There is Always Matsui

Every year Seibu seems to depend on him more.

And every year he delivers.  In fact, he gets better and better.

Just what would the Lions do without Kazuo Matsui?

Especially this year.  For injuries, slumps and -- horror of horrors
-- inconsistent pitching have fettered a Seibu team with the potential
to sprint to the pennant.  The Lions staggered through a pitiful month
of June, fortified only by the fact that league rivals stumbled as well. 
As of June 25th, the team clung to first place by a mere .003,
its winning percentage having plummeted over fifty points in but three
weeks.

Yet, Matsui has more than done his part, hitting .352 and leading the
team with nine homers.  He also ranks first in the league in hits,
doubles, triples and stolen bases.  He popped for the cycle in one
game and late in the month found himself batting clean-up -- his first
such experience in six years as a professional.

And why not?  Matsui is roaring while the rest of the Lion batters
can barely meow.  In less than a month team batting average has swung
from the top to near the bottom of Japanese baseball.  The team suffered
a no-hitter in one outing and managed but two hits in another.

Outside of Matsui, the club's other run producers have all met with
various troubles.  For Seibu fans it is a sad list.  Read it
and weep.

• 
  Tony Fernandez has cracking the ball with old-pro consistency when a muscle
  strain put him on the shelf.  Rehabilitation will probably take three
  weeks, with half of that time yet to come.


 

• 
  Ken Suzuki -- a former 20 homer man -- has completely lost the long ball
  touch.  After a horrendous 1999, Suzuki is languishing again, with
  but two round trippers in three months of baseball.


 

• 
  After the same three months, Taisei Takagi, projected as the Lions' next
  great hitter, has yet to see the lighter side of .200.  While he ranks
  in the top five vote getters for All-Star outfield slots, his batting average
  is too low to be posted among the league's top 30 hitters.


 

• 
  And Reggie Jefferson, expected to rain homers, has thus far only drizzled
  -- though recently he has shown a few more signs of thunder.

Yet, the more his teammates seem to falter, the more the switch-hitting
Matsui seems to produce.  Throw in his base stealing and defense and
then mix in his sparking stats from seasons past and the result is a bona
fide superstar.  Among domestic players, maybe Ichiro Suzuki of Orix
is better.  Or maybe namesake Hideki Matsui of the Giants.  But
surely no one else.

Yet, there is one thing Kazuo Matsui cannot do -- pitch.

With Takashi Ishii ailing and boy wonder Daisuke Matsuzaka in the midst
of a three game skid, the Seibu pitching staff sputtered through June. 
Since pitching has been the real teeth of past Lion championships, Seibu
leadership has to be concerned.  For the team to rectify its recent
slide, the arms have to come around.

Of course, it would be nice for the batting to do the same.

But if it doesn't....  Well, there is always Matsui.