3/17/09 Reds vs Phillies

[OnBaseMachine]

Willy Taveras cf

Chris Dickerson lf

Joey Votto 1b

Brandon Phillips 2b

Jay Bruce rf

Edwin Encarnacion 3b

Alex Gonzalez ss

Ryan Hanigan c

Aaron Harang p

[cumberlandreds]

Opening Day lineup?

[cumberlandreds]

The game is scoreless in the bottom of second. Phillies got a couple of hits off Harang in the 1st.

[cumberlandreds]

Mayberry and Ruiz have back to back doubles. 1-0 Phils still in the 2nd. Harang is struggling. The first hitter lined hard to CF for the only out so far.

[cumberlandreds]

Chase Utley playing for the Phils today. I thought he was supposed to out for half the season?

Utley walks with two outs in the 2nd.

[BRM]

Opening Day lineup?

Minus Hanigan, probably. However, if a lefty goes for NY it will be Gomes instead of Dickerson.

[membengal]

Echo cumberland, this game is mlb.com audio, and the ball is getting tatoo'd off of Harang in the first few innings. Two hits but runners stranded in the first, and now more runners in the second.

He's likely in his dead arm period that he gets every camp about this time.

[cumberlandreds]

Bruntlett doubles in another run. Harang getting hit pretty hard thus far.

[membengal]

Chase Utley playing for the Phils today. I thought he was supposed to out for half the season?

Utley walks with two outs in the 2nd.

He was originally listed as needing four to six months to recover. He's back in four.

[membengal]

Minus Hanigan, probably. However, if a lefty goes for NY it will be Gomes instead of Dickerson.

Santana is slated to start for NYM, so pencil in Gomes against that particular lefty...

[cumberlandreds]

Minus Hanigan, probably. However, if a lefty goes for NY it will be Gomes instead of Dickerson.

You can switch Gonzalez and Dickerson in the lineup too. SS always hit 2nd for Dusty.

[cumberlandreds]

Stairs doubles in three runs and its 6-0. Time to cut bait on Harang today and just let him rest.

[VR]

Chase Utley playing for the Phils today. I thought he was supposed to out for half the season?

Utley walks with two outs in the 2nd.

Maybe it's the 2nd half? /shrug ;)

[BRM]

You can switch Gonzalez and Dickerson in the lineup too. SS always hit 2nd for Dusty.

Dusty has even admitted that Gonzalez will hit second once he shows he's healthy. He's an intelligent hitter ya know.

[cumberlandreds]

6-0 Phils in bottom of 3rd. Harang back out there and its raining.

[cumberlandreds]

Harang gets them out in order in the 3rd. 6-0 Phils

[lollipopcurve]

Concerned about Harang. He'd given up 15 hits in 10 innings coming in, and gets blasted today. Pitchers are supposedly ahead of hitters early, but that hasn't been the case with him. I know it's spring training, but......

[cumberlandreds]

Harang done after 3 1/3. Aaron Fultz in.

[RedsManRick]

I don't trust ST numbers at all because guys aren't always out there doing their best to get guys out, especially veterans with guaranteed spots on the team. Maybe their refining their feel on a certain pitch. Maybe they're focused on working a certain part of the zone.

I certainly don't like to see Harang hit so hard, but I'm much more curious about the scouting report behind it. How was his velocity? Was he hitting his spots? What pitches was he throwing?

[camisadelgolf]

I believe Baker said earlier in the spring that Harang's velocity and mechanics look good.

[HeatherC1212]

IIRC, Harang had a horrible spring the year that he ended up doing really well and coming in fourth in the Cy Young voting (2007). I'm not too worried about him right now and I think he'll be ready to go when the season starts. :)

[lollipopcurve]

I certainly don't like to see Harang hit so hard, but I'm much more curious about the scouting report behind it. How was his velocity? Was he hitting his spots? What pitches was he throwing?

Absolutely. Still, coming off the year he had -- a year in which he did not have 93-94 on the fastball at all, even in September, when his results were better -- I think we have to wonder if Harang is the same guy he was in 06-07. We'll know more in April.

[cincrazy]

Absolutely. Still, coming off the year he had -- a year in which he did not have 93-94 on the fastball at all, even in September, when his results were better -- I think we have to wonder if Harang is the same guy he was in 06-07. We'll know more in April.

Take it for what it's worth, but the one start of his I saw in person in Florida last week, he looked very good. Houston had some pretty good hitters going that day, Berkman and Pence among others, and Harang didn't have much of a problem. He was sharp, his velocity appeared fine, and his slider was fantastic. I felt a lot better about his upcoming season after seeing him with my own eyes.

[lollipopcurve]

Take it for what it's worth, but the one start of his I saw in person in Florida last week, he looked very good. Houston had some pretty good hitters going that day, Berkman and Pence among others, and Harang didn't have much of a problem. He was sharp, his velocity appeared fine, and his slider was fantastic. I felt a lot better about his upcoming season after seeing him with my own eyes.

Good to hear. He really is a huge key for the team this year.

[cumberlandreds]

Brett Myers had a good outing for the Phils. He went 5 2/3 with 7 K's and only 3 hits and no runs so far. Tavaras is at 3rd with two out and a pitching change for the Phils.

[HeatherC1212]

Final score was Phillies 8, Reds 1 in case anyone wanted to know how the game ended. Cordero apparently pitched another scoreless inning and Weathers gave up the other two runs to the Phillies. No idea who got the run for the Reds.

[membengal]

Tatum singled whoever it was for Cincy home in the 9th off of Lidge, who was making his spring debut.

Echo others on lack of concern for Harang. He may not be what he was, but we won't know off of his spring performances. Heather's right, when he was nails back in '07, he had a VERY uneven spring. Even last year, when his spring was really not great, he was actually doing fine until the outing-which-shall-not-be-named in SD.

I have just learned to put Harang's spring performances in the do-not-worry box, and assume he will be fine come April.

[VR]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2009_03_17_cinmlb_phimlb_1

Jay went 1-3 w/ a double

[membengal]

If he isn't, there won't be much that can be done to save the season anyway...

[Hoosier Red]

If he isn't, there won't be much that can be done to save the season anyway...

Sure there will, Volquez-Cueto-Arroyo-Owings-HOMER!!!

[_Sir_Charles_]

Sure there will, Volquez-Cueto-Arroyo-Owings-HOMER!!!

While I certainly hope Aaron has a big time turnaround season, I'm quite surprised to find that I still look at THAT rotation with a positive outlook. It's been a LOOOOOOONG time since we've had enough depth to say that.