After a bout with the flu forced him to miss his scheduled rehab start for the I-Cubs on Sunday, Rich Harden got back on the mound tonight in Des Moines against the Astros’ Round Rock affiliate.

Harden, who was disabled on May 18th because of a back strain, was limited to 70 pitches, which got him through the first 4 2/3 innings of the game, won by Iowa, 10-3.

The righthander gave up three hits, two walks, and two runs (only one earned), while fanning six. He was perfect through the first two innings, striking out three of the first six batters he faced, before Round Rock got to him for three singles and a run in the third inning.

From the Des Moines Register:

“Everything felt good,” said Harden, who had a 4-2 record and 4.74 earned-run average before going on the disabled list May 22 with a back strain. “I just wanted to try and establish my command, work on getting ahead of the hitters, and throwing off-speed pitches for strikes…”

[Harden] reports [back to the Cubs] with the same pitches with which he left - a fastball that hit 92 miles-an-hour twice Monday, and the usual breaking and off-speed offerings.

“I swear, the hardest I ever threw in a rehab was 93 - ever,” Harden said. “I’ve never really been too concerned with my velocity. I’m not too concerned with that. It’ll be there.”

Round Rock’s Jason Smith was impressed, especially after striking out against Harden in the fourth inning.

“He threw me a split-finger during that at-bat was probably one of the best pitches I’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “His fastball didn’t have great velocity, but he put it where he wanted.”

Harden is expected to rejoin the Cubs in Houston and return to the rotation this Saturday, when the Twins visit Wrigley Field.

Through eight starts for the Cubs this season, Harden is 4-2 with a 4.74 ERA; since joining the team from Oakland last July, he is 9-3, 2.09, with 142 strikeouts in just 114 2/3 innings.

First of all, I fully realize how cynical it is of me to dwell on the negative following a 14-inning victory which allowed the Cubs to capture a road series and gain a game on all three teams ahead of them in the National League Central race.

But honoring incompetence is fun, and there was just so damn much of it on display Sunday, holding a bat and wearing a Chicago Cub uniform, that I just can’t help myself.

Here are the three most damaging moments in Sunday’s Cubs/Reds game, as measured in terms of Win Probability Added by Baseball Fan Graphs:

#3. Alfonso Soriano’s strikeout against David Weathers in the ninth inning, with the potential lead run at third base and two out. WPA -12.3%

#2. Micah Hoffpauir’s pop out against Jared Burton in the tenth inning, with the bases loaded and two out. WPA -17.5%

And the most damaging moment on Sunday…

#1. Geovany Soto’s double-play ball against Francisco Cordero, with men at first and second and one out in the 13th inning. WPA -22.3%

Interestingly, Soto, who didn’t start the game and didn’t even enter the frey until pinch-hitting for Aaron Heilman in the top of the ninth, accumulated a WPA of -33.6% in just four, fruitless at-bats.

And Alfonso Soriano, whose 14th-inning home run proved the game-winning blow, increased the Cubs’ probability of victory by 33.2% with that one stroke. Up until that point in the game, however, Soriano, who was 0-for-5 before hitting in the 14th, had a cumulative WPA of -20.2% for the afternoon.

In three of the first four innings of Saturday night’s loss at Cincinnati, the Cubs had a man standing at second base with none out and couldn’t bring him home.

They have also been miserable all season long with bringing men home from third with less than two out:

In 114 such situations through Friday night’s game, they have generated just 57 runs (50%). That is by far their worst performance in the last ten years. In fact, the ‘09 Cubs have generated an OPS of just 698 with a man on third and less than two outs. Not only is that a ten-year team low, it’s a ten-year low by a mile. (The ‘08 Cubs’ 808 OPS is the distant runner-up.)

The best I can say about the Cub offense right now is that it is sufficiently pathetic to distract me from what a terrible third base Mike Fontenot played tonight.

Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com.

One night after Randy Johnson won his 300th game, Carlos Zambrano won his 100th.

It has taken Zambrano eight full seasons plus a fraction of a ninth to get to 100, so he’s averaging about 12.5 wins per season. Assumings he continues to win games at the same rate, he’ll reach the 300 mark in just 16 more years, when Z will be 44 years old, and the Cubs will be 117 years removed from their last World Series win.

