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When the season started, if I had said that an All Star would start this game, I doubt anyone would have believed that it would be Ryan Dempster. This will be Dempster's 3rd start against the Reds this season. He's 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA, though the Reds have actually scored 9 runs off of him in 12 IP this year. He's given up home runs to Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. this year, and both of those gents have hit Dempster well historically.
Harang will be making his 3rd start against the Cubs this season, after going 0-2 with a 5.54 ERA in the previous two starts. He'll be pitching on his longest rest (7 days) since 2005. In his career on 7 days of rest, he's 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA, throwing 18 innings and striking out 13 batters while walking just 4 in 3 starts. Hopefully tonight's results will be similar.
Since the Reds last faced the Cubs at the beginning of May, the Cubs have gone 34-21 and sport the best record in the National League. However, they've gone just 15-15 in their last 30 and 9-11 in their last 20. So maybe their cooling off will give the Reds a shot at stealing a couple of games.