SARASOTA, Fla. - Aaron Harang sat on a folding chair under the shade of an openair dugout between innings of a minor-league appearance, pitching for the Dayton Dragons against a Tampa Bay Class A team.
"Like old times," he said. "Old, old times (when he was in the minors)." Harang remains amazed that he is wearing a major-league uniform, not because he doesn't deserve it, but because scouts usually scribbled negatives in their notebooks when they watched him pitch at San Diego State, which is why he was a sixth-round draft pick.
"I was never, ever a prospect because I didn't throw hard for a big guy," he said. "I was always a suspect. I guess they finally realized that it is all about getting outs, and I can get outs."
So, five days after working under a broiling sun on a back field of City of Sarasota Sports Complex with about 10 fans watching, Harang makes his fourth straight Opening Day start for the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, April 6, at Great American Ball Park.
Harang knows he deserved to start the previous three, but after going 6-17 last season, he wouldn't have recoiled if manager Dusty Baker had named 17-game winner Edinson Volquez.
"I wouldn't do that to Harang," said Baker. "That would destroy his confidence. Everybody is entitled to one bad year, and Harang has earned it with his consistency."
Said Harang, "I'm ready. I was thinking the other day, 'I've been here two months.'
"But I am proud that this is my fourth straight Opening Day assignment," he said. "I was talking with my wife about it, and we thought it was great that Dusty knows, even though I had the year I had last year, that those seasons happen.
"I've established myself up to this point, and he realizes, 'OK, he had one fluke year, and I can't take everything away from him,' " said Harang. "If God forbid (Harang knocked on wood), the season goes like it did last year, which I'm not planning on, then I'll know I don't deserve it. It's all about being consistent and being able to do it for a while."
Harang wishes major-league hitters were as eager as Class A players. In six innings, he threw only 68 pitches, "Only five in the first inning, five heaters, all strikes, all fastballs," he said, "And 43 after four."
He'll work harder Opening Day against the New York Mets.
* Homer Bailey pitched in Kissimmee, Fla., and held the Houston Astros to two runs and four hits over six innings, walking one and striking out eight. Jeff Keppinger, traded to the Astros on Tuesday, was 0-for-2 against the Reds.
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