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The last time these two pitchers faced off, back on April 21, neither pitched particularly well. Both pitchers went 5.2 innings, with Harang allowing 7 runs and taking the loss and Kuroda allowing 6 runs and getting the win. Since that start, Harang has gone 5-2 with a 3.93 ERA while Kuroda has gone 3-4 with a 3.72 ERA. I think this is a good match up for Harang, in that he's facing a similar quality pitcher, despite what the ERAs say. If he can keep the Dodgers from putting balls into the seats, he's got a good chance to pull out a win in this one.
We are 60% of the way into my most recent random checkpoint declaration. You may recall that after projecting the Reds to go 29-20, I next projected them to be 43-31 after 74 games into the season. They have gone 7-8 in the first 15 games of the next stretch, which means that they must go 7-3 versus the Dodgers, Mariners, A's, and one game against Cleveland to reach the arbitrary goal. I have to admit that I'm not confident in this one. But they need to not focus on the end point and only worry about the game ahead of them. A win tonight means they are one game closer. It'd be nice if they can reach that point, but we'll take a win tonight first.
Go Reds! They're my favorite squad!