Tora (虎) = Tiger
Kichi (キチ) = short for kichigai (気違い) = lunatic
We are…
Episode 009: H-TEN Awards 2020
You’re Cutting WHO?
Justin Bour man. It kills me to see the guy go. I mean, still uncertain if he really got the knife but if he doesn’t come back, it’ll only prove that Hanshin management hasn’t learned its lesson.
Yeah, that one truly hurts. To me there is no explanation beyond the business side of things: year 2 is a club option, and with how big a hit the company took during the pandemic (reports say ¥78-billion profit in 2019, ¥23-billion loss in 2020), they are cutting corners by dropping all the big-ticket items. The same is true of some of the veterans that they might have otherwise kept on. But I’m going to go in a different direction, and that’s Yen-Ching Lu, who has shown growth in each of his three seasons, is still just 24, and doesn’t cost much cash. Why not keep him???
I also don’t get it. The only thing that makes sense to me is the production x value comparison. He’s the guy that is expected to show way more power than has actually shown and by that I understand based on the business side that maybe they’ve seen enough. I don’t think it’s fair though since it was a tough year to get adapted to a new environment and deal with a lotta crap on and off the field. Fans love him and we all know that he can deliver so why not give him another chance?
Right. Like, who are we expecting to get to replace him? Are they content to roll with Marte and Sands? I do not want to diss either guy because i like them both, but Sands hit just one homer between September 12 and November 11, and his average and defense in that stretch were not pretty, either. Marte committed four errors in ONE GAME and actually his OPS and average are barely higher than Bour’s. As far as AB/HR, Marte was about 30:1 and Bour 22:1. For the record, Sands was around 23:1.
You’re Keeping WHO?
Why is Shunsuke still getting called up? I mean, from all the guys on the farm, that’s the one you’re gonna call? WHY? Someone please explain to me and try to change my mind. To me, he should have gone along with Hayata Itoh.
I’ve never been in Shunsuke’s corner, so I am completely down with your choice. However, I am going to pick on two other guys: Kazuo Itoh (31-years old this offseason and still never more than 15 GP on the top squad in a single season) and Fumiya Araki (how many puny fast guys who play defense but can’t hit the ball over the Koshien dirt infield do we need?). With Araki, he is 32 now and will only get slower. We have Kumagai, Ueda, Obata, and now Nakano and Takatera who play infield and have little-to-no power.
I remember people having high hopes for Araki but in the end, it never really worked. As you said, the guy was known for his speed and every year he’s only getting older. There’s tons of guys that are just like him but younger. Why keep him? It’s sad but that’s how it is.
I remember him hitting a homer off Messenger in an intrasquad match in spring 2015 when I was new to the team and I thought, “Small guy with pop! I like it!” Then he had a 5-hit game against the Eagles during interleague that year. I made him a player profile on H-TEN. Since then he has done nothing. Literally.
A Game to Remember
This has to be one of the toughest awards since we have to choose only one game among 120 but this year, we had something that it’s so rare that I just couldn’t ignore it. Last year, our offense really lacked power to say the least but with the acquisition of Sands and Bour to the lineup, this ongoing problem definitely changed and we could see that on this specific game. Not just one grand slam was hit but 2! We barely could score with RISP in the previous season but this time we managed to score 8 in only two hits! How rare is that?! Unbelievable display of power by our offense.
You’re talking about the 20-5 smashing of Yakult back on July 28, right? Yeah that was a crazy good game. Got me plenty excited for what this team was about to do… but this was the peak of the season, in some ways. We started 2-10 and this game brought our record up to 16-14-1, if I’m not mistaken, and then we stayed between .500 and 5 games over for pretty much the rest of the season. For me, I have to be honest, the losses stung a lot this year. Opening Day vs. Giants. Kyuji getting walked off by the Swallows still in June. Garcia & friends blowing a 7-0 lead against the Baystars and us having to settle for a tie… I was gutted after those games, among others.
They sure did, especially during our very first games. That stretch was just abysmal. Really hard to keep to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So much expectation on this team after a pretty good Spring Camp/Exhibition Games but at the end of the day we all know that these don’t count.
And on that note, that’s where my unforgettable game comes from, actually. We were 1-6 on the year, about to go 1-7 with Yamasaki on the bump for the Baystars in the 9th and us down a couple of runs. Enter Sands, man. He hit a home run that will stay in my memory for a LONG time. It was his first of the year, what with him having been called up that very day. And I got to talk to his wife the next day at church and she was like, “I didn’t see it. I was too nervous and had turned the TV off.” Haha.
Nat King Cole Home Run of the Year
I’m glad that you mentioned this game ‘cause my unforgettable homer of the year is in this one. As you just mentioned, we were coming from such a bad stretch that we need something to lift us up. Jerry Sands comes to the plate and delivers a much needed 2-run bomb of joy/relief that got me believing once again in this team. I remember posting on Twitter that Tigers fans wouldn’t forget this one so easily and here we are talking about it.
Yep. And me naming that as my game of the year and then another homer as my favorite of the season would be like giving the MVP to a pitcher but not the Sawamura… right? But here I am, doing just that. My favorite home run of the year was the team’s first in 2020. And I bet you can name the man who hit it.
Nishi, right?
