August 28th Despair at the Dome

Tigers return to Koshien with a truly terrible performance to mark the last game of shi no rodo. Still their shi no rodo record was actually 11-10. This has to be regarded as positive. Unfortunately it means that Tigers stupid management probably want Wada back next season (and their have been rumblings in that direction). One understands the reasoning (which is feeble) that he has managed two second place finishes but both times he has had championship winning teams which his lack of ability has actually failed to take to a championship. There is still time this season though but on the strength of last nights performance it is unlikely.
Tigers started the disintergrating Fujinami who was poor in the first two innings. This allowed the Giants to seize a 4-0 lead. Tigers were befuddled by Mr Smug (Sawamura) who needing a good performance produced one out of the top drawer. Once again Wada's inclusion of the passengers Imanari and Fukudome didn't help. When Imanari is included in preference to Yamato you know something is seriously wrong with the managers judgment. Tigers flailed around ineffectively like beached whales and it only needed 114 pitches for Sawamura to dispose of them.

Yeah their record was 11-10 but that includes 5-1 at Kyocera - not home but not quite away, either. Take that out and you get 6-9 with one series win out of five.

I actually prefer Imanari to Yamato but maybe that's just me and my short-sightedness. Yamato is good at sacrifice bunts and maybe he fields better than Imanari (but lately they are playing completely different positions). Otherwise, I think Yamato is a weak hitter who rarely reaches base, and even more rarely gets extra base hits. Imanari has 4 more extra base hits in 60 fewer at bats than Yamato. His average, OBP and SLG are all higher. But that's just numbers, right?

yamato is The Tigers Second Base Stealer (tm). seems like thats what always happens when he is on base. i think he bunts so often just based on the fact that he happens to be at bat when there is someone on first with no outs (wada's recipe for bunt), could be anyone. I also think the fact that he is a fan-favorite keeps him in, though it could be someone worse...

Driving in runs there is not much to chose between Yamato and Imanari but then getting home is a different story. Given that Imanari is often used at six or seven he should be driving in more runs than he is doing. Looking at getting home despite having a higher OBP Imanari has come home 34 times as opposed to Yamato's 44 times in less games.

Maybe so, but that same "getting home" is a result of the hitters behind them. Who's batting after Yamato more often than not? That's right, Toritani and league-leader Gomez. Who's behind Imanari? Quite often it's Fukudome or Umeno. They're both barely over the Mendoza line. I'd say that's a bigger factor than base running. Besides, it's not so much number of games that matters when comparing their numbers, but rather plate appearances. And Yamato's ahead by quite a bit.

GG, you might be right in a slight sense... but 9 SBs vs. 7 CS for Yamato does not make him a "base stealer"... in fact, no one on the team is very good at it. The Tigers are last in the league in SBs this season.

Yes but what about when Imanari bats two (which he does frequently). The interesting thing about both Fukudome and Umeno is that they have driven as many runs as Imanari despite their averages being poor. Runs matter and I am not convinced that averages have enormous significance on the ability to score or drive in runs. Here Wada fails miserably - as a manager he lacks the ability to identify the game changers in his team and so we see bottom feeders like Imanari. Imanari is actually a bit lazy round the bases which I think is also important.

You make some good points. But in the end, who drove in the winning runs tonight? Your boy Imanari. Batting 7th.

Yes I instantly thought about what I had written when Imanari hit but we can call this luck against a poor pitcher. Still if he does it more often I will have to revise my opinion of his usefulness.

haha, based on memory (there's the problem!) i swear that yamato bunts and steals bases just about every game. stats are easy to look up, i ought to do it more often =]