Kubota

With his low ERA and K ratio, Fujikawa has always had "closer" written all over him. Wasted in the setup role! Kubota has been terrible closing out games this year.

Christopher, don't be such a nervous Nellie.

I didn't see the game, but he certainly seemed to be struggling from the accounts I heard. But good players sometimes have these inexplicable bad performances. Even the best closers in the world fail from time to time.

I was going to say the same thing. Sometimes guys just have a bad day. Sometimes they're not feeling well. Sometimes they do everything right and still get blown up. One bad game means nothing.

I haven't been able to watch him much, but doesn't Darwin have some closer stuff?

What I've seen of Kubota this season hasn't been very impressive. I would like to qualify that by saying that I haven't watched many of his outings, but the ones I had seen, he seemed very shaky.

Darwin, as pointed out above, has been lights out from what I've seen. What would you Tiger fans think of exchanging the roles of Kubota and Darwin?

On the other hand, Lotte's closer, Kobayashi Masahide, appears to have similar trouble when ever I watch him, yet I don't think anyone would argue that he isn't an effective closer. So perhaps I'm just jixed to watch these two pitchers at low points of their biorythms (or simply on bad days).

Darwin has the potential to be a closer, and it would be interesting to see him tried in that role. Failing that there is always the option of moving Jeff Williams back to closer (incidently he was superb yesterday).

Mijow - nervous? As I said, I have defended Kubota as a closer and I appreciate you didn't see the performance but it was really, really awful. Tactically and control wise there was nothing there. The thing was it was a straightforward closing job against a poor team. It wasn't against a top quality team where you might expect a lot of pressure. If I was a coach I would be really incandescent at that particular performance.

Well basically, when someone does have a bad game it does usually come down to their control (pitchers mostly).

People seem to think "Oh look, he's all over the place." and either assume that he doesn't have it anymore or isn't good enough. Uh, no. It just means that he wasn't hitting his spots in that game.

When you know how to pitch well, it doesn't mean that you will every single time. Many other factors are at play. Mental and physical.

Especially since he's a closer. If he wasn't needed for a few games and then comes in to close, you can't expect him to be great because he hasn't pitched in a game for a while.

I'm not talking about this specific game because I didn't see it/don't know the circumstances. Just saying.

Fans and media often don't seem to "get it" in regards to that. Luckily the players and coaches do though.

Interesting - Kubuto has a similar ERA to Iwase, who leads the CL with 14 saves. Kubota is second with 11, although he has blown a couple this year. But maybe he is as shaky as many of you seem to think.

If he had to be replaced, I'd like to go with Darwin, although now that Williams is back, they've got five gaijin, so they'll need to do a little juggling with the lineup, unless they send Spencer somewhere else. But there's no law that says they've got to have one closer, and I think platooning them might be an interesting idea. Fujikawa, Williams, Darwin, Nomi, Kubota - all of these guys could do the job on their day.

Fujikawa, no question. He's got like 18 more strike outs than innings pitched, and his ERA is amazing.

I think hold and close are 2 different things. A closer needs to be mentally tough. I think this is only possible by either Kubota or Williams.

I think that what they did last year, having to swap the combo depending on the left handed and right handed batters, worked best. This will do the trick instead of putting over dependancy on these players.

Kubota is a quality pitcher, and apparently he was lacking the confidence he used to have.

I have to suspect Yano, too. I think he is calling too many fast balls in critical situations.

Interestingly, if you noticed or not, Igawa's past few outings were with Noguchi, and this works like a magic. So I suspect Yano a bit.

- A closer needs to be mentally tough. I think this is only possible by either Kubota or Williams.

What leads you to believe Fujikawa isn't?

Fujikawa definitely has it. But I don't want to risk what he does best.

Darwin can be tried, but I prefer these combos (I have been watching them past 4 years): Williams / Nohmi / Kubota and one more right hander.

As I understand from Okada, if the runs cushion is more comfortable then he won't use either of Fujikawa or Kubota.

Jeff Williams was a successful closer in his first year at Hanshin: 52 mound appearances, 52 and 2/3 innings, 1-1 with 25 saves, 57 Ks and a 1.54 ERA.