Also tonight, Zambrano cracked a home run which proved critical in the Cubs’ one-run victory over the Reds. It was Zambrano’s 18th career HR, extending Z’s career record for home runs by a Cubs pitcher. (Fergie Jenkins ranks second with 13.)

Randy Johnson, who has played 22 seasons, has hit one career HR. At that rate and assuming Zambrano never hits another home run, Johnson will catch up with the slugging Cubs pitcher in 374 years, when The Big Unit is 419 years old.

I think Zambrano has a better chance of reaching 300. Or maybe not.

“Pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir blooped an RBI single to left field in the 11th inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 Wednesday night.” (Paul Newberry, Associated Press)

“Micah Hoffpauir’s slap single to left in a lefty-vs.-lefty matchup against Eric O’Flaherty — ”complete luck,” he said — drove home Derrek Lee with the go-ahead run with one out in the 11th.” (Gordon Wittenmyer, Sun-Times)

“Pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir delivered a soft RBI single off the end of the bat against Eric O’Flaherty in the 11th inning, scoring Derrek Lee to give the Cubs a 3-2 victory over the Braves and even the series.” (Adam Rosenberg, AtlantaBraves.com)

“Wow…I mean there’s flairs, and then there are flairs. It’s not how you hit it, it’s where. That pitch is not even a strike, and he hits it right off the end of the bat. Mercy!” (Atlanta Braves tv color man, Don Sutton)

Through tonight’s crushing defeat in Atlanta, the Cubs’ Randy Wells has started five games in 2009, pitched a total of 32 2/3 innings and allowed 6 earned runs.

He is 0-2, with 3 no-decisions and an ERA of 1.69.

In Wells’s five starts, the Cub bullpen has pitched a total of 13 1/3 innings and allowed 11 earned runs, for an ERA of 7.43. Kevin Gregg has personally allowed 6 earned runs in just 1 inning pitched.

To review:

In Wells’s five games, he has allowed 6 ER in 32 2/3 IP.

In those same five games, Kevin Gregg has allowed 6 ER in 1 IP.

That’s all that needs to be said about that.

A selection of reactions to Friday’s tense Cub victory as it happened.

dodgerthoughts #Dodgers-Cubs underway. Martin singles but is stranded in top of first.

dodgerthoughts Billingsley retires Cubs in order on 12 pitches with two strikeouts.

TheBlogfines Great start to the second for the Cubs. Please get those 2 in. I’ll settle for 1 even after seeing last night’s execution.

TheCubsInHaiku Here we go again / Two on with nobody out / #Cubs score zero runs

TedLillyFanClub at rooftop, lots of tedheads floating around

TheBlogfines Andres Blanco does something good for a change, makes a great play up the middle, and sick dig by Lee at first to get out of it. Still 0-0.

Aisle424 Go Andy White Go. You kind of suck and have already helped the team more than Aaron Miles.

TheBlogfines No hop out of Soriano when he caught a flyball! That’s the best thing he’s done in about 2 weeks.

dodgerthoughts Blanco has stranded five baserunners in two at-bats for #Cubs. 0-0 tie with the Dodgers, top of the fifth.

Aisle424 I think Ronnie just stopped himself from saying “God damn it!” We’re all right there with you, Ron

TheCubsInHaiku Now is the time, #Cubs / Fukudome on third base / With nobody out

TorturedFanBase This is pissing me off. It’s one thing when no one gets a hit-its another when 2 guys come up and just piss away their AB #Cubs

gameticker Matt Kemp home run off Ted Lilly (23% change in win probability) Cubs 0, Dodgers 1 in the 7th

wpbc Koyie Hill-shocker

TorturedFanBase Fukey sac fly #cubs up 2-1. Cubs fans are the greatest!

cubs_fg 2-1, 84 % to Win, Top 8, 2 Outs, ___, Juan Pierre ground dp off pitcher Carlos Marmol.

TedLillyFanClub goggled one warming up

Aisle424 Wrigley on their feet.

The Blogfines And Scales boots what would end the game. Now I’ll be surprised to come out of this inning better than tied.

ClarkAddison Cubs WIN - sing it! http://cubhub.net/wrigley/GoCubsGo.htm

And Friday’s AHNY Tweet of the Game goes to…Aisle424 for his heartfelt ode to Andres Blanco:

Go Andy White Go. You kind of suck and have already helped the team more than Aaron Miles.

Touching, and said only the way a true Cub fan could say it.