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StumbleuponCubs rock Reds; what's ailing Harang?
Cincinnati's quest for .500 suffers a setback in a 7-3 loss at Wrigley Field.
HAL MCCOY: Something is very wrong with Harang
COMMENT: What do you think is wrong with the Reds' ace?
RELATED: Who's more disappointing, the Reds or Indians?
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
CHICAGO — The first step of Operation Recovery was a giant step backward for the Cincinnati Reds in Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, July 8 — and a step off a cliff by pitcher Aaron Harang.
Afforded an opportunity to creep closer to the first-place Chicago Cubs, the Reds were shoved solidly backwards, 7-3, dropping 11½ games out of first place and five games under .500.
They must win their final five on this trip to scatter for the All-Star break at .500, an unlikely scenario because the next two are against the Cubs and the final three against the Milwaukee Brewers.
It might help their cause to get more than two hits in the first eight innings of a game and try not to go hitless in seven of the nine innings they play, as they did Tuesday.
The question of this day, though, is what is amiss with Harang? The suspicion is that there is something physical because he pitched Tuesday like a man in pain — a career worst seven walks in little more than a cameo 4 1/3 innings during which he gave up six runs and five hits, two of them home runs.
Harang missed his Saturday start against Washington with tightness in his elbow and when he pitched Tuesday it looked as if the tightness accompanied him to the mound.
His fastball was in the 89-90 mph range, four or five below his normal speed limit and he was using up a lot of pitches on most hitters.
He was stunned when told he walked seven.
"I walked seven? (Expletive). There always has to be a first for something," he said. "That's the way you have to look at it. I felt like I was making some good pitches, but obviously they weren't good enough.
"I was throwing too many, throwing a lot of pitches every inning," he said. "You can't do that and expect to be in the game very long."
Manager Dusty Baker said when asked about Harang's health, "He didn't say anything. There were some balls in one inning in the 90s, then the next inning they'd be in the mid-80's. I don't know. This is puzzling. This has gone on quite a while. I just don't have an answer."
Pitching coach Dick Pole said he asked Harang directly if he is physically fit, "And he told me he is fine. I hated to see him warm up so good in the bullpen. He warmed up great. And with most pitchers, that's a bad sign. They don't take it to the mound with them."
The Cubs reached him for a run in the second when Aramis Ramirez drove one down the line that right fielder Ken Griffey Jr. tried to snag with a dive, but the ball eluded him for a triple.
Ramirez then scored on rookie catcher Geovany Soto's sacrifice fly.
The Cubs made it 2-0 in the third on another sacrifice fly as Harang worked out of a bases loaded and no outs problem. The only run scored on Ramirez's sacrifice fly.
The Reds had four walks and a hit that wasn't a hit to score a run in the fourth.
Cubs starter and former Red Ryan Dempster (10-3) walked two and Jeff Keppinger blooped one to right field, what should have been his second straight hit of the game after breaking a 0-for-22 slump with a single in the second.
But Adam Dunn had to hold up halfway on the bloop to see if right fielder Kosuke Fukudome could catch it. He couldn't, but picked up the ball and fired to second to force Dunn for the second out.
Dempster then walked Joey Votto and Paul Bako to force in a run.
Harang was in the spirit of the free pass, too. When he walked Mark DeRosa to open the fourth, it was his sixth walk — tying his career high and it was an 88 miles an hour fastball.
No. 8 hitter Mike Fontenot didn't walk. He drove the second pitch he saw into the kudzu beyond the center field wall, a two-run homer that gave the Cubs a 4 1 lead.
Dempster followed with a single and Harang eventually squeezed out of further damage, but after four innings he was three runs down, 90 pitches down, down in the dumps and eventually down for his 11th defeat this season.
When Geovany Soto clubbed a two-run homer in the fifth for a 6-1 lead, Harang's day was done. And the Reds were well done, mustering a mighty one run and two hits off Dempster in seven innings.
Dempster, though, walked four — all in the fourth inning when the Reds scored only one.
"We didn't capitalize on their walks and they capitalized on ours," Baker said. "Dempster wasn't as sharp tonight, indicative of the walks he had. But we didn't take advantage of it."
