Triple Blowout

While the Nippon Ham Fighters blew out my Yokohama BayStars on Monday evening at Sagamihara, it wasn't the worst blow out of the day, by far. Two other Pacific League teams blew out the other two B-Class Central League teams for a new record.

Many of you may recall that almost a year ago, on June 11, 2009, the Chiba Lotte Marines scored 15 runs in the 6th inning of a game against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp at Chiba Marine Stadium, knocking out 10 consecutive hits (with a couple of walks and a hit batter within). It was an error, not an out, then ended the hit parade.

Well, both Lotte and Hiroshima were involved this year, but each playing at a different stadium.

Lotte had 10 consecutive hits in the 7th inning at Jingu against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, scoring 10 runs on 10 hits without a walk or hit batsman in between. That's not just 10 consecutive hits. That's 10 consecutive plate appearances with hits! In that, Kim Tae-gyun hit a grand slam home run, followed by Ohmura Saburo hitting a solo shot, then Satozaki Tomoya hitting a two-run blast for good measure after Yoshikawa Masahiro replaced Masubuchi Tatsuyoshi who failed to get a single out in relief of starter Muranaka Kyohei. Lotte went on to win this one by a score of 14-2. This was the first game in NPB history where a team had 10 or more hits in consecutive at bats.

As if the memory of last year's single inning blowout wasn't enough for the Carp, it was soon after word of Lotte's 10 hits reached Fukuyama (home away from home for the Carp) that the Orix Buffaloes went to town on Hiroshima, duplicating the 10 consecutive plate appearance hits record in the top of the 6th inning. Orix only had a single home run, a three run shot by Kitagawa Hirotoshi, and so ended with just 8 runs on the inning. While that inning may not have been quite up to Lotte's standard in runs, Orix did end up winning 21-10.

Hmmph. After that, Yokohama's 13-3 loss to Nippon Ham doesn't seem so bad. We just gave up 4 runs in each of the 2nd, 6th, and 8th innings (and 1 run in the 4th). See, we're better as spreading out the pain.

As both Yokohama and Hiroshima lost, the BayStars continue to trail the Carp by a half game, remaining in 5th place in the Central League standings, still 3 games over the Swallows.

However, the Baystars are now looking rather bereft of ideas. Most importantly, there's a total lack of a closer, with Yamaguchi giving away too many hits to be reliable, and Sanada (again tonight) seeming to do his best to lose. Bootcheck is a waste of money, while Ejiri makes me angry as soon as I see him.

Only Kaga ( I know you weren't impressed with him but he seems to be improving) and Shimizu are looking useful, while Miura does a good job sometimes. The batters with the exception of maybe Ishikawa and lately Murata aren't really pulling their weight. I'm not even optimistic that they'll finish in fifth place.

Too right. Something really has to be done about the closer position. Yamaguchi doesn't give me that feeling of confidence I always had when the Daimajin came in. I can hardly bear to watch when he starts off with a walk.

Kaga is actually one of the pitchers I've been very impressed with. Just not as a starter until recently (two Quality Starts in his last two outings - though with no decision). The first time I saw him he came in with the bases loaded and nobody out. He retired two in a row (without allowing a run), then another pitcher came in (why?). Kaga as a closer may be something I'd go for.

Overall, the pitching is vastly improved this season, even with blowouts like this. The BayStars have been involved in a lot of low scoring games. The main problem has been that they consistently score less than their opponents. If only they could hit (Murata included) when runners are on base! We seem to only be able to get runners as far as third. Why is that last stretch so difficult?

As Yakult seems to be finding themselves under new management, I share your concerns for fifth. Hiroshima has been keeping Yokohama's pace (until last night's tie), so fourth is still in sight. But we really need to find a way to start outscoring the competition.