Here's a guy who we've met before: Aaron Harang, who was cut loose from the Reds because he made more money than the rest of the team put together.
*Harang throws a fastball 60.3% of the time, with it sitting at an average of 89.6mph this season - almost a full mph lower than 2010. He's been throwing his slider 25.1% of the time - far more than the 18.9% he posted last season, and he has a changeup, and has barely thrown a curve this year (2.2%).
*Harang is 2-0 to start the year for the first time since 2007.
*This season, he's allowed 9H/2ER, 8K:4BB in 12IP, and hasn't needed more than 100 pitches to get through six innings in each of his two starts.
*Harang's .586 Win% (17-12) in April is the highest split over the course of a month throughout his career.
*With RISP, he's been tough, allowing a hit and a walk in 12 PAs in 2011 for a .282 OPS.
*In his last five starts against Houston, he's 3-2 with a 4.97 ERA/1.52 ERA. In two 2010 starts against Houston, he was 2-0, with 13IP, 12H/3ER, 10K:3BB.
*Harang has allowed 11 homers in Minute Maid Park, second-most among ballparks (not counting GABP, where he pitched at home). The 25 homers hit by Astros batters is the second-most he's allowed against one team.
*Current Astros have a .914 OPS against Harang, and that includes Wandy, Happ, and Norris.
*Bill Hall is the Big Bopper, hitting .362/.412/.723 in 51 PAs, while Carlos Lee is 16x40 with six XBHs and a .400/.405/.625 line. Quintero is 3x10 with a double and a homer in his career.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Aaron Harang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Harang. Show all posts
Friday, April 15, 2011
Saturday, May 29, 2010
G49 Preview Astros v Reds
Today is the 2nd game in a 3 game series in Cincy featuring the AstBros and the Redstockings. It'll be B-Mo squaring off with Lurch.
Moehler hasn't stared a game this season for a reason, he is teh suck. So good luck to him.
Harang has been up and down this year but has a career winning record against us (10-9).
So hopefully this turns into another slugfest because lord knows its fun to see your backup catcher take the mound in the late innings. And speaking of Kevin Cash, did anyone else think "Who the hell is that?". I literally had no idea who was pitching for about 5 minutes, but that knuckleball was dancing like crazy. I approve.
Predictions:
WP: Lyons
LP: Harang
HR: Rolen, Quintero
SB: Bourn, Phillips
I have a weird feeling that the game will be delayed by a natural disaster of some kind. Like a tornado filled with flying cows and street signs. Possibly resulting in a decapitation of a radio announcer.
Score: Hou 5 Cin 4
Don't forget to follow me on twitter during the game for updates and redactions. twitter.com/txnpwrlifter
Moehler hasn't stared a game this season for a reason, he is teh suck. So good luck to him.
Harang has been up and down this year but has a career winning record against us (10-9).
So hopefully this turns into another slugfest because lord knows its fun to see your backup catcher take the mound in the late innings. And speaking of Kevin Cash, did anyone else think "Who the hell is that?". I literally had no idea who was pitching for about 5 minutes, but that knuckleball was dancing like crazy. I approve.
Predictions:
WP: Lyons
LP: Harang
HR: Rolen, Quintero
SB: Bourn, Phillips
I have a weird feeling that the game will be delayed by a natural disaster of some kind. Like a tornado filled with flying cows and street signs. Possibly resulting in a decapitation of a radio announcer.
Score: Hou 5 Cin 4
Don't forget to follow me on twitter during the game for updates and redactions. twitter.com/txnpwrlifter
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Reactions to G21 - Astros at Reds
8-3 win in which tens of people enjoyed a ball game in Cincinnati last night (The 9,878 paid attendance was the smallest in GAB history).
Cooper:
"It was all about the Rodriguez fellas,” Cecil Cooper said. “Pudge swinging it and Wandy basically being in command after the first inning. His breaking ball wasn’t really sharp early, but he got better as the game went on. That to me shows a lot of maturity on his part.”
Pudge, on what he said to Wandy in the 1st:
"I was telling him to calm down. I think he was jumpy a little bit, just getting behind in the count and just trying to point the ball instead of playing catch and throwing it to me. He tried to get too perfect in the first inning.”
Cooper, on Wandy's maturity:
“He used to fall apart when things went bad. In the first inning today, things could have gotten way out of hand. Yet he made pitches and battled through it. It just comes from experiencing it and feeling more comfortable and maturing as a player.”
Aaron Harang:
“I thought I made good pitches in situations. Things went right for them.”
