Young Stars

After losing seven games in a row, it was the contributions of two young BayStars that have brought the team up out of the Central League cellar. Kinjyoh and Tamura have both performed beyond the duties of a substitute and, especially with Kinjyoh, may have won themselves a spot in the regular lineup.

Several key players have been hurting (as in injured) this year. Two of them have been center fielder Haru and third baseman Shindoh. In Shindoh's place, Gondoh-kantoku started off with new infield utility import Merloni, who filled the role well. Then, Gondoh-kantoku gave Kinjyoh a try, and Kinjyoh has found a spot in the lineup since. When Haru went down, Kinjyoh was moved to center. When Haru returned for a spell, Merloni was benched and Kinjyoh continued playing at third.

Let's just compare these two fighting for the third base position. Both have had about the same amount of playing time in place of Shindoh, with Merloni having had a large number of at bats as a pinch hitter being the major difference between situations.

Merloni Kinjyoh Avg. .233 .383 RISP .292 .438 HR 1 2

Unfortunately, I don't have any more fine details for the two handy, as it would be fairer to at least compare their number of at bats as well.

The only weak spot Kinjyoh appears to have would be his arm, which isn't nearly as accurate as multiple Golden Glove Shindoh. Komada and (lately) Saeki have both handled his bad bounds to first rather well, saving several "E's" from Kinjyoh's record. Nonetheless, with the bat, Kinjyoh has come through time and time again in the clutch.

Against the Giants on Friday, Kinjyoh went 5 for 5, scoring twice and driving in a run. Yesterday (Saturday, 6/24), Kinjyoh stretched a streak of reaching base to 12 consecutive at bats (starting with a hit and a double on Thursday against Yakult) by going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI's and 2 walks (he reached base on an error his second at bat).

The other young up and coming hero is Hitoshi Tamura. Drafted out of high school (Yokohama High) in 1994, he only played at 1-gun for 18 games in 1997. In his first appearance this season, during the series with Yakult this past week, Tamura hit his 2nd career home run to temporarily put the BayStars up in the game (which they eventually blew in the bottom of the 9th for a "gyakuten sayonara make").

Tamura came through when it was most important, against the Giants. Tamura shared the pedestal on Friday (6/23) with Kinjyoh for the hero interview after driving in the deciding gyakuten runs with a bases clearing three run double to left. That was a roller coaster of a game that saw the 'Stars take an early lead, to lose it, then take it back. (And if you remember my comments about the Giants winning when they hit home runs, well, Maru-chan hit two that game. To which I'd like to add, the BayStars just finished sweeping the Giants with a 2-1 victory tonight (Sunday, 6/25) at Yokohama Stadium. Other than the two rising stars, and dispite giving up home 2 homers in each of the first two games, I'd say that a key to the sweep was keeping Etoh and Matsui at bay. Gondoh-kantoku managed his pitchers very well against these two big bats.)

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[Updated layout format on Feb 14, 2005 9:17 PM JST]