That title would be so much better if Aaron Harang’s nickname was “Arms.” He certainly has some significant arms–well, one significant arm at least. Come to think of it, I can’t think of any particular nickname that Harang does have, so maybe I could just start calling him that. On the other hand, it seems a little late in the game to be starting that sort of nonsense.

Big day today. Last game of the season, and almost certainly the last time one Mr. Aaron Harang will start for the Reds. Harang is the only player currently on the active roster who has been there since RHM first started up five years ago, and it’s a sad feeling to think that one thing that has always been the same won’t continue to be there next season.

The first RHM post that mentions Harang was published on April 26, 2005. Other players mentioned in that post include:

• Adam Dunn
• Austin Kearns
• Rich Aurilia
• Joe Randa
• Ken Griffey, Jr.

Wait, it gets better…

• Ryan Wagner
• Danny Graves

Since then, we’ve gone through a lot together. In 2005, we awarded him the Anti-Milton award for not sucking. In 2006, we roughly photoshopped his photo to make him look like a goth and that photo that still appears on the first page of results on a Google image search for Aaron Harang.

We congratulated him when his daughter was born (in fact, today is her fourth birthday) and applauded when he signed on for four years with the team.

We smiled approvingly when he started the “Aaron’s Aces” ticket program in 2007 that provided free game tickets for children of military personnel and when people were putting his name together with “Cy Young” in the same sentence.

Later, we groaned when the offense began reading his name on the line-up card as “please don’t score” and even called him “Lemon” Harang once or twice. I guess he did have a bit of a nickname after all. We could also call him “The guy who had an emergency appendectomy that ended his season in 2009.” That one rolls off the tongue too.

It’s been a good run with Harang. Through the team’s ups and downs, he’s been the shy, understated constant who always seemed to draw Chris Carpenter and Carlos Zambrano. Sometimes great, sometimes not so much, but he always gave the fans hope. And I hope that he’s able to find continued success in his post-Cincinnati career, after one quick World Series win.

Boxscore

The 2010 baseball season has come to a close, and the Cincinnati Reds were victors for the 91st time. That’s right. 91 wins. It’s been a good year. It’s been a very good year.

Aaron Harang made what was likely his last start and appearance ever for the Reds. He started strong, striking out the first batter he faced on 3 pitches, but had to leave early due to a blister on his pitching hand. His final line was 2 innings, in which he allowed 2 runs and struck out 3. Harang’s contract is up at the end of the year, and there’s no reason for the Reds to bring him back, especially with the glut of good young pitching the Reds have. I’ll miss him, though, and always remember him fondly for the years when he was the only good thing happening in Reds baseball. It’s a shame he wasn’t able to lead the team into the playoffs.

The bullpen took over and didn’t allow the Brewers to score any more runs. And Jay Bruce hit his 25th home run on the year in the fourth inning to give the Reds the lead.

The Reds end the year in first place with a record of 91-71. It was an unqualified success for a team without a winning record since 2000, and without a postseason appearance since 1995. Now they get to prepare to face the Philadelphia Phillies next week.

Oh, by the way, the last time the Reds won 91 games? Just an insignificant little year in Reds history with the number 1990.