Which sounds vaguely familiar from his last start...
“They were hitting everything right where nobody was. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Cooper:
"It was all about the Rodriguez fellas,” Cecil Cooper said. “Pudge swinging it and Wandy basically being in command after the first inning. His breaking ball wasn’t really sharp early, but he got better as the game went on. That to me shows a lot of maturity on his part.”
Pudge, on what he said to Wandy in the 1st:
"I was telling him to calm down. I think he was jumpy a little bit, just getting behind in the count and just trying to point the ball instead of playing catch and throwing it to me. He tried to get too perfect in the first inning.”
Cooper, on Wandy's maturity:
“He used to fall apart when things went bad. In the first inning today, things could have gotten way out of hand. Yet he made pitches and battled through it. It just comes from experiencing it and feeling more comfortable and maturing as a player.”
Aaron Harang:
“I thought I made good pitches in situations. Things went right for them.”
Which sounds vaguely familiar from his last start...
“They were hitting everything right where nobody was. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Recap for G21 - Astros at Reds
That was even more fun than last night! Give it up to Deputy Jason, who pushes his Live Blog record to 3-1 (while I sit at a lowly 0-2) in a nice 8-3 win for the Astros 11th straight road win in Cincinnati.
I saw part of this game, and man, do I hate Jeff Brantley (FS Cincinnati, thanks). Wandy looked sharp, and I missed seeing it live where the bullpen fell all to hell, but at least it didn't impact the game, thanks to some Reds' defensive miscues and some good hitting off Aaron Harang. Harang is the anti-Oswalt when it comes to the Astros...
Wandy: 7IP, 5H, 1ER, 5K:2BB
Geary: 1IP, 1H, 1ER
Wright: 1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB
It's worth noting that Geary's ERA is now 5.54 and Wright's is 6.43. No esta bueno...
First-Pitch Strikes/Balls:
Wandy: 15/11
Geary: 1/3
Wrighty: 1/3
Geary, Geary, Geary...both relievers gave up lead-off base-runners. But for Geary, he let pinch-hitter Laynce Nix run around the bases at an easy trot before he stopped and slapped hands with Willy Taveras. And then, so did Brandon Phillips against Wesley Wright. Phillips actually had a negative batting average, so that hurts. And then he walked Jay Bruce...pretty bad. Losing Valverde, while it would hurt in the long run, could be even worse if the bullpen acts like this. The Astros are 5.5 games back, and two weeks without Valverde with the Astros' offense doing what it's been doing could push that to 9-10 games back.
The offense did some things tonight. Kaz Matsui went 3x5, and Blum and Pudge both added multi-hit games. Berkman saw 18 pitches, but went hitless. Bourn's 9-game hit streak ended tonight, but it was fun while it lasted. Five of the eight Astros runs scored with two outs. Astros hitters let Aaron Harang throw 16 of his 23 first-pitches for strikes, and didn't give a crap, tagging Harang for five earned runs on six hits in five innings.
Man of the Match:
Kaz Matsui. 3x5 and scored the first run of the game before Harang had a chance to crap his pants.
Goat of the Game:
Wesley Wright. Took 21 pitches to retire the heart of the Reds' order, none of whom are hitting over .273. Gave up a homer to Brandon Phillips, now hitting .191, and walking Jay Bruce - who to the 9th inning had drawn six walks in 68 plate appearances. Discussion. Over.
I saw part of this game, and man, do I hate Jeff Brantley (FS Cincinnati, thanks). Wandy looked sharp, and I missed seeing it live where the bullpen fell all to hell, but at least it didn't impact the game, thanks to some Reds' defensive miscues and some good hitting off Aaron Harang. Harang is the anti-Oswalt when it comes to the Astros...
Wandy: 7IP, 5H, 1ER, 5K:2BB
Geary: 1IP, 1H, 1ER
Wright: 1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB
| Pitcher | Pit/Str | Strike% | BF/Outs | Efficiency% | GB/FB/K |
| Wandy | 98/63 | 66.7% | 26/21 | 80.8% | 9/6/5 |
| Geary | 17/10 | 58.8% | 4/3 | 75% | 2/1/0 |
| Wright | 21/12 | 57.1% | 5/3 | 60% | 0/3/0 |
It's worth noting that Geary's ERA is now 5.54 and Wright's is 6.43. No esta bueno...
