BayStars' Update

WestbayStars writes "The Yokohama BayStars, in 10 innings, just finshied blanking the mighty Giants two nights in a row at Fukuoka Dome. What's more, it's two days in a row with 1-0 scores!But let's face it. The BayStars' pitching just hasn't been what it was during the past two seasons. They're currently second from the bottom in the Central League in ERA at 3.75. To go two games in a row without surrendering a single run can only be explained by the supernatural.

And what about batting? The "Machine Gun" offense has been firing blanks a lot
lately - especially with runners in scoring position. The 'Stars had chance
after chance against the Giants all three of these games at Fukuoka, but only
managed a couple of runs. They're just lucky that their pitching held out for
a change.

And let's take a look at the BayStars' batting order:

Last 2 Seasons			vs. Giants 5/24
1.	Ishii		1.	Ishii
2.	Haru		2.	Kinjyoh
3.	Suzuki		3.	Suzuki
4.	Rose		4.	Rose
5.	Komada		5.	Nakane
6.	Saeki		6.	Saeki
7.	Shindoh		7.	Meloni
8.	Tanishige		8.	Tanishige
9.	Pitcher		9.	Pitcher

The left hand side has been pretty much fixed since Gondoh-kantoku took over
the team in 1998. Saeki and Nakane have often platooned in right (seems to me that Saeki got more starting time), and Shindoh and Tanishige occasionally swapped places, but otherwise, very little was done with the batting order until this season.

But Haru and Shindoh are hurt right now, Haru for about two weeks. The only
time during the past two years that Haru has missed that much playing time
was when he was suspended for a month for not paying all of his taxes. And I
don't recall Shindoh spending so much time nursing his legs either. Ishii at
short has been in and out of the starting line-up a great deal recently as well.
When did so many players start getting hurt?

The big bright spot in all of this has been Kinjyoh's performance. At bat and
in the field, he has played very well at both third and center. Exceptionally
well considering that he is a second year player with next to no playing time on the top team up until now! In just a little over a week, Kinjyoh is hitting
.391 and has been a big difference in several ball games. Gambare! Kinjyoh!

Well, I think that that pretty much wraps up this BayStars' update. Until next time, "Reach for the Stars."