The Hanshin Tigers game I saw last night was one of total dominance for the home team. Starter Randy Messenger pitched 6 innings of 4-hit, 10-strikeout shutout ball while the hitters put up two runs in the 4th inning. The relievers (Kaneda, Takamiya, Shimamoto, Matsuda and Ishizaki) cobbled together two more innings of shutout ball as well. The Giants pressed at times for runs but could not bring anyone home.
Unfortunately for the team and its fans, this was the “game I saw” and does not count the first inning, one I spent lining up for a special fan club gift, in which the Giants rallied for three runs before anyone realized the game had started. So the final score was 3-2 Giants, despite the misleading headline.
I will not throw anyone under the bus, but I do have to say that so far this year (not just last night), Matt Murton has been a shadow of the man he was last season, not to mention the other four seasons preceding it. His four plate appearances went: groundout to pitcher, groundout to second, groundout to second, walk. He has grounded out too many times to count (OK, it’s been 10 so far in 16 at bats this week) and just is not hitting the ball well at all. I love the guy and do not place the blame on him for any of the team’s losses… but they definitely need the Murton of 2010-2014 to show up. I’m sure he is more aware of this than anyone else.
On the bright side, Kosuke Fukudome has found his game this year, and actually leads the Central League in OBP among Japanese players so far. Mauro Gomez seems to be hitting the ball better as well, albeit he now has a 15-game homer-less drought going. Hiroki Uemoto definitely looks more comfortable in the leadoff slot than he did batting second or seventh, as well. Ryutaro Umeno is hitting the ball much better than he did last year, striking out way less frequently and spraying the ball all over the outfield, too. There are a lot of positives the team can carry out of the recent funk.
Once Murton picks up his pace and the team finds a solid center field option (Yamato has struggled mightily, Shunsuke is a decent place holder but not likely the answer, and Hayata Itoh and Taiga Egoshi still need to mature as hitters and especially as fielders), the Tigers should be able to right the ship. Hang on tight, Tigers fans… the wins will start to pile up soon, and not just the ones that start in the second inning like it did for me last night!
Murton is in a slump but I still trust him to pick it back up. I’d like him to put a little more effort on defense though. No one expects him to make the fine plays Yamato does but it looks to me he gives up too easily. Maybe it’s just me though.
As for Gomez, I blame the loss on him. In the top of the 1st he got what looked to me (and the casters) like a DP ball and he didn’t try to throw back home with plenty of time to do so. After that first run I think Messenger got irritated and he didn’t pitch well in that inning.
Gomez is slowly learning how to not swing at everything, our pitchers give up less runs and Uemoto is back where he belongs. Before the season started I predicted us to finish bottom 2 (tough love!) but maybe there’s hope for this team after all…
I didn’t see the play but many people were talking about that. In his defense, Gomez said the ball had a weird spin on it and he felt like a throw home was going to be tough, which is why he opted not to throw it there. The coaches (Takashiro and Hirata) commented that he should have thrown home. The article is here, if you can read Japanese. http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/news/20150418/tig15041805020007-n1.html
Thanks! Coach Takashiro is blunt! I love it! lol