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I'm not optimistic on this night. The Brewers best starter against a guy that is arguably not ready to pitch in the big leagues yet makes me feel like the Reds will have a hard time winning this one. Weird things always happen in this game, and Harang could just as easily come out and re-establish himself (for this one start) as a cog in the rotation. I'm not holding out a lot of hope for that to happen. Hopefully he can just keep the game close enough that the Reds can come back and win it late.
It has been 61 days since Harang last pitched. In those 61 days, the Reds have gone 32-20 and the pitching staff has posted a 3.67 ERA. It is not Harang's disappearance that has caused this to happen, at least not completely. When Harang went on the DL, the Reds defensive efficiency rating (DER) was 0.690, meaning 69% of the balls in play turned into outs. That's not bad, but it's not great either. Since then, the team DER has be 0.725, 3.5% higher than the first half of the season. Most pitchers that get that kind of defensive help behind them are going to look pretty good. Hopefully the Reds will oblige Harang with such performance tonight.
Nothing else really special about this game tonight. Should be a quiet Tuesday night at the ball yard. Win or lose, there may not be any press coverage of this game anywhere, as far as I can tell.
Go Reds!