One for the road

Wednesday: Cubs 7, Padres 1


Well, San Diego was about as enjoyable as a whale's vagina for the Cubs this year, but they finally proved that it is in fact possible for them to win at Petco.

Rich Harden just kept on keepin' on, lowering his road ERA to 2.02. He is now 38-0 in his career when his team scores four or more runs. Talk about locking it down.

He's been on lock down for the last month or so, having now allowed two earned runs or less in seven consecutive starts. Last night he pitched a short shutout, as Baseball Musings would say, giving up nary a run in seven innings of work. He allowed just one hit and struck out eight.

Harden didn't need much offense, but the Cubs gave him seven runs anyways. Jeff Baker went 1-for-4, and is batting .425 in the month of August. He's been the hottest Cub over the last few weeks, and that means that Aaron Miles, the worst thing since unsliced bread, should never, ever start at second base again.

Aramis Ramirez had two extra base hits including his 10th home run of the year, and how about Soriano busting it around the bases and getting a triple in the fifth inning? Pretty unbelievable that it's his first three bagger since 2007; I thought when we signed him he was speedy and athletic.

The Cardinals made news on Wednesday when they signed Red Sox castoff John Smoltz and then beat the Dodgers with a run in the ninth. Surprisingly, the Cardinals plan to slot Smoltz into the starting rotation (in place of Mitchell Boggs), despite Smoltz's 8.33 ERA in eight starts for Boston.

Marquis performance

Jason Marquis won his 14th game last night, beating the Nationals 5-4. That matches his highest win total since 2006, though he had a 6.02 ERA for the Cardinals that year (it's 3.58 this year). Two more wins would establish a new career high. The only year that really compares with 2009 for Marquis is 2004, when he went 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA. Who knew this would be the year Marquis would live up to his $9 million salary?