June 10, 2007 Giants Game?

In fielding a bunt in the 6th inning, Abe appeared to have twisted his ankle and was taken out of the game. With only Abe and Sanematsu on the ichi-gun roster in the catcher's spot, Hara-kantoku couldn't afford to pinch hit for his only remaining catcher.

Abe iced his ankle and had it looked at by a physician. It was deemed "not too bad," so Abe will be day-to-day for the time being.

I would guess that the Giants will promote another catcher today, whether or not Abe is sent down to ni-gun for rest.

I don't know about that call. Ogasawara used to be a catcher. Using him behind the plate is probably better than leaving Sanematsu in there for a clutch at bat.

That's right. Ogasawara could have caught in a jam, I'm sure.

Furthermore, I've been tracking transactions between ichi-gun and ni-gun, and the Giants had just brought Katoh up on June 6. I don't know if he was on that day's roster or not, but usually it's the previous day's pitcher that is left off, not a third catcher.

The Nikkan Sports article said that Hara-kantoku was out of catchers. But evidence suggests otherwise. This doesn't bode well for the Giants' skipper.

I looked at the box score. Katoh was brought in to replace Abe when he got hurt. But Katoh was taken out in a double switch. Ogasawara could have been the emergency catcher if they were able to tie the game. In my opinion, the skipper should have worried more about putting a run across the plate (in the bottom of the 9th) than about who would catch if they went to extra innings. Definitely, Sanematsu (a career .150 hitter and no hits this year) was not the man for the job (nor should he been put in that position).

Yeah, though I don't think Ogasawara's caught in a game in like what, ten years?

Also, Katoh actually did play in the game in question, so - I really don't know what was up with the situation. Kimura pinch-hit for Katoh in the 8th inning, batting fourth, and Sanematsu came in to catch, batting second. They probably didn't expect him to actually have to bat.

I've sort of had an irrational dislike of Sanematsu for quite a while, though I can't really remember where it started. I don't think he's even a good enough catcher to justify his awful bat. I'm still amazed that the Fighters managed to trade him to the Giants for a year of Hideki Okajima (which was really part of the key to the pennant last year).

It's just sad because if you look at the 1998 draft - the one where half of the league lost out on the Matsuzaka sweepstakes -- the Fighters ended up getting Sanematsu in the first round instead. The next three picks, Tateyama, Tateishi, and Hichori, have had so much more value to the club.

Sorry, I don't know why that rant came out. Basically, I have no clue why anyone would want to leave Sanematsu in for a clutch situation either. After all, if the Giants could keep the inning alive and score more than one run there, the game would be over and they wouldn't have to worry about catching. Ejiri was probably pretty happy about the situation, though.