Yep. Bro no one on the team could get a hit off Sugano to save their lives, and Nishi was pitching an amazing game. Then he leads off the top of the 3rd with a no-doubter to deep left. First of his career and man, it would have been a fairy tale story if he had won the game and we had won the pennant, because that home run and his RBI double later in the game almost single-handedly gave us a W and Sugano an L. But alas, it was not meant to be. Still, Nishi gets the nod from me for Home Run of the Year!
The Grass is Greener Award
If there was any chance that Hanshin could sign Yanagita to replace Itoi, that would be the perfect case scenario. He’s undoubtedly my favorite current player from another team. He’s almost the Midas of hits. Not necessarily just homers but almost everything that he hits is gonna be a base hit. Such a beast and I would love to have in our team.
A perfectly valid choice. I will admit to you, I had the same idea in mind. But let’s stretch this out a little, shall we? I’m gonna go to the infield, and as much as I hate to do this to Tigers fans… Hayato Sakamoto to replace Seiya Kinami. Send your hate mail to: shutupyouknowyouwanthim@hesastud.com
Yeah, this one hurts but it needs to be said. I would go beyond and sign Kikuchi to replace Itohara but in this case, I would change Itohara to SS just because I still believe he can take care of business in that part of the infield.
Interesting thought. Two birds with one stone, eh? Upgrade the defense in a big way, and let’s face it — Kikuchi can be pretty clutch at times, too.
Fix This Problem, Stat!
I still think that 2B and SS are our most problematic positions, not so much for 2B if we consider a healthy Itohara playing the whole time but we need to find a SS. I do think Obata can take the position full time instead of Kinami but he’ll need more playing time. This is critical if we want to commit less errors which has been a constant every single year. Only this season, we committed 85 errors throughout 120 games. That’s almost ¾ of a season with an error in every single game. That’s just unacceptable.
The error rate is about the same as it was last year, which was also an abomination. You gotta address those issues! The way I see it, though, Ohyama and Kinami improved quite a bit. What killed us, man, was the pitchers! Their error total was way too high, considering most of them were on errant throws to first. Some bad pick-offs at second too, but honestly, as good as the pitchers at their main job, they have to tighten up in other areas: fielding, bunting, even hitting, for crying out loud. You know you’re going to step up to the plate a few times per start, why not try to help out your own cause a little???
Sure thing man. We need to have a much bulkier and reliable starting rotation with pitchers that we can rely on. Not just that but our mid-relievers have to do a better job in keeping us in games. How many games have we lost because of poor relieving? So many close games that could’ve gone our way if it wasn’t for lack of clutchness.
What it comes down to in my opinion is this team lacks mental toughness. See, the other problem I want to address is how we play against the Giants year in and year out. They are like the hot chick in high school, who thinks she’s too good for everyone else. We are the clumsy nerd who is trying so desperately to prove to her that we can play in her league. We do all the right things when we’re around the uglier chicks like Yakult, but when we step up to her, we’re all thumbs. Can’t field right, can’t pitch right, can’t hit right.
History-Making Event
This year will be remembered by no fans in the stands at the beginning, a poor start but a good finish, covid cases, no all-star game, no interleague but a lotta homers, a few grand slams, happy hands and fireballs. Most importantly, an improvement for Yano as we finish second.
I boil this year down to Shintaro… caught COVID early, then was late for practice and got sent down to the farm, then had a couple of good starts, then some bad ones, re-farmed, promoted when COVID came back and ravaged the roster, but after that he was dominant. See? Bad start, decent middle, another slump in the third quarter, but a strong finish. Just like our team.
This year was his comeback for sure. After such a rough start with this COVID thing and being late at the practices etc, he came up big in relief and he got his control back reaching 100+ mph every time he would step on the mound. Definitely Fujinami appearances were the highlight of every game for Tigers fans all over the world.
We would be amiss to leave Kyuji out of the conversation. His departure (and also veterans Fukudome and Nohmi) will make this a completely different team in 2021. Kyuji is a total class act, awesome leader, consummate professional, and even more than the other two, he will definitely be missed. His retirement ceremony was something else, wasn’t it? So in a way, 2020 is the end of an era. Yano predicted at the start of the season that Kyuji would strike Yanagita out for the Japan Series title, but obviously that is not happening now. So it’s gotta be Mori striking out… Sakamoto? Okamoto? Maru? I don’t care, all I know is that i’m a Hawks fan for the next two weeks!
As always man, I could talk to you forever about this team. What would I do without H-TEN to keep me busy and entertained? Thank you so much for joining me on this ride, friend.
It was a heck of a ride, wasn’t it? Wish I coulda joined you at Koshien for the Marines series this year but regardless, we were able to watch a fun season with a lot of ups and downs and get to talk about it on these Torakichi episodes. Thanks for having me once again and I’m already looking forward to the next ones.
We will be back, everyone, whether you’re reading or not! These pieces allow us to clear our minds of a lot of clutter, and hopefully, you’re getting something good out of them, too! Have a great offseason, everyone! Keep tuned during the break, though, because H-TEN’s got all the news you need to prepare for 2021!
TL;DR — We talk too much. It was a good season and lots of guys needed recognition. We gave it to them and even more who didn’t deserve mentions… that’s how crazy we are about this team!