Tora (虎) = Tiger
Kichi (キチ) = short for kichigai (気違い) = lunatic
We are…
Episode 005: Pack it in or Keep Hoping?
Last time we talked, this team was on the rise. I think their record was 6-11 or 7-11 after their horrendous 2-10 start. After flying as high as 16-14-1, the team is now 18-20-2, one-third of the season is done, and we are firmly (?) in fourth place. I say that loosely because a couple of quick wins could put us in third, but a couple more losses and we’re down near the bottom of the CL again. What’s your take on the past few weeks of Tigers baseball, Zorny?
Lots of ups and downs for sure. We had a really good stretch to retake the .500 but at the same time that didn’t last as expected. After that, some bad series on the road took place, our offense turns cold every now and then but when it gets hot, it can be very explosive. Also, we’ve been turning things around in a lot of games and that’s exciting.
Actually yeah, we have come from behind 9 times this season to win, and blown 8 leads to lose. Many of those came early in the year, and have since been forgotten. I am not sure what to make of the hot-and-cold nature of the team. I mean, it’s not like we are tearing up the worst pitchers and getting smoked by the best. We did alright against Morishita (Carp) last night, and we have shown resilience against Ohsera (Carp) and Ohno (Dragons) and Mercedes (Giants) and others who haunted us in the past… but then guys like Katsuno (Dragons) make us look like a san-gun team…
Yeah. I think it’s something that all of us as fans are still trying to figure out, this hot-and-cold situation. One factor that certainly is making us struggle is the absence of Kento Itohara in the lineup. He was batting over .300 by the time he got injured and because of that, Yano has been trying to find a guy that can step up to Itohara’s level. Regarding the pitchers, it’s been really hard to predict anything these days just because, as you said, there’s no way of knowing how the offense will perform against anyone.
That’s a huge void that was caused by Itohara’s hamate bone needing to be removed. Not just with him being captain, but with how he plays, and the roles he can fulfill. Ueda has not been bad – in fact, his range at 2B is quite impressive – but he’s down in the 8-slot, where Itohara was a solid #2… we have been juggling the top of the lineup a ton lately. Koji Chikamoto (who is really heating up himself — he leads the team in hits!) is either #1 or 2, but when he’s first and Yoshio Itoi is second, we are weak. When he is #2 and Naomasa Yohkawa leads off, we are even worse off. I just miss Itohara’s presence in our lineup.
And it blows my mind the trust that Yano still has for Yohkawa. He’s was this huge promise that never actually clicked (I mean, really!) and he still gets to be chosen over Taiga Egoshi or Masahiro Nakatani which were starters for quite a while a few years back. He has some moments of brilliance but not enough to make it to the top squad IMO. Ueda still needs some pop. He’s great defensively but doesn’t seem quite deceiving when it comes to his batting. At the end of the day, we still haven’t figured out a way of replacing Itohara and this everchanging lineup shows that.
Well after Nakatani’s grand slam on Thursday and RBI single yesterday, I bet he gets consideration ahead of Yohkawa moving forward. But speaking of guys who get tons of benefit-of-the-doubt from the skipper, How about the reliever combo of Kazuo Itoh (farmed today at last) and Ippei Ogawa? They give up runs like they’re candy on Halloween night. So seriously, even though they are not being put into high-leverage situations, but their job is on the line here… or at least for Itoh it is. Thirty years old and hasn’t stuck on the top squad yet. Still, they gotta put up some zeroes to gain the trust of the manager and their mates.
These guys are not there yet and so is Baba. The same way we had JFK (Jeff Williams, Fujikawa and Kubo) for that 2005 unforgettable bullpen setup, for this year so far we have BIO (Kosuke Baba, Itoh and Ogawa) which stands for BIO Hazard (which you mentioned on Twitter a couple of days back). These guys are radioactive material, man. They seemed very good in those practice games. I even remember Ogawa being very promising but we can’t talk about practice.
Baba: 14 K vs. 9 BB; Itoh: 11 K vs. 17 BB; Ogawa: 10 K vs. 10 BB. WHIPs are 1.76, 2.42 and 2.46, respectively. And batters are hitting .379 against Ogawa, no less. AWFUL.
I mean, Baba had some impressive comebacks after getting himself into jams. It’s pretty exciting when you see the guy battling through his own mess but we all know that it shouldn’t be like this. It shouldn’t be ALWAYS stressful which it has been with him. I was super happy when he got his first major W but we all know that he needs to perform better! Same thing stands for Ogawa and Itoh. They need to do a better job so they can keep us in the game. Yesterday’s game against Hiroshima (August 7) showed exactly it.
Yup. Down 0-6, bring it to within two, then right back to four runs. Then give them three more before we put up a two-spot in garbage time. So that’s just it, man. I cannot say it’s Yano’s fault because we are so gutted by injuries. But we really, REALLY have to play our absolute best if we want to win more games. We are far enough behind the Giants that every game is literally must-win already. And like I said to a friend of mine on Twitter the other day, Hanshin is good, but we get so nervous in front of the Giants, we look like the nerdy kid who keeps tripping over his own feet in front of the hottest girl in school. We gotta CALM DOWN and play like we are capable of doing, and we can actually give these Giants a run for their money. Which brings me to the biggest question. Are we pennant contenders in 2020, or do we surrender this season (with no Climax Series) to the Giants and try to work towards a brighter 2021, with players a little more developed than they are now? Win now, or build for the future?
