Anyone out there who is following the Tigers knows that this is the worst stretch they have been through all season, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. When they need runs and wins the most, they are falling short. Well short.
The pitching has not been great of late. Messenger uncharacteristically tanked against the Giants last night. The relievers continue to give out hits like they’re going out of style. Nohmi and Fujinami were mediocre at best.
But the hitting has been the true problem. Consider this. The Tigers have put up runs in just 3 innings of the last 47. They are averaging one run per game in their last five. Now, the two hired guns from overseas (Matt Murton and Mauro Gomez) are doing their part and then some. During this losing streak, they are hitting a combined 13-for-35 (.371). The thing is, the rest of the team is hitting a meagre 19-for-126 (.151). That’s right. The two sluggers are almost out-hitting the rest of the lineup!
So what’s the solution? Wada tried tonight to shuffle the hitting order and even insert a few seldom-used players into the starting lineup. That’s the right idea but it is coming way too late. Uemoto is not producing at the top of the order and hasn’t been for a long time. Yamato has no business hitting second. Then again, with whom can they be replaced? I secretly hope Nishioka will come back and hit the ball well, though we have no evidence that he will. Hopefully Ryota Arai can come back as well and beef up the hitting order, too.
Right now, nothing is going well for the Tigers. Their confidence is as low as it’s been all year. It’s time to get creative with batting orders, lineups, and even practice schedules! Come on, Tigers! Stop the bleeding!
i know its too early to give up, but right now Tigers dont deserve to be in CS, and if they sneak in at #3 im afraid it will be like last year (and i dont particularly want to travel to hiroshima just to see that again). truly dire times,. the only good news is wada’s likely resignation. focus on the future and hope that players like murton, gomez, and toritani want to stick with it
What a ridiculous stretch. 5 runs in 6 games. No pitcher could lead us to victory. Not until the bats heat up. Still we cheer. Anything can happen but man, the Baystars are creeping up on us.
“still we cheer”
i wake up at 2am to watch the Raiders lose games, and i’ve got tickets for 15, 16, 17 at jinguu.
its a sickness ^_^;
So do you live in the Tokyo area? Like you said earlier, hopefully they at least make the Climax Series. But if they don’t, at least they’ll have an excuse to not renew Wada’s contract.
i am ‘GG’ from the tiger tails forum, btw. yeah, i live in tokyo. about 15min walk to jinguu, so thats convenient when the team is in town. if tickets werent sold out when i tried to purchase them last month, i would have been in osaka for this slaughter. yikes ^-^;
with the ingoing decimation, i think its clear that management’s mandate to wada to ‘fix it’ is not being met. i know its unfair to put all the blame on him when the hitting has been so abysmal, but in situtions like that there is no one to blame but the coach(es). hopefully hanshin can hold onto #3 AND get a new manager (^-^)
I like that. Hold on to #3 and get a new manager. Who knows, a sweep of Hiroshima could put #2 in our sights. I want to stay optimistic here… no matter how unrealistic it is, there’s still a chance to move up!