<digression>
I remember raging at Hoshino-kantoku at the time Williams was brought in to replace Marc Valdez: "How could anyone in their right mind replace Valdez as a closer?! Surely no-one could be better than him?!" Boy, was I wrong.
</digression>

It was good to see Okada go with Kubota again tonight in a 1-run game and give him some confidence back. Fortunately he looked pretty sharp (except for a 2-out single). The bullpen has shown more holes than last year, so hopefully they can get back on track as this looks to be a close race this year. Fortunately they have lots of options!

After the game Okada was pleased with Kubota's performance but said that he would have to pitch many more games. I would still like to see others sharing the burden. Darwin possibly, Williams certainly, and I agree with Cheese that Fujikawa has the mental toughness for the job.

- Against a team of such second rate quality he should have closed with ease.

Come on now. To Rakuten's credit, they played like absolute champs against the Tigers. It wouldn't be fair to take all credit away from them and blame it all on the Tigers' sub-par play. They had some great pitching shows this week. I give more credit to Rakuten for some pretty good playing this week!

- To Rakuten's credit, they played like absolute champs against the Tigers.

They certainly did. And you've got to remember that pitching is just one part of the game. What happened to the Hanshin hitters? If Kubota should be faulted for not doing well against such a lowly team, surely the batters should also be taken to task for not putting the score beyond the reach of Rakuten. I mean, not being able to score more than a handful of runs against that bunch of losers. Really.

Rakuten were not particularly good at all and it was obvious watching them play. The Tigers, when they put their minds to it, scored with ease - the quality difference was palpable. The truth is that Rakuten were second rate and that the Tigers were awful. Sugiyama was abysmal, fielding and hitting were lazy (I have never seen so many lazy shots before), and despite this the Tigers took a 3-2 lead into the ninth.

The fact that Rakuten scored in the ninth really was due to Kubota blowing an easy save - Williams and Fujikawa had already shown how to deal with the upper order and all he had to do was retire the lower order. He made a complete mess of this and it was due to his gift that Rakuten were able to win. Nomura-kantoku noted that they wouldn't have won if Kubota hadn't self destructed.

Well I'm not going to analyze every single minute of every game these teams have played this year, but I do think you're really being condescending towards a group of pro ball players who, while not being world beaters, do have some talent - otherwise they wouldn't be pros to begin with. The notion that the Hanshin Tigers should be able to beat Rakuten on every single occasion is frankly a touch on the arrogant side. And I'm a Tigers fan, too.

Some you win, some you lose, and while Kubota self destucted in that particular game, you've got to give Rakuten the credit for taking advantage of it. This sort of thing averages out over the season and I think you'll find that Rakuten will still be at the bottom of their league, Hanshin will win theirs, and Kubota will have decent stats at the end of the season. Which is about right. Focusing on one game, or even one inning doesn't prove anything. It's a long season. Stuff happens. That's baseball.

And Kubota struck out the side in the top of the ninth tonight at Koshien. Including Matsunaka and Zuleta. That makes two superb innings in two nights. That's one way to silence the critics.

Sometimes you have to be realistic. Rakuten are second class and will continue to be so for at least this season. Occaisionally they can rise above themselves and play like a first class team. This was not one of those occasions. But yes, second rate teams should be beaten by first class teams. The second game of the series was there for the Tigers to win.

I appreciate that you didn't see the match, but to be honest there were three games for the taking there. The fact that Kubota self destructed is serious - this is not a case of Rakuten playing above themselves but of a pitcher handing them a victory (and I do mean handing). Furthermore, stuff happens is not an adequate analysis of the situation. This was not one of the loses where Rakuten played well and won through their own merits - this was a gift from Tigers. Maybe if you are able to get hold of a video of the ninth you will see what I mean. There is no excuse for Kubota's failure.

- There is no excuse for Kubota's failure.

Of course - I'm not saying it wasn't serious. I don't need to see the video to know that it was a horrendous performance. I saw the boxscore. But it was one inning out of 80 or so that the guy will pitch this season. He can't be pefect every time he takes the mound.

We seem to have this same discussion every time there's a bad performance from a player. You tend to argue that he must be replaced, sent down to the farm quick, or that the manager made a blunder by leaving someone-or-other in the game. More often than not I take the view that we shouldn't rush to judgment, and see what they do next time.