Exactly. There’s no better series to show if we’re prepared for a bigger challenge than the Giants. They’re the team to beat and we have to be able to do so. If not, I don’t see how we can even fathom going to the Nippon Series. When I ask myself “are they up to the task”, I often remind myself of the 2014 team. That team was loaded with talent and they were almost impeccable (we all know why they weren’t – the manager!) and that showed against the Giants in the Climax Series final stage. They totally deserved it. This team right now has the potential. The injuries are making us pay but we’re good. I want to think that this season is still manageable/salvageable and we can be Ichiban. There’s still plenty of games to be played and a lotta tables have turned since the start of the season so I’ll remain confident.
I’ll tell you this – even with only a few guys hitting well we have been able to scrape together wins. At the start of the season, we were not doing so. Now, we have Chikamoto back doing his thing, and Sands has been unparalleled when the game is on the line. If Ohyama can learn how to have good at-bats (which is a better way of breaking out of a slump than swinging at the first pitch and popping out to short), we will be OK. But we need him to be better than he has been the past 2-3 weeks. Think about it: Okamoto (Giants) has 15 homers on the year (double Ohyama’s total) and a big deal was made when he went SIX games without a bomb. Ohyama has gone 10 without one, and he reminds me of his 2018 self that went AWOL from April to August.
Without a doubt. Ohyama needs to learn how to perform under pressure. That’s the key. He’s been great when the game is not on the line (game tied 0-0 still early innings or when we have the lead by a few runs or there’s no runners in scoring position). It’s not like he hasn’t performed in other circumstances (we all know it’s not true) but he needs to feel more confident ALSO under pressure. It’s hard when you’re rallying and he swings at the first pitch he sees instead of working the count a bit. Overall, when we get things going, most part of the time we get those wins even if we’re coming from behind and hey, we’ve only mentioned three guys!
Still, man… our 2-5 record so far against the Giants is ugly. We gotta step up in those crucial games. Full props to the Dragons for beating the Giants two straight so far this weekend, but we can’t keep leaning on other teams to do what WE need to do, and that is to STICK IT TO THE MAN!
If I can recall, it’s been a while since they’ve lost two in a row and that only goes to prove how tough it is to play in Nagoya.
You’d think with how hard it is to play there, that the Dragons would be more competitive, lol. I don’t understand that team. But hey, we’re not C-DEN or Y-GEN, so who cares about them? Let’s just hope our team can start performing a little more consistently. Cut down on errors (keeping Hojoh off the field is a start, haha) and get more clutch hitting. Even be a little creative with how we approach some of our opponents. Bour has to find a way to beat the shift, too.
We need to do our part. Last time a team relied on another to get a crucial spot in the climax series, we all know what happened (remember that Carp? :] ). T-NOTE: The Carp lost their last game in 2014 against the Giants, which gave us 2nd place. They lost their last game in 2015 against a hungover Swallows team to give us 3rd and leave themselves out of the playoffs. They needed just one win at the end of 2019 to clinch 3rd, but left the door open for us and we took it. Keeping Hojoh out of the field is a start to cut down those errors for sure hahaha. (We love you Hojoh. You just need to do better). Bour cooled down a bit but we all learned to never doubt the man. He’s gonna come through sooner or later, no doubt about it.
I am not sure what is up with our pitchers, too, but they all seem quite guilty of bobbles and errant throws. Baba to second on a pick-off, Nishi to first on a pick-off, Aoyagi and Fujinami and their fielding + throws to first… those are unnecessary errors that would keep us in a whole lot more games. Honestly, that is the way for us to get back in the pennant race. Play sound baseball and we will be fine.
Yeah. I feel sometimes they’re so desperate to get the out and they end up overdoing and messing up with their own chances. When it comes to plays on 1B, it’s up to Umeno to call the plays and say “hey, chotto matte”. Stop it there. Fujinami did one of his own these days and we all know that that coulda been avoided. When it comes to throws to second, take a deep breath, let the 2B/SS be in a good spot and go for a strike. No need to rush it. The problem with those errors is that they’re contagious and Hanshin has this trend of getting into their heads pretty quickly so once they start committing them, you just won’t know when they will stop. Sound baseball is what we need.
Anyways, bro. I honestly think we need to go at least 24-16 in our next 40 games if we want to threaten the Giants here. Pretty doable. We will also need for them to stop winning at a .632 clip as well. Think we can do it? Let’s meet up again at the midway point of the year and talk about the team’s state of affairs, shall we?
They can do it! I don’t mind losing games, I mind losing series. 24-16 is totally doable and reflects pretty much that. Giants can’t go super good all the way and I wish their bad stretch is close. I’m up for the task! Let’s see how it goes from now on and let’s get back together to evaluate. Thanx for the time man. Always a pleasure.
Same here. Thanks for shutting us up tonight with an early home run, Ohyama. Hit another one later tonight too, if you can!