First-Pitch Strikes/Balls:
Wandy: 15/11
Geary: 1/3
Wrighty: 1/3
Geary, Geary, Geary...both relievers gave up lead-off base-runners. But for Geary, he let pinch-hitter Laynce Nix run around the bases at an easy trot before he stopped and slapped hands with Willy Taveras. And then, so did Brandon Phillips against Wesley Wright. Phillips actually had a negative batting average, so that hurts. And then he walked Jay Bruce...pretty bad. Losing Valverde, while it would hurt in the long run, could be even worse if the bullpen acts like this. The Astros are 5.5 games back, and two weeks without Valverde with the Astros' offense doing what it's been doing could push that to 9-10 games back.
The offense did some things tonight. Kaz Matsui went 3x5, and Blum and Pudge both added multi-hit games. Berkman saw 18 pitches, but went hitless. Bourn's 9-game hit streak ended tonight, but it was fun while it lasted. Five of the eight Astros runs scored with two outs. Astros hitters let Aaron Harang throw 16 of his 23 first-pitches for strikes, and didn't give a crap, tagging Harang for five earned runs on six hits in five innings.
Man of the Match:
Kaz Matsui. 3x5 and scored the first run of the game before Harang had a chance to crap his pants.
Goat of the Game:
Wesley Wright. Took 21 pitches to retire the heart of the Reds' order, none of whom are hitting over .273. Gave up a homer to Brandon Phillips, now hitting .191, and walking Jay Bruce - who to the 9th inning had drawn six walks in 68 plate appearances. Discussion. Over.
Matchup for G21 - Astros at Reds
Apparently the Astros are so in awe of Roy's pitching against Cincinnati that they can't hit him, either. But happy happy, Hunter Pence came through with the 10th straight Astros win at Great American Ballpark - longest active road winning streak in the Majors. Be sure to tune in to Astros County this evening as Deputy Jason carries his 2-1 Live Blogging against the Reds! Game starts at 6:05 Central.
Wandy Rodriguez
Wandy has turned himself into the #2 starter everyone hoped he would be with four quality starts in four attempts so far this season. The last time he faced the Reds - on April 18 - he threw 7IP, 2H, 0ER, 10K:2BB. In fact, his worst outing of the season was April 12 against the Cardinals when he gave up 5H/3ER in 6IP at Beck's Stadium in a 3-0 loss. Here's the worrying part, though, because Old Wandy might do his thing - that was his only road start. So we should learn more about what 2009 holds for SP2 tonight when he faces Aaron Harang.
One troubling fact of Wandy's 2009 campaign is the complete lack of run support. Apart from the 7-0 win vs the Reds, Wandy has received two runs of offense to work with - the Astros getting shut out at St. Louis and vs the Dodgers.
Last two starts:
My favorite stat of Wandy's is that so far he has allowed nary a homer. And over his last two starts, Wandy has an ERA of 0.69 with a 0.85 WHIP.
Against the Reds the last time out, here's how Wandy fared:
FPS: 16
FPB: 8
Aaron Harang
Did you realize Aaron Harang was 6'7"? Jeez. Did you also know that Aaron Harang will make $14 million this year? Last time against our chosen team, Harang got nut-thwacked, as he was on the wrong end of that 7-0 loss, but he did get 11 swinging strikes off the Astros. In fact, the game against Houston was his worst on this young season, as he had three quality starts to sandwich his aforementioned nut-thwacking. In fact, Harang followed up the Astros start with a 7IP, 7H/0ER performance - where he got 13 swinging strikes to the Cubs. How did it go against the Astros?
FPS: 17
FPB: 12
Contrast that to the Cubs game in which...
FPS: 16
FPB: 13
Which Aaron Harang will show up? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...
Wandy Rodriguez
Wandy has turned himself into the #2 starter everyone hoped he would be with four quality starts in four attempts so far this season. The last time he faced the Reds - on April 18 - he threw 7IP, 2H, 0ER, 10K:2BB. In fact, his worst outing of the season was April 12 against the Cardinals when he gave up 5H/3ER in 6IP at Beck's Stadium in a 3-0 loss. Here's the worrying part, though, because Old Wandy might do his thing - that was his only road start. So we should learn more about what 2009 holds for SP2 tonight when he faces Aaron Harang.
One troubling fact of Wandy's 2009 campaign is the complete lack of run support. Apart from the 7-0 win vs the Reds, Wandy has received two runs of offense to work with - the Astros getting shut out at St. Louis and vs the Dodgers.
