How is that disturbing? We know he's awesome but an extreme health risk. So, they can't extend him. 5 fantastic innings at a time shouldn't be the least bit disturbing to anybody. Well they could extend him to 7 innings if he didn't throw 90-100 pitches in 5 innings. I completely agree the Cubs are doing the right things with his pitch counts, its just that hes not a very efficient pitcher. Come October when we aren't scoring 8 runs against the likes of the Giants or Braves, its going to be tough to get from Harden's 5 innings to Marmol and Wood in the 8th and 9th. That's pretty much the kind of pitcher he has been though. Strikes out a ton of guys in minimal work. Extending him to 7 is pointless at this time in the season, but come October I could see it being an option. So what your saying is that you don't want Harden to pitch more efficiently? What I am saying is he isn't going to He'd better at some point in his career. I don't want to resign a 5 inning ace to a long term deal. Except he's averaging ~6.