know about the average sports I.Q. of the average sportstalk listener.

Here is what some knowledgable observers outside of Chicago had to say about the deal, which brings the gifted but oft-injured Harden and Gaudin to 1060 West Addison and sends Murton, Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson to Oakland:

Yes, pity the A's fan who's seen so many aces disappear up so many other teams' sleeves. But A's fans should embrace Tuesday's trade...

Harden was house money. His right arm, so worrisome over the years, had transformed back into a wanted commodity, thanks to a 5-1 first-half record. Despite back-to-back sub-par outings, he was the A's best trade bait.

The Cubs wanted him, and they can have him. They need him more than the A's do. And they'll need to get skipper Lou Piniella a reliable pitch-count clicker to track Harden.

— Cam Inman, Contra Costa Times

"The Cubs were pretty aggressive," (Oakland GM Billy) Beane said. Cubs GM "Jim Hendry and I talk quite a bit anyway. We consistently had conversations over the past month; we came to an agreement this morning. They were looking for Rich..."

From the A's point of view, Gallagher was key to the deal. Beane said the A's have been following Gallagher's progress since he joined the pro ranks. He is scheduled to start for the A's on Friday.

"We've had numerous injuries," Beane said. "Guys have done a good job battling through it, but as far as what we're doing, this is a step forward for what we're doing for the next four or five years."

— Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle

My first reaction is that Cubs fans ought to be insanely happy about this. They're not likely going to miss any of those players in their pennant drive much, while Harden and Gaudin will both make an immediate impact, especially if they turn Gaudin back into a starter.

And my second reaction is that if Cubs fans should be happy, then A's fans should be disappointed. I like Gallagher, but Murton seems redundant on the A's roster, Patterson seems like the type of risky player who, like his brother Cory, will likely not pan out unless he can miraculously find some plate discipline, and Donaldson--never heard of him.

—Ken Arneson, Catfish Stew

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry checked in from time to time throughout June with Oakland general manager Billy Beane about the availability of Rich Harden...Yes, Harden was available, but only at the right price, and that price would include right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher. Hendry indicated, repeatedly, that Gallagher wasn't available.

On Sunday evening -- the same night when word broke that the Brewers had worked out a deal for CC Sabathia -- Hendry indicated to Beane...that he would make Gallagher available in a Harden deal, but it would create a problem: If Gallagher was traded, the Cubs wouldn't have the kind of depth they needed to deal with an injury.

"Let me call you back," Beane said.

Beane had an idea. He could fill Hendry's need for depth by adding veteran swingman Chad Gaudin in the trade. He phoned Hendry back on Monday night with the suggestion. "That could work," Hendry said, and the two general managers began piecing together other parts of the trade. Beane called Hendry with a detail of the trade very late on Monday night...

Some 15 hours later, the trade was finished. Oakland got Gallagher, a pitching prospect with a more stable medical history than Harden, and the Cubs got a high-risk, high-reward talent in Harden.

— Buster Olney, ESPN.com

Finally there was this summation from Buck Showalter on ESPN's Baseball Tonight:

"Harden's stuff is just wipeout filthy."

In the aftermath of the Brewers' acquisition of C.C. Sabathia, Jayson Stark devotes his "That's Debatable" column at ESPN.com to alternately arguing why the Cubs, Brewers, or Cardinals might be the best team in the NL Central.

In his argument on behalf of the Cubs, Starks writes:

The Cubs were the best team in the National League before this deal. And it won't be easy for [Sabathia], who only goes out there every fifth day, to change that. The Cubs are a deeper, more efficient and more consistent offensive team than Milwaukee, for one thing. They've scored nearly 70 more runs (475-406). They've outhit the Brewers by nearly 30 points (.283-.255) and have a much better on-base percentage (.359-.324). And the Cubs still have the better bullpen (3.65 ERA to Milwaukee's 4.07).

Starks concludes that the Cubs, who "undoubtedly have a trade or two in them themselves," should capture the NL Central, regardless of Milwaukee's new, 290-pound bundle of joy.

Six box score lines belonging to young starter pitchers in Thursday's National League games:

7 IP, 6H, 1 ER
8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER
8.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER
6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER
5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER
6 IP, 10 H, 11 ER

The first four lines belong, respectively, to Mike Pelfrey (Mets), Chad Billingsley (Dodgers), Cole Hamels (Phillies), and Manny Parra (Brewers).

The bottom two lines, the mediocre one and the ghastly one, belong to Sean Gallagher of the Cubs and Mitchell Boggs of the Cardinals.

The Mets, Dodgers, and Phillies were all winners yesterday. But despite Parra's strong effort, the Brewers lost when their bullpen allowed Arizona to rally from a 5-0 ninth-inning deficit and score a miraculous 6-5 victory.

