I saw this article linked to by Cincinnati.com today about Aaron Harang and his attempts to resurrect his career with the San Diego Padres.

Harang signed a one-year, $4 million deal this off-season to pitch in the spacious PetCo Park and hope to return to his awesome, winning ways of 2006 and 2007. He’s only 32 years old, so there’s likely some talent left in his tank. What better place than where he grew up and lives?

Born in San Diego, raised in Allied Gardens, a phenom at Patrick Henry High, a star at SDSU, Harang is as glued to San Diego as night and morning low clouds. During a 12-year professional baseball career, Harang always returned to San Diego in the offseason. The Del Cerro home he bought in 2003 and still lives in is about a 3-wood from his old stamping grounds.

After the great years with the Cincinnati Reds, he was overused in a brief period in 2008 and was never the same. He was injured, but that never explained why he couldn’t quite get back on track.

“I feel like I’ve never been able to get back to the consistent, repetitive mechanics that I had,” [Harang] said. “The last couple of years have been, ‘Try this, try that. Move your arm angle out a little.’

“I’ve had a couple of my old coaches call me, asking, ‘What are you doing? You had so much success before doing the same thing. Now, all of a sudden, you’re turning your back on that?’

“I got away from my main thing, which is throwing my fastball (primarily) and throwing everything off that. I got to thinking I’m going to trick people and it just didn’t work.”

I’m hoping for a great showing from Harang. He was my favorite player on those terrible teams in the 200s, and I’d love to see these last few years as nothing more than a bump in the road for him.

Run support, bullpen support, defensive support, all are baseball measurables. But what role does happiness in your environment play in an athlete’s success? With Harang, we may be about to find out.

“He is extremely excited,” said Harang’s wife, Jennifer.

The couple have a 4-year-old daughter, Addison, and 8-week-old twins, Dustin and Kailey. Baby sitters will be no problem. Both set of grandparents live nearby.

“I’ve always talked about it with Jennifer,” Harang said. “You gotta jump at the chance to be able to stay at home.”

Read the whole article. If you’re a fan of Harang, it’s worth your while.