Rain nixes Harden

Rich Harden was pretty sure that he would pitch Sunday, just as most Cubs fans at Wrigley Field were pretty sure that they would see a baseball game.

Yet after a three-hour, 15-minute rain delay, Harden and 40,000-plus fans left disappointed.

Harden warmed up before Sunday's game, which was scheduled to start at 1:20 p.m. Rain fell almost immediately after the "National Anthem," and peeved fans watched intermittent rain fall on the infield tarp as the Cubs waited for dry weather that never arrived.

"It was definitely a strange one," Harden said. "I got ready kind of early, too. I didn't even [feel] one drop until I got done. I had just got in the dugout, and it started raining. ... You hate getting ready, getting prepared, and then you don't get to go out there."

After the rainout, Cubs manager said Harden might have to wait until Thursday at the earliest to make his next start. Ted Lilly will start as scheduled Monday in San Diego, while Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells are expected to maintain their spots in the rotation Tuesday and Wednesday.

Harden said he could start as soon as today despite his bullpen warm-up session Sunday. He was surprised to hear that he likely would be pushed back to the Dodgers series.

"I haven't heard that one," Harden said after the game. "We'll see."

Regardless of when he starts, Harden said, the team needed to play well on its seven-game road trip to the West Coast. Sunday's marathon rain delay did not help the team much, he said.

"It's almost not like a rest," he said. "We were just about playing, everybody's getting ready. You're mentally prepared and physically prepared. And we're getting out around the same time as if we would have played a game. It's not really like a rest."

-Tom Musick