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Game 77 Thread: Diamondbacks at Reds


Next Game

Arizona Diamondbacks
@ Cincinnati Reds

Thursday, Jul 2, 2009, 12:35 PM EDT
Great American Ball Park

Doug Davis vs Aaron Harang

Partly cloudy. Game time temperature around 70.

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W-L ERA WHIP K BB
2009 - Doug Davis 3-8 3.28 1.36 73 45



W-L ERA WHIP K BB
2009 - Aaron Harang 5-8 3.95 1.39 80 21


Doesn't it seem like they just played? I'm not talking about anything like "hey, these games are really close together." I literally mean that it feels like the other game just ended and not a single thing has happened since then. It's probably just my boring ass life though.

Let's see, what do we have today? Oh look, a match up of two pitchers with good ERAs and terrible records. Doug Davis is having a pretty good season and he always seems to handle the Reds well (6-3, 3.46 ERA in his career). The Reds knocked him out early the last time they faced back in April of 2008 after drawing 6 walks in 3.2 innings. And that's the key with Davis. You have to be patient and make him throw strikes, because he will walk quite a few batters if given the chance. He's walked 3 or more batters in 10 of his 16 starts this season. I know many of the Reds hitters like to be aggressive at the plate, but in this instance, patience is definitely a virtue.

Aaron Harang's career numbers against the Diamondbacks are somewhat indicative of his last two seasons with the Reds, except that he's pitched better. In 8 career starts against the Dbacks, Harang has a 1.66 ERA over 54.1 innings pitched, yet somehow is just 2-4 in those games. How he hasn't started cutting people on the team is beyond me.

Willy Taveras is back in the lineup and leading off again today. I'm not sure why he continues to lead off even though Chris Dickerson is also in the lineup, but whatever. I need to stop trying to understand Dusty's brain. It confounds me.