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I'm back from the Happiest Place on Earth to trying to deal with sub-60° temperatures. It's not a fun transition. How did this all happen? Wasn't it mid-80s this week in Cincinnati? That I could have handled.
If you are wondering, my vacation was fun. And I see the Reds are still in 2nd place, though they are 1.5 games farther back than they were when I left. That sounds about right though. I only mildly paid attention while I was away. As far as I can tell, the big stories were that BP didn't hustle (what's new?), the bullpen struggled (I guess that's new), and the Reds are in desperate need of a new lead-off hitter, and suddenly after 3 years of this crap, it is the most important issue ever!!! We've only been screaming about this for 3 years. Nice to see the media finally catch wind of it.
Anyway, on to tonight's game. Aaron Harang will continue his redemption tour as he tries to either (a) pitch well enough to make the Reds a viable contender for the wild card or (b) pitch well enough to net a nice return in a deal mid-season. Either way, Harang needs to pitch well. He's done all right for himself the last two times out, and he pitched well against the Cubs a month ago. I'd like to see some more of all of that.
Tom Gorzelanny has owned the Reds the last two times out against them, pitching 13.2 inning, striking out 13, walking 3, and allowing just 7 hits and 2 runs. The Reds managed to squeak out a victory in his last appearance against Cincinnati, which was Mike Leake's debut. But that was Mike Leake and this is Aaron Harang, who no longer visits the pitcher witch.
Time to shake off the bad smell from last night's debacle and make Cincinnati the Happiest Place on Earth for me!