Tuesday, July 15, 2014

In Larry Stone's Sunday tribute to King Felix he dropped this little fact, "Only former teammate Aaron Harang among active pitchers, with 337, has made more career starts than Hernandez’s 288 without appearing in the postseason" This fact struck me for a couple of reasons. First, it confirms what many Mariners fans have been whining about for years. The Mariners ineptitude has been wasting the greatness that is Felix Hernandez. More surprisingly though was that Aaron Harang has managed to miss the playoffs all 14 years of this career.

Harang isn't a bad player. In fact he has been a good player during most of his career. During his eight year run with the Reds he routinely posted strikeout numbers that grouped him with the league leaders. He kept his ERA respectably middling, at 4.24 for his career. These aren't Felix Hernandez stats, but they are solid. Additionally, Harang has played for the A's, Padres, Mets, Dodgers, and Mariners in his career. With that many teams you would think somebody would sneak in. Yet some how he has managed to miss the playoffs every year.

I wonder if Reds' fans mope about wasting the prime of his career. Do they wish they could have made the playoffs at least once for him? Do they even remember he was on their team? Probably not. He did stick around for a long time, but his stats weren't good enough to develop a following in most cities. Also most Cincinnati fans probably didn't even know he had such a record. Cincinnati is a town with a strong baseball tradition, but that doesn't mean they know minutia like this.

If Reds' fans don't bemoan the injustice of Harang's playoff drought, probably only his mom does. Up until now at least. Going forward, I hope that Aaron Harang makes the post season with the Braves this year. He has a good chance. The Braves are a good team and sitting in second place in the NL East. Plus if he breaks the curse that means there is hope for Felix.

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