Last two starts:
| vCIN | 7IP | 2H/0ER | 10K:2BB | 4GB/8FB |
| vLAD | 6IP | 5H/1ER | 4K:2BB | 11GB/7FB |
My favorite stat of Wandy's is that so far he has allowed nary a homer. And over his last two starts, Wandy has an ERA of 0.69 with a 0.85 WHIP.
Against the Reds the last time out, here's how Wandy fared:
| Taveras | 0x4 | 1K:0BB |
| Hairston Jr | 1x4 | 0K:0BB |
| Votto | 1x4 | 1K:0BB |
| Phillips | 0x2 | 0K:1BB |
| Encarnacion | 0x2 | 1K:1BB |
| Nix | 0x3 | 3K:0BB |
| Hernandez | 0x2 | 1K:1BB |
| Gonzalez | 0x3 | 1K:0BB |
| Harang | 0x2 | 2K:0BB |
| Dickerson | 0x1 | 0K:0BB |
FPS: 16
FPB: 8
Aaron Harang
Did you realize Aaron Harang was 6'7"? Jeez. Did you also know that Aaron Harang will make $14 million this year? Last time against our chosen team, Harang got nut-thwacked, as he was on the wrong end of that 7-0 loss, but he did get 11 swinging strikes off the Astros. In fact, the game against Houston was his worst on this young season, as he had three quality starts to sandwich his aforementioned nut-thwacking. In fact, Harang followed up the Astros start with a 7IP, 7H/0ER performance - where he got 13 swinging strikes to the Cubs. How did it go against the Astros?
| Bourn | 1x5 | 3K:0BB |
| Tejada | 1x4 | 0K:0BB |
| Berkman | 0x4 | 1K:1BB |
| Lee | 3x3 | 0K:1BB |
| Michaels | 0x1 | 0K:0BB |
| Pence | 2x4 | 1K:0BB |
| Blum | 3x4 | 0K:0BB |
| Pudge | 2x4 | 0K:0BB |
| Smith | 0x4 | 2K:0BB |
| Wandy | 0x3 | 2K:0BB |
| Erstad | 1x1 | 0K:0BB |
FPS: 17
FPB: 12
Contrast that to the Cubs game in which...
FPS: 16
FPB: 13
Which Aaron Harang will show up? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Reactions to G11 - Reds at Astros
Wandy:
"Vamos! Vamos!"
Cooper, on Wandy's demeanor during the game (and the aforementioned quote):
"I have never seen him do that before. That’s probably as much emotion as he’s ever shown. And I think it’s good. I think it’s good for him, but I’m going to tell you the guy (Ivan Rodriguez) who has been squatting and catching for him has been a godsend. I think they really connect. Wandy’s been as good as any pitcher in the game right now. He’s really thrown the ball well."
Pudge, on Wandy:
"He did a great job. What he did good today was he threw a lot of strike ones. He used the fastball a lot and his breaking ball was very good today. It was a 12-6 break and just kept them off balance."
Tejada, on Wandy:
“He’s showing more emotion now. Now when he gets an out, you can tell that he’s fighting. And I think he needs that. I think the form in which he pitched today it’s going to help us. Especially with the help he’s getting from Pudge, I think he’s going to be fine.”
Dusty Baker, on Wandy:
"That’s the best curveball I’ve seen him have. He had a good mile-per-hour differential between his fastball and curve.”
Aaron Harang, on the Astros' offense:
"“They were hitting everything right where nobody was. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
"Vamos! Vamos!"
Cooper, on Wandy's demeanor during the game (and the aforementioned quote):
"I have never seen him do that before. That’s probably as much emotion as he’s ever shown. And I think it’s good. I think it’s good for him, but I’m going to tell you the guy (Ivan Rodriguez) who has been squatting and catching for him has been a godsend. I think they really connect. Wandy’s been as good as any pitcher in the game right now. He’s really thrown the ball well."
Pudge, on Wandy:
"He did a great job. What he did good today was he threw a lot of strike ones. He used the fastball a lot and his breaking ball was very good today. It was a 12-6 break and just kept them off balance."
Tejada, on Wandy:
“He’s showing more emotion now. Now when he gets an out, you can tell that he’s fighting. And I think he needs that. I think the form in which he pitched today it’s going to help us. Especially with the help he’s getting from Pudge, I think he’s going to be fine.”
Dusty Baker, on Wandy:
"That’s the best curveball I’ve seen him have. He had a good mile-per-hour differential between his fastball and curve.”
Aaron Harang, on the Astros' offense:
"“They were hitting everything right where nobody was. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
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