Franklin playing at 3rd/Yakult's Igarashi won #10

pekaryin writes "(1) It is quite interesting to see Franklin playing at 3rd base after he was traded to Hanshin. As far as I remember, he has pretty much been playing OF since his early USA minor days. (Let's go out to find more details and I'll post later.)"

(2) Since they keep Tarasco, there is no room for Franklin to start at OF, but could it last very long?

(3) Yakult's Igarashi pitched a scoreless 9th last night, then, thanks to the sayonara hit by OF Manaka from Giant's last pitcher Misawa, Igarashi got his 10 wins this season, and topping at both leagues now. But has he been over-used? He has appeared in almost half of Swallow's games so far. It is hard to find a reliable setup man and closer these days, and you don't want to abuse him when he is still a young kid (Igarashi around 20 or 21).

One interesting note from the game is that veteran IF Ikeyama, coming back from the varsity team, started at RF and later played at 2nd base, both positions he hasn't played at much before. Will he become the utility player?........^_^

--Steve Yin

[Updated layout format on Feb 14, 2005 9:02 PM JST]