What Were They Thinking?! Fighters Sweep Hawks, 5-2

As soon as I found out it was Yan Yao-Shun getting the start today for the SoftBank Hawks, the first thought that popped into my head was, "What are they thinking?!" Seriously, there are better options, they could've called up the long-forgotten Nagisa Arakaki or Jason Standridge.

It turned out to be a terrible decision to start Yan, as he failed to even get out of the first inning. He did manage to get one out, but that wasn't even close to what the Hawks were looking for. The four runs that Yan gave up turned out to be the only offense the visiting Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters needed, as they won what eventually became a nail-biter, 5-2.

The first inning told the entire story of the game. Yan walked the speedster Morimoto to begin the game. He was bunted to second by Takaguchi, who was manning 3rd base today. That sacrifice would be the only out that Yan would get, as he hit Tanaka, walked Inaba, and hit Koyano to force in Morimoto. The final straw was a double by Shinji Takahashi to drive in 2 more runs.

Hideaki Takahashi came in to try his luck, and struck out the first man he faced in Botts. However, a single by the light-hitting Tsuruoka led to two more runs. Makoto Kaneko struck out to end the inning, but by that point, it was already ugly. At the end of the inning, it was 5-0, Nippon-Ham. The most frustrating part was that those 5 runs would be the only offense the Fighters would get all day.

Brian Sweeney started for the Fighters and only ran into trouble in the 2nd inning. Kokubo led off the inning with a single, then Matsuda tripled him home to cut into Nippon-Ham's lead, 5-1. After Hasegawa flew out, Sweeney all of a sudden developed an allergy to the strike zone. He walked both Nakazawa and Nakanishi to load the bases for the slumping Takaya who delivered a 1-out single that drove in Matsuda. With the score 5-2 and an excellent chance to pull even with Honda up, the Hawks promptly blew it. Honda struck out swinging, and Kawasaki grounded out to end the inning.

That proved to be costly, as the Hawks failed to even get a sniff of home plate for the rest of the game. The closest they came was the 5th inning, when with 1 out, Matsunaka singled and Kokubo walked. After the second out was recorded, Takaguchi muffed a grounder from Hasegawa to load the bases for Nakazawa. However, he grounded to short to end the inning. Another golden opportunity missed.

Despite the offensive troubles, there was one bright spot: the bullpen put in some great innings. Ever the lunch-pail guy, Takahashi went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up only one run on 4 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. The Hawks may yet have their 5th or 6th starter in Takahashi.

Also encouraging was Koji Mise's performance. He worked 2 innings of 1-hit ball.

Yet another good sign was the return of veteran Takayuki Shinohara, who worked a scoreless 9th. His return marks a veteran presence the bullpen has been lacking, and if he can stay consistent and be the bridge to Takehiro Mahara, then the Hawks may yet have a bullpen again.

Despite the good news from the bullpen, the real story was Yan's flameout in the 1st inning. It proved to be costly, as the Fighters' bullpen worked 4 innings of two-hit ball before Micheal Nakamura closed it down in the 9th for the save.

Going into the All-Star Break, the Hawks are 50-48, one game behind the Fighters for 2nd place in the Pacific League, and 5 1/2 behind the Saitama Seibu Lions for 1st place. Here's to the All-Star Break, expect another team report to come during the Break.