Why does Harden suck this year?

[kbwsb]

His entire career, he has been lights-out. Brittle, yes, but when handed the ball, he was outstanding.
Is he pitching hurt? Is he throwing a different way, so as to not <i>get</i> hurt?
Has he just picked this particular season to suck balls, joining the Soriano and Bradley bandwagon of formerly excellent players who picked 2009 to suddenly play miserably bad baseball?

Anyone have a theory?

[CFOrfan]

His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

I really don't know how we are .500

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=50096:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM:name=CFOrfan)-->QUOTE (CFOrfan @ Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

<b>I really don't know how we are .500</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said that a lot this year. It's kind of hard to fathom considering almost everyone is having a bad year, <i>and</i> we've been bitten pretty hard by injuries.
Looking at the glass half-full, this would seem to point to a good 2nd half. At least two writers who are persistently accused of being anti-Cub (Dayn Perry and Rob Neyer) have said recently that they expect the Cubs to be the surprise mover in the 2nd half.

[Butcher]

He's pitching hurt. They found a tear in his shoulder and he opted to not have surgery. So he's pitching tentatively and probably can't let loose completely. The tear was such that it could have gone either way -- surgery or no surgery.

I expect his second half will resemble his first half.

[savant]

I echo orf. He has no command. His stuff can still be electric, but he is missing in the zone over the heart of the play with consistency this year.

[Butcher]

I agree that his command has been poor, but he isn't a finesse pitcher. Pinpoint location has never been his game. It's his ability to change speeds with no change in his arm action. For
the most part, his fastball has been too slow and his change up isn't different enough from his fastball.

[PcB]

<!--quoteo(post=50102:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:49 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 15 2009, 06:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I agree that his command has been poor, but he isn't a finesse pitcher. Pinpoint location has never been his game. It's his ability to change speeds with no change in his arm action. For
the most part, his fastball has been too slow and his change up isn't different enough from his fastball.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree with everything in this post except the weird sentence structure.

[CFOrfan]

I still kinda feel like he HAS been changing speeds. Decently, at least. I noticed his last start his change up was 84-87 and his FB was 92-94.

If he is throwing 92 and his changeup is at 87, then that is a little bit of a problem. He has to get into that 95 range againif he wants to toss 87 MPH changes.

[CFOrfan]

<!--quoteo(post=50097:date=Jul 15 2009, 04:33 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Jul 15 2009, 04:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50096:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM:name=CFOrfan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CFOrfan @ Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

<b>I really don't know how we are .500</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said that a lot this year. It's kind of hard to fathom considering almost everyone is having a bad year, <i>and</i> we've been bitten pretty hard by injuries.
Looking at the glass half-full, this would seem to point to a good 2nd half. At least two writers who are persistently accused of being anti-Cub (Dayn Perry and Rob Neyer) have said recently that they expect the Cubs to be the surprise mover in the 2nd half.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I feel the same way, no way we can get worse, right? We've had the injuries, the slumps, the bone-headed play(ers)....so now we are ready to rock in the second half. I hope.

[jstraw]

<!--quoteo(post=50097:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50096:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM:name=CFOrfan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CFOrfan @ Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

<b>I really don't know how we are .500</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said that a lot this year. It's kind of hard to fathom considering almost everyone is having a bad year, <i>and</i> we've been bitten pretty hard by injuries.
Looking at the glass half-full, this would seem to point to a good 2nd half. At least two writers who are persistently accused of being anti-Cub (Dayn Perry and Rob Neyer) have said recently that they expect the Cubs to be the surprise mover in the 2nd half.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I feel duty bound to announce, whenever his name is dropped, that I used to play softball with Rob Neyer.

Thank you.

[Brock]

<!--quoteo(post=50135:date=Jul 15 2009, 10:17 PM:name=jstraw)-->QUOTE (jstraw @ Jul 15 2009, 10:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50097:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM:name=KBwsb)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KBwsb @ Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50096:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM:name=CFOrfan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CFOrfan @ Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

<b>I really don't know how we are .500</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said that a lot this year. It's kind of hard to fathom considering almost everyone is having a bad year, <i>and</i> we've been bitten pretty hard by injuries.
Looking at the glass half-full, this would seem to point to a good 2nd half. At least two writers who are persistently accused of being anti-Cub (Dayn Perry and Rob Neyer) have said recently that they expect the Cubs to be the surprise mover in the 2nd half.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I feel duty bound to announce, whenever his name is dropped, that I used to play softball with Rob Neyer.

Thank you.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I bet he took a lot of walks.

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=50135:date=Jul 15 2009, 10:17 PM:name=jstraw)-->QUOTE (jstraw @ Jul 15 2009, 10:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50097:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM:name=KBwsb)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (KBwsb @ Jul 15 2009, 06:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=50096:date=Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM:name=CFOrfan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CFOrfan @ Jul 15 2009, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->His control has been awful. Not necessarily walks, but he is just missing spots too. It's not the whole answer, but it is part of it.

<b>I really don't know how we are .500</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said that a lot this year. It's kind of hard to fathom considering almost everyone is having a bad year, <i>and</i> we've been bitten pretty hard by injuries.
Looking at the glass half-full, this would seem to point to a good 2nd half. At least two writers who are persistently accused of being anti-Cub (Dayn Perry and Rob Neyer) have said recently that they expect the Cubs to be the surprise mover in the 2nd half.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I feel duty bound to announce, whenever his name is dropped, that I used to play softball with Rob Neyer.
Thank you.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Did you live in Kansas City?

[Clapp]

He's been at 94-97 a lot in this last game and at Pittsburgh. The problem is like some of these guys have said, he's throwing everything right down the middle. Leaving pitches up way too much. I was worried about it in ST, especially with his changeup, and it's carried over to the regular season.

I expect to lose this first game, think they'll take Harden deep a couple times and we won't hit Lannan just like last year. He's also 3-0 with a 2.20 ERA at home, and just 2 homers allowed in 61.1 innings.

Then again, Harden is 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA on the road, so who knows. I didn't realize just how much worse he's been at home: 2-5, 7.59 ERA.

Somehow gotta go no worse than 3-4 on this trip, and that's going to be damn tough. Hart and Harden in Philly scares the shit out of me. Meanwhile, the Cards toss Carpenter and Wainwright against the Dbacks this weekend. Hopefully we can be less than 5 or so out by the upcoming homestand. Our schedule the rest of the year is a huge bitch(particularly 4 at LA, 4 at CO, 4 at SF at the end of a 10 game road trip that starts with 3 at STL and 3 at MIL. that last 10 gamer is the last week and the half of the season. fun.)

[Ace]

I'm developing a post on this very topic - how Rich Harden has been the pitching equivalent of Alfonso Soriano this year, but is getting a free pass because the pitching, in general, has been good.

[kbwsb]

Yeah, everyone keeps saying the it's a miracle that we're at .500, but the truth is that pitching is a HUGE part of the game, and we've thrown pretty well, all things considered.