Opening Day lineup - 28th March

We now have the Tigers lineup for the start of the season (March 28th against the BayStars).

1. Akahoshi (Centre
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

This is a nice lineup. Everyone has earned their places. All three new faces, Hirano, Ford and Arai have been impressive and Imaoka has shown signs that he is getting over his 2 year slump. Andoh has been the best Tigers starter by far and is a good selection to start the season. In the meantime there are three more games to go before the start of the season, one against the Carp which is currently ongoing and the two exhibition games against the Red Sox and the Athletics

Kanemura is scheduled to return to the front line on 8th April. He has been recovering nicely and should be fully fit by then.

Does this mean that Kanemoto's consecutive streak of full innings played (and games played at 1,331) with both come to an end on the first day? I guess I hadn't paid close enough attention to the Kanemoto recovery, as I thought he was healthy enough now. (He's played in 5 games so far this Spring.)

It's unlikely - the team is built around him and Okada will probably use him come what may.

However, he hasn't played in that many innings. He's made only two appearances at Left (Carp and Red Sox)and neither of these the whole game. His other 4 appearances have been as DH or pinch hitter (Carp, Swallows, Giants, Giants) and restricted to three innings maximum. Apart from his two run home run in his first at bat he hasn't had a hit.

Think there was some confusion between Kanemura and Kanemoto in the previous posts.
As for Kanemoto, I personally think he should put an end to the streak this year. Coming off surgery and not getting any younger, he needs a rest now and then. His streak is admirable, but things like this are not always best for the team.

Ah, I see that now. Sorry for the confusion. Kanemoto's off-season surgery to his knee has been a worry.

Ohya-kantoku put an end to Ishii Takuro's similar streak early on last year as Ishii was hitting closer to .100 than .200. Ishii wasn't happy about it, but it did seem to get his attention as he did improve a great deal.

It seems to me that there were a couple of times last season when Kanemoto should maybe have sat out. It's a really hard call to make (is winning a close game more important than fan service?), and you know I don't think that Okada-kantoku is capable of making hard decisions.