Cubs Series Pre-Preview

The Cubs are in town, so expect the crowds to be heavily... heavy. I have been to three Nats/Cubs games (two at RFK) and each time, the crowd was close to 50/50. Not that will help Rich Harden find the strike zone.

Harden @ Lannan

Harden looks as if his workload last season may have been too much. He was flat out filthy, and probably would have won an overall ML Cy Young. As much as he has struggled this year, he may need to consider a switch to closer. The more games he sees, the better. 16 starts for 100 innings, or 60 appearances for 65 innings... a general manager must make that cost-benefit decision.

The Nats need to refrain from chasing pitches out of the zone tonight. They should have no problem getting baserunners via walk. If Harden is "on", even the most disciplined hitters can look bad.

Riggleman will likely pick a lineup and run with it for a while, so don't be surprised to see the same faces start most of these games, unlike with Manny, who had lineup ADD (I'll admit, with the defense, sometimes he was just trying square pegs for round holes). The Cubs outfield is a similar mess, with Piniella often sacrificing defense by keeping Reed Johnson on the bench in favor of Soriano, Bradley, and Fukodome in the outfield.

I think the Nats get off to a good start and win this one 6-4.