I don't want to take away from Marquis' performance or Seth Smith's homerun, but I can't help but wonder how today's game would have turned out without Garret Atkins second inning at bat.  In the box score it shows up as a strike out.  However, it also shows up indirectly in two other places of far more signficance...namely Rich Harden's pitch count and his innings pitched.  Harden started the game where Lilly left off on Monday.  He had a 13 pitch first inning with three punch outs.  I spent the bottom of the first looking at pitching matchups for the upcoming series against LA hoping the next 8 innings went by quickly.  Then Garrett Atkins came to the plate and promptly fouled off 8 mid-90s fastballs after working Harden to a full count.  He eventually struck out on the 14th pitch, a changeup.  The damage was done.  Harden proceeded to walk Stewart, give up a single to Tulo, and load the bases with a walk to Ianetta.  Not one pitch topped 92 during that sequence.  Harden finally got out of the inning with his pitch count up to 49 and the Cubs down 2-0.  The third inning wasn't much different and Harden's day ended after 8 strike outs and 92 pitches in just three innings.  Without that Atkins at bat, Harden may have kept his momentum the rest of the game and the Rox could very easily be heading back west in the midst of a four game losing streak.  If the Rockies go on to win the upcoming series in LA and AZ I certainly will be reflecting back on this game and, more specifically, Garrett's 14 pitch strike out...