Tigers rotation in trouble

Unfortunately, the bullpen has issues as well. Another meltdown from Kubota last night, so I imagine that's the last we'll see of him for a while. He had some great years, so hopefully he can eventually return to form.

I thought Jojima's lead was rather poor and the wild pitch which Hawks scored home on from 2nd makes me question if Jojima deserves to be as hyped up as he is.

Kubotas velocity is still good but he has problem with his placement. He has trouble hitting the corners of the plate, and afraid to give walks he throws right in the middle which makes it easy for batters to hack.

Kubota is bound for the second team I am afraid. His placement is the problem. He used to rely on an incredible ability to place the ball exactly where he wanted and so putting it down the middle wasn't a problem as it would always be an inch or two from where the batter was expecting it. This has gone and this is the problem but his speed is also down as well.

It was interesting comparing Egusa pitching to Johjima and pitching to Kanoh. He looked the better pitcher with Kanoh and I do think that Johjima is still learning the pitchers.

With the demotion of Ishikawa and Kubota, Tigers coaches have recalled Sugiyama and Fukuhara to the top team. One appreciates that they have very limited options but really they could have done better. Tigers have been choosing pitchers in the draft but these are taking too long to come through the system and when they do reach the first team they get no support and if they fail disappear. The example of Tsuru was a case in point and Kojima also suffers from this. Bringing back a couple of tired old pitchers is not the answer which is in fact to sack the pitching team and replace them with more forward thinking coaches. I do not believe our young pitchers are actually poor but that this is a management problem. No praise or encouragement and a demotivating environment in which a pitcher is afraid to fail or try new things and develop. Kubo has long passed his sell by date and needs to be removed. Mayumi also, anyone who can blow a match because he wants to punish his starter is not fit to be managing a baseball team. Hoshino got angry and was abusive towards players but that was because he valued them. Players commented that he made them feel as if their performance mattered. Okada in his early days also valued his pitchers but Mayumi doesn't. This shows in the body language. Tigers have the following pitchers they can bring up to the first team - all better choices than Fukuhara or Sugiyama: Cheng, Abe, Futagami, Sho, Kanemura, Kojima, Sajikihara. Some of these have experience - some are new but they need to be developed at the top level.

I said at the beginning of the year if Fukuhara and Sugiyama made the rotation again, something was wrong. Has Tsuru been demoted or is still in the rotation? I saw his first start and he was solid.
Anyway, going to my favorite stadium tomorrow (Skymark), so hopefully I won't be stuck watching Fukuhara or Sugiyama.
Hanshin is so desperate to win that they just won't give these young players enough of a chance. They are way too conservative and it has the team in a rut.

Tsuru is still part of the first team but his next start will probably be delayed as Mayumi has decided to give Standridge another try. Much as it pains me to say - I can see the logic of bringing Fukuhara up for the Orix games. They're the only team where he can be relied on to put in a good performance and he frequently delivers a complete game against them. I don't know why though - can anyone supply an answer? It is likely though that Sugiyama will start in relief but when he was tried there he was useless. Kanemura would have been a far better choice for relief.