This case is a perfect example. OK, Kubota wasn't exactly crash hot the other night. But he struck out three out of three on Friday night. And on Thursday he struck out another two with one hit for his 12th save. How do you explain that? Maybe he's got more guts than you appear to be giving him credit for. Maybe he can bounce back from adversity and and prove the critics wrong.

That's baseball. Stuff does happen. Good stuff, bad stuff, inexplicable stuff. That's why it's so compelling.

I do note the difference sometimes in our positions on players. However, I'm not one to advocate quick demotion unless there is a good reason. I certainly don't share your complacency. Kubota blows several saves each season - fair enough, no one is 100% successful. This is, as you say, the charm of the game, sometimes you win sometimes you lose. But even so, you want to cut these losses down.

In the most recent two series Kubota has blown two saves and saved three games. This is not so good and maybe something needs to be done by changing to another closer for at least a few games. This would at least have the benefit of giving Kubota a rest and making it more difficult for opposing sides to get used to him.

Whilst I advocate a proactive approach, you advoacte the reactive approach. Sometimes this is useful, however sometimes you need to act. The fact that Okada was out on the mound with Kubota in the final game of the Rakuten series says that this wasn't about "stuff happens." I do think you need to see the innings, then maybe you will understand more.

There is no doubt Kubota is a talented and courageous player. That does not necessarily mean that he will win all the time. However, the nature of how he loses is also important - minimizing this is complacent in the extreme and is the approach which cost the Tigers the Japan Series.

Christopher, I'm certainly not complacent, and certainly not reactive. But I'd rather look at the overall situation - including whether the team is winning or not - before making any major changes. To maintain the integrity of the team would be an important consideration. It is a team sport after all (albeit one in which individual performances are tracked to the nth degree). And if the team is winning, there's a certain amount of flexibility when you have a player underperforming. And they all do at some stage or another.

But, you know, I think I know how you felt after that loss - it was a severe let down after such a close game. Sometimes fervent fans such as ourselves get too caught up in the action on the field and react too negatively to a particularly bad play or the loss of a close game. There was an interesting article in the New York Times a couple years ago which delved into sports psychology and how fans overreact to both good and bad results from their team.

I recognize myself in some of the descriptions in that article, and I'm sure most contributors to this website do, too. So I'd rather not see the video if you don't mind.

Seriously, though, you've just got to be cool headed about it. Like Okada. He didn't panic and use someone else to close the next two games. Complacent? Maybe. But Kubota got the job done. Although I definitely see merit in giving the guy more of a rest now that Williams is back.

The best thing would be to have the bats pull more weight and give the bullpen a couple of good blowouts, then Okada wouldn't need to use a closer. That would be real teamwork.

- There is no excuse for Kubota's failure.

Whoooa, lighten up dude.

Speaking of really poor performance out of a Tigers player, how about Kataoka? Why isn't Sekimoto getting those at bats? I saw Kataoka get hit in the shin with a pitch last night, so there's a chance injury took him out, but he's obviously not a high quality player anymore. His at bats have been pretty bad from what I've seen.

Interestingly there was a novel use of Kataoka by Okada to draw level with Softbank. He was used to get a walk in a bases loaded situation (his judgement of pitches has always been good).

His batting, though, has gone to pieces - he cannot hit and seems to have serious problems with his legs. He is being used for his defence, he is a better third baseman than Sekimoto, and Sekimoto is also needed to cover second.

But come on! Good D is all well and good but you wouldn't start an Ozzie Smith-like infielder if they were batting below .100.

Okada doesn't have the option of Imaoka at the moment, and as I mentioned, he needs Sekimoto for second as well. Whilst he's spoilt for choice in the right field position, he is limited at third. Once Imaoka recovers he'll be immediately slotted into third. But until then he has to use Kataoka who at least has good defence.

Let me throw a whacky idea at you. Start Sekimoto at third and Fujimoto at second!

Actually, it's not that whacky; it's been done with success last year.

Now that really is whacky! Actually, this is what happened in the last two games of the Softbank series, but then Sekimoto was replaced by Kataoka.

The only reason I can think that Okada doesn't do this regularly is because he wants to be able to replace Fujimoto.

Kubota seems to have serious difficulties with Rakuten. Last night he gave up four hits in a row, handing a sayonara victory to them. Credit to Rakuten - this game they played very well, but even so, with this kind of performance once again you have to question Kubota as a closer.