Shogo Yamamoto

Today's (July 26, 2008) paper version of Nikkan Sports has the answer: Viral enteritis. I'm not good with medical terms, but based on the kanji (腸炎), I'm guessing that a virus is causing his intestines to become inflamed.

Otherwise, Yamamoto appears to be throwing regularly in the rotation, with expected slides during the frequent rains we had earlier in the season. He was put into the starting rotation at the beginning of April, throwing regularly since, with a complete game shutout on April 23rd:

April
Dec  Day    Opp  QS BF   IP  H HR BB  K ER   ERA  WHIP
 -    8th  @SFT   0 22  4.2  7  1  0  4  3  5.79  1.50
 -   15th   SFT   1 24  6.0  7  1  0  7  2  3.00  1.17
 W   23rd  @NIP   1 31  9.0  5  0  0  1  0  0.00  0.56
 -   30th   RAK   1 28  7.0  8  0  2  2  3  3.86  1.43

May
Dec  Day    Opp  QS BF   IP  H HR BB  K ER   ERA  WHIP
 W    6th   LOT   1 30  7.0  5  1  5  7  1  1.29  1.43
 W   16th  @LOT   1 32  7.2  7  1  2  4  2  2.35  1.17
 L   24th   HIR   0 22  5.2  4  1  1  2  3  4.76  0.88

June
Dec  Day    Opp  QS BF   IP  H HR BB  K ER   ERA  WHIP
 W    1st   YAK   1 34  7.1  8  0  3  4  3  3.68  1.50
 -    8th  @HAN   1 24  6.0  5  1  0  4  2  3.00  0.83
 -   14th   CHU   0 21  5.0  5  1  1  3  1  1.80  1.20
 L   21st  @YAK   0 21  5.0  7  0  1  2  3  5.40  1.60

July
Dec  Day    Opp  QS BF   IP  H HR BB  K ER   ERA  WHIP
 W    3rd   SFT   1 27  6.0  7  0  1  4  2  3.00  1.33
 -   12th   SEI   1 27  6.1  6  0  2  8  2  2.84  1.26
 W   19th   NIP   1 31  8.0  9  1  0  6  2  2.25  1.13

Wow, that is a lot of quality starts for Yamamoto.

Anyway, looks like a false alarm with regard to Orix's incompetence this time. He's simply ill.