Ohishi-kantoku's Performance

A word to Orix. Just sell the team. Your management is a team of idiots. You have a manager who looks lost and players who have no idea how to win. Just sell the team and remake everything over. Start new!

I've seen the Buffaloes play this year, and they just seem listless and wracked by injuries. Cabrera and Rhodes seemed to instill the rest of the lineup with confidence, and that's why the lineup was as potent as it was last year. This is a team that can score runs, but they don't seem to believe in themselves enough.

Pitching has been horribly wracked by injuries and ineffectiveness. Kazuki Kondoh has been nothing short of awful (6-7, 5.59), Satoshi Komatsu has been hurt, and when he has been in, he's been pretty bad himself (1-7, 6.93). These are two guys who were very good last year. Komatsu won 15 games and Kondoh won 10 games.

Also hurting the Buffs is that youngsters Chihiro Kaneko and Mamoru Kishida have also spent time on the DL. Kaneko is 8-6 with a 2.92 ERA, and Kishida is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA. Imagine what this staff would be doing if it was totally healthy!

Regarding the bullpen, Daisuke Katoh has not been the same as last year (33 saves), and there really is no setup man. Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara has been a valuable cog, but he's out with an ankle injury. There aren't any other setup men other than Ohkubo, and he's been brilliant.

So I wouldn't say the problem is with Orix management or Ohishi-kantoku. He's proven that he can do well with the tools he has. He's just been trying to work with what he's been given, and what he's been given this year is a truckload of injuries to key pitchers.

Yes! I agree 100% with your assessment of Orix this year NipponHam. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Buffaloes (thanks to many of my friends from Osaka who are also Buffaloes fans in addition to being Yokohama ones) as I've always compared them to "The Little Engine That Could." The talent is there but they just need the confidence to get things done. When Tuffy and Alex went down with injuries earlier this season, I knew the Buffaloes were done as those two anchor that team down and give them the confidence to get the job done.

I guess it's just an unlucky season with all the injuries and most certainly isn't Ohishi's fault. He deserves to be on the bench as the skipper IMHO.

If anything, Orix needs to find a way to move out of the Kyocera Dome and get away from poor attendance and the overall ugliness of that place and permanently move to Skymark Stadium in Kobe where they can at least have a decent chance of creating their own image, because while Osaka is a great city for baseball, the Hanshin Tigers own that place and Orix is a mere afterthought for the most part.

I'll agree, Orix management is some of the worst I've seen in sports and it needs to be purged from the top to the bottom. Most of the players don't look like they have a clue. Maybe new ownership would be good for Orix, though what company in Japan is interested in buying a NPB team? Not Livedoor, not after Takafumi Horie got jailed for securities fraud. Anyone else know a company that wants a failing NPB team that has to compete with the Hanshin juggernaut?

Now second, maybe the solution is to hire a manager who has had experience in turning sad teams around like Bobby Valentine.

Finally, I agree with No1BayFan, the Buffaloes have to find a way to abandon Osaka Dome for good and move to the much nicer looking, Skymark Stadium, which might give them more of an identity for themselves. But as long as they play in Osaka/Kobe they will always be second fiddle to Hanshin. Maybe a move to another city is the answer. Because competing with Hanshin is pointless for Orix.

I thought Skymark was being phased out and all games will be played at Kyocera Dome by 2011.

Yeah that's true I think, but it should be the other way around to be honest with you. Orix is going to have to eventually sell the team after a few seasons of playing games strictly at Kyocera Dome IMHO because they just don't draw good numbers there.

I'm reading that Hisashi Yamada is rumored to be the next manager for Orix next year. He managed the Chunichi Dragons in 2002 and 2003 and did a respectable job. He was a great pitcher in his time winning 284 games with and ERA of 3.18 and WHIP of 1.13.

Sorry Ohnishi. Good luck Yamada.

Today it was rumored that ex-Hanshin manager Akinobu Okada will take over the Buffaloes next season. Geez, how can it be rumored that Hisashi Yamada will be hired and the coaches he will be bringing and then it is said that Okada is being hired? Only Orix.

Okada has officially been named manager, right?

Terrible news, if true, about Skymark. I was fearing this was inevitable, but too bad they have to move even more games from one of the best places to watch baseball to one of the worst. Not that I care to watch the Buffaloes anyway, but there was usually one Tigers--Buffaloes game a year at Skymark. Hopefully the Tigers will keep playing open-sen (pre-season) games there. I'd rather watch an exhibition game at Skymark than a real game at Kyocera Dome.