Gallagher, who survived a terrible second inning at San Francisco, to post a respectable start against the Giants' outstanding young pitcher, Tim Lincecum, was also a loser.

Finally, Boggs, the owner of that 11-earned run start, was on the wrong side of the 11-0 beating that the Mets and Pelfrey doled out to St. Louis. While it might seem cruel and unusual for Tony LaRussa to have left Boggs in for six innings of abuse, the manager actually had little choice. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I would rather save him the beating when it's not his night," La Russa said, "but I was much more concerned about the effect on the rest of our pitching staff trying to finish that game."

The Cardinals' bullpen has had plenty of work lately, with three of the previous four St. Louis starters failing to last past the fifth inning and the Cubs are coming to town tonight.

"It was good for me to stay out there and take my lumps and get better," Boggs said. "It's a huge series starting (tonight). The last thing I want to do is come out in the third inning. Then our bullpen has to eat up six innings. That's a killer.

Carlos Zambrano (8-3, 3.13) returns from the Disabled List to meet Braden Looper (9-5, 4.26) in the first of three between the Cubs and St.Louis at 7:15 Friday night. Cubs lead the NL Central by 2 1/2.

Geovany Soto has had a wonderful 2008 season, and it seems likely he will be rewarded for it with a starting berth on the National League All-Star team. In Wednesday night's game at San Francisco, he contributed a two-out, two-run hit in the seventh inning that gave the Cubs a three-run lead, which seemed to seal Ryan Dempster's first road victory of the season. (More on that in a moment.)

In addition to being heralded for his offensive prowess—a 128 OPS+, 13 HR, and 48 RBI coming into Wedneday's game—Soto has been applauded for his work behind the plate and for the maturity he has demonstrated in handling the Cubs' mostly veteran pitching staff.

The low point for the Cubs in Wednesday night's game, however, occurred when Soto got back behind the plate as the Giants batted immediately after Soto's two-run single. Carlos Marmol, who entered the contest with a 7.36 ERA since June 1st, fanned the first two hitters in the frame. He then fell behind pinch-hitter Travis Denker 2-0 on sliders and eventually walked him on an errant curveball. Leadoff man Freddie Lewis was next, and he rapped an 0-1 slider for a single to right field. Finally, veteran Ray Durham came up and Marmol threw him a fastball, but it was high and right over the plate and Durham buried it for the game-tying home run that left Dempster with a big, fat, disappointing ND.

On the Comcast broadcast of the game, Bob Brenly talked about how Marmol had "fallen in love with his slider," shaking off Soto when he called for one of Marmol's 90+ mph fastballs. (By the reckoning of mlb.com, nine of Marmol's 19 pitches were sliders, four were curveballs, and six were fastballs.)

Maybe as young Soto saw the inning starting to slip away, before Durham ever got to the plate, he should have called time, joined Marmol on the mound and said, "No, Carlos, don't shake me off anymore." (For his part, Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild didn't appear from the Cub dugout until after Durham had tied the game.)

The irony of all this, as you know if you watched the game, was that Mike Fontenot clubbed a long home run of his own in the visitors' half of the eighth inning, which gave the Cubs a 6-5 lead; a lead that Bob Howry and Kerry Wood protected, which in turn made a winning pitcher out of...Carlos Marmol.

I had a busy weekend followed by a busy Monday; so busy, I couldn't watch or listen to a moment of Cubs baseball nor consume any local sports media from the end of Friday's loss to the White Sox to the first pitch of the Cubs/Giants game Monday. I wonder how the Cubs fared this past weekend. I'll bet it was an interesting series.

Tuesday at espn.com (subscription required), Peter Gammons listed seven pitchers whom he considers potential Cubs trade targets. (Thanks to mlbtraderumors.com, which flagged the Gammons piece and summarized it for the benefit of non-ESPN.com subscribers like me.) The pitchers—and the Cubs' relationship to each of them, according to Gammons—are:

• C.C. Sabathia, Indians (unlikely Cubs will have enough talent to trade for him)
• Rich Harden (no specific news of Cubs interest; just a good pitcher who might be available)
  
• Randy Wolf, Padres (Cubs tried to get him when he was last a free agent)
• A.J. Burnett (Cubs are watching him)
• Aaron Cook (Cubs love him, Rockies said last month he's not going anywhere)
• Bronson Arroyo, Reds (he's on the Cubs' radar)
• Kevin Millwood, Rangers (ditto)

Pitching wasn't the Cubs' problem Tuesday night in San Francisco. Jason Marquis pitched well enough after a rocky first inning, but the offense never got untracked. Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano can't return soon enough.