All-Star Break Push: Harden added, Ramirez Sizzles

The fact is the Cubs might be getting their get their best mid-season pitching acquisition since the National League’s 1984 Cy Young Winner, Rick Sutcliffe. While all of the media seems to overplay the hurdles that Harden has climbed throughout his career due to his injuries, the fact is that he sported a 2.34 ERA in Oakland this year. That is a major accomplishment given the addition of the Designated Hitter in the American League, and the strength of the AL lineups like Texas, Boston and Detroit. In three starts against the defending champion Red Sox this year; Harden is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings. And more relevant to the North Siders, in four starts against NL competition, the Cubs new starter has posted a 3-0 record with a 0.68 ERA adding 33 punch-outs in just under 27 innings. Those numbers are phenomenal, and to me they offset Harden’s minor arm strain that put him on the shelf in April. All of his outings against the National League have been in the past six-plus weeks, so obviously Harden is in spectacular form. We acquired a true ace, and Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry could be up for sainthood should the deal prove to allow the Cubs to hold off the trailing Brewers and Cardinals. He’s ditched old time Cubs like Mark Prior and Wil Ohman, salvaged released players like Reed Johnson and Jim Edmonds, signed an import by the name of Fukudome, and traded for the pitcher Mark DeRosa calls the nastiest in the game.

The 26 year old Rich Harden is slated to toe the rubber in his first Cub start on Saturday against former rival San Francisco, the most anticipated ballgame since Opening Day. The eyes of Cub Nation will upon the arm of the right hander, as Harden looks to improve his career 0.84 ERA against the Giants, yes 0.84. Just the stats of this guy are amazing. Is it really possible that he’s performed this well? I mean, come on, Baseball-Reference.com wouldn’t lie about stuff like this would they? I don’t think the average Cub fan truly realizes the gold mine that we could be sending out there during the second half. Starting tomorrow at straight up noon in Wrigleyville, the Rich Harden era in Chicago will be officially underway. Get the popcorn and Old Style ready, give the wife your credit card, and lock up the kids, let’s see what the kid can do.

Meanwhile, a former mid-season acquisition, Aramis Ramirez, has awoken his own echoes. Armed with high rising knock socks, his old swagger is back. Ramirez was lost in the lineup with a bad case of a June swoon after his epic series against the White Sox, batting .129 in the 8 games following the showdown at Wrigley. In the midst of his swoon, he traveled back to Santo Domingo to resolve family issues, and just two games later showed up to the ballpark as a different Aramis Ramirez, the Rami of old plus a new twist of wearing socks up to his knees. The trick worked for fellow All-Star Alex Rodriguez follow his dismal playoff run in 2006, and the promiscuous A-Rod has thrived ever since. For Ramirez, since Independence Day in St. Louis a week ago, the franchise’s best third baseman since Ron Santo has gone 8 for 19 with 3 homers and 11 driven in, with his last homer being the biggest. With a runner on second and one out in the eighth inning of a scoreless game against the Giants today, manager Bruce Bochy chose to intentionally walk Derrek Lee to get to Ramirez. Rami made him pay, as the ever-clutch slugger clubbed a go-ahead, and game-winning three run shot into the left field bleachers, tucking it just inside the Hey! Hey! that graces the foul poles at Wrigley. The home run proved two things we already know, one, Bruce Bochy still can’t manage if his life depended on it and two, Aramis Ramirez is Mr. Clutch.

The homer was his 7^th “Late & Close” home run of the season, a stat defined by Baseball-Reference.com as being “a plate appearance in the 7th or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck.” The criteria may seem overly specialized, but the truth is that a tabulation of the numbers in such a situation is crucial in depicting the clutch presence a player has, and for Aramis Ramirez, it’s a stat he can hang his hat on. He’s batting an insane .419 in those nail biting situations this year, adding a slugging percentage of .907. Those numbers are out of this world, and they show the importance of Ramirez’s place on the club and in the league. Although he may trail the league leader in RBIs by a good distance, and needs more than a handful of jacks to get amongst the NL’s top dogs, Ramirez contributes to the team the best he can, when it counts. A perfect example is his .206 average in the sixth inning this year and .459 clip an inning later.

If Aramis Ramirez can maintain this tear that he has been on so far in July, and Rich Harden can avoid to be like Iowa Cub Rich Hill, then the Cubs title hopes are alive and very well in 2008.