It just seems like the team is struggling to put together both sides of the game. When the pitchers are on, the hitters are not. When the pitchers are off, the hitters are not able to do enough. The defense, despite only six errors in 14 games, has made countless mistakes that do not find their way into the record books. The bottom line is, the team has dug itself into an early hole, and it’s really deep. It could get even deeper, as they face the Dragons in Nagoya next. And if that is not enough, they are well-rested after not playing over the weekend due to the Baystars’ Covid outbreak. They plan to bring 2020 Sawamura Award winner (who threw a no-no against the Tigers in 2019) Yudai Ohno and 2021 Best Nine winner Yuya Yanagi. Over next weekend, we are likely to also face 2018-19 Sawamura Award winner Tomoyuki Sugano.
Still, we cheer on. We also applaud the unbelievable, historical performance by Roki Sasaki today (perfect game, 19 strikeouts including 13 straight).
