by Boutros Boutros Ghali

Dan Haren has been mediocre at best in his time with the Cubs. He had a great game against the Cardinals, but on Sunday, he just did not have what he needed to put away the Phillies. 

The Handsome Youngsters gave Haren some early support with a run in the first inning. The Cobra, Chris Coghlan, lit up the day with triples everywhere and his first came in the first inning with two outs. Plunk Rizzo got Plunked again and there were runners on first and third for Kris Bryant. 

Bryant rant the bell off Aaron Harang with a single that scored Coggs from third base and moved Rizzo to second. Apparently, it was so ridiculously mundane of a hit and score that there is no video of it on MLB.com to share with our fine readers. Regardless, I think it was a thing of beauty and the Cubs took an early 1-0 lead. 

Dan Haren entered with a little too much confidence after his outing in St. Louis and continually challenged hitters with very hittable balls. He started with a strikeout, but then gave up two singles in a row. 

Haren tried to nibble the corners on the fourth batter and just ended up walking the bases loaded. Ron Howard hit a sacrifice fly to Fowler that tied the game. Then Rupp ripped a single that put the Phils up by a run. Haren finally got out of the inning with a Bogusevic strikeout, but it was Cubs 1-Phils 2 going into the second inning. 

Haren and Harang both worked through the second inning with no runs but Harang made it look easy while Haren required a little magic. Harang went 1-2-3 with a strikeout, a groundout, and a fly out. Kinda like it was drawn up that way. 

Haren had a little bit more adventurous second inning. He walked Asche and then Harang pulled off the sacrifice bunt to move Asche to second base. Hernandez flied out to center field for the second out, but Galvis hit a single to bring Asche around to the plate. 

It would have been 3-1 Phillies, but The Fowl One fielded the ball in shallow center field and threw home to Montero. The ball beat Asche by a long way and he had no chance to reach. It was a great throw by Fowler and Haren was saved. 

In the third inning, with two outs already on the board, Cobra Coghlan hit another triple. The hit was reviewed due to a fan reaching over the right field fence. Oddly, the review was called by the Phillies to see if they could get the triple turned into a double, but the video seemed to show that the ball should have been ruled a home run. Ultimately, the ruling on the field (triple) stood, but it seemed like the Phillies dodged a bullet of stupidity there. Here is the link if you want to watch, but it is super long due to the review. 

Unfortunately, the triple from Coggs came with two outs and Rizzo popped out to the short stop to end the top of the inning. Cubs 1-Phils 2. 

While it seemed like the Phillies got lucky that Coghlan was not awarded a home run, Dan Haren was not so lucky because Howard left no doubt in the bottom half of the third. Haren struck out Odubel, but then gave up "Adubel" to Altherr to set up the two run homer by Howard. (see what I did there. I'm awesome) 

The Phillies led 4-1 and Haren continued to put guys on base in the third. Despite facing seven hitters, Haren was able to limit the damage to just the one homer, but after 74 pitches in three innings and four earned runs, Maddon did not let the starter return for the fourth inning. 

The Handsome Youngsters did start to chip away at the lead in the fourth. With two outs, Castro singled and LaStella walked. Addison Russell got a single and the Original Youngster hustled in from second base to cut the lead to two runs. Cubs 2-Phillies 4. 

In a bit of a surprise to me, Bryant's strikeout in the 4th inning was the Cubs single season record for most strikeouts. Bryant surpassed Sammy Sosa with his 175th strikeout of the year. I knew Bryant was having a historic season, I just didn't realize that infamous record was one of them. 

Clayton Richard got the call for some long relief in the fourth inning. Uncharacteristically, Anthony Rizzo had yet another error in this series. The day before he booted a grounder and on Sunday he just dropped the throw from Richard for the first out. Instead, Hernandez was safe on the error and Richard had to earn 4 outs for the inning. Luckily, Richard was able to get through the inning without giving up a run despite the error and another single. 

Chris Coghlan already had two triples in the game when he came to the plate for a third time in the fifth inning. Both of those triples were very close to being home runs. The Cobra was getting tired of all the running and not scoring. Triples were a disease; he was the cure. 

Big Boss Cogg went deep into the breezeway behind the first level of seats at Citizen's Bank Park. I'm sure someone was minding their business just getting a dog or a beer and that homer shot by them and into the bathrooms. (No idea if it went into the bathroom, but it seems like a funny scenario.)

Cubs cut the lead down by one and the score was 4-3 in favor of the Phils. Richard got on a roll in the fifth and sat the side down in three. 

Neither offense had anything going in the sixth inning, but both got it done in the seventh thanks to bad defense by both teams. 

Russell reached on an error with a bad throw by Galvis. Schwarber walked and then Rizzo reached on a devastating error by Hernandez. The Phillies second baseman booted the ball and as he was chasing it, he ran right into the path of a sprinting Anthony Rizzo.

The two collided behind first base. Rizzo and Hernandez both went down hard, but it was only Rizzo that got back to his feet. Hernandez stayed on the ground in serious pain because his thumb got dislocated in the crash. He had to leave the game straight to the disabled list. 

Russell scored and the Cubs had tied the Phillies. Unfortunately, more bad fielding would lead to the Phils retaking the lead and never looking back. 

Richard got a groundout and a strikeout, but had given up a triple to Altherr between those two. With Altherr on third, Montero could not keep a low pitch in front of him and Altherr was able to run in on the passed ball. 

The Phillies scored two more on a double by Freddie Galvis off of Carl Edwards Jr. in the 8th inning. There were two on and Galvis hit it to the wall in right field. With all the triples that had happened in this game, he got a little too excited about getting one of his own and was thrown out trying to stretch the hit. It was the third out of the inning and the Phils would not have to bat again. 

The Cubs were easy outs in the 8th inning. They did put together a fake rally in the ninth. Dexter Fowler singled and then Coghlan got his fourth hit of the day with a two out single to bring Rizzo to the plate as the tying run. Rizzo made contact, but lined out to end the game. Cubs 4-Phillies 7. 

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Also, give money to Danny Rockett's GoFundMe so he can continue to produce his Cubs album. Every dollar you donate puts you in the drawing for a Chicago Whales throwback jersey that was given out at the rained out Cubs/Royals game earlier this year. Remember, the more money you have gives you a much better chance at winning in life and in this contest as well. So, don't let those poor suckers with no money win a cool jersey. 

That's the Reckless Recap. Look for our new podcast today and Go Cubs!