What Happened to the Giants?

I haven't wanted to mention it for fear of jinxing it, but I think they've won 2 of their last 20 games.

I think a lot of it is the accumulated weight of bad decisions. Quick fixes instead of player development, injuries (two Takahashis, Abe, Kokubo), age, etc.

Lee must be cloned immediately, but a lot of the other pickups haven't worked out (Noguchi, Kosaka, not sure about Toyoda). I liked the Kimura Takuya acquisition, though. What did they give up for him?

Where's Watanabe? Shouldn't he be putting in an appearance about now to stir things up? Alerting the world of the unavoidable financial collapse it faces if the Giants continue to lose, etc.?

Injuries happened and they don't have a very deep bench. They were lucky to get Ozeki and Kimura, but they won't win a pennant with those bats.

Yeah, right now there's a lot panicking going on in Yomiuri. Like the recent signing of George Arias. As was already said, there have been a lot of bad decisions and injuries to Yomiuri.

Yomiuri's recent signing of George Arias doesn't catch me as a good one either, as Yomiuri refuses to develop their poor excuse they call a farm system. Arias also won't play one game as soon as Kobuko comes back, because anyone who thinks Arias will play over Seung-Yeop Lee couldn't be any more wrong, with Lee's MVP numbers.

Plus, this year is as good as ever for Lee to go to the majors. So, it looks worse and worse for Yomiuri as it goes on.

Nabestune, yeah you deserve to show your face to the Yomiuri fanbase, and the sorry team you continue to trot out their each day.

Seeing the Giants drop like flies makes me smile, but it's not in the best interest for the NPB. The Giants need to contend. As much as I'd enjoy a race for the Central League pennant between Chunichi and Hanshin (and their eventual defeat by the Pa-League winner due to their probable playoff mentality), the Mighty Kyoujin have to be in the mix. I respect Hara-kantoku and I hope that the YG's turn it around and make it an exciting July and September.

The time is ripe for yakyu to hold strong in its ground. Soccer has left a bitter after-taste for most of my friends here since Japan bowed out early in the Cup. If yakyu is not going to go the route of sumo, Watanabe's warriors will need to contend.

I love to hate teams as much as I love to love teams. Go Kyoujin, fight hard to the end, and lose to the real deal underdogs, the Dragons!

I know they're lousy now, but as soon as they start getting some of these bats back they are going to be hard to beat. I'm not saying they are going to win the division, but could you imagine a lineup of Nioka, Takahashi, Kokubo, Lee, Arias, Abe, and whatever other 2 guys you want to throw in there? That sounds like a lot of runs to me. Nishi or Kosaka at 2nd and Shimizu or Suzuki in center, mixing in Yano. That's a nice lineup.

Believe me, I hate the Giants, but I would like to see them make a run at it. The Tigers have their road trip of doom coming up, and the Dragons are due for a bad spell. Don't count out the Swallows either. I will say in the end those 4 teams will all be within 4-5 games of each other.

How long are Takahashi, Abe, and Kokubo out for?

- [...] but could you imagine a lineup of Nioka, Takahashi, Kokubo, Lee, Arias, Abe, and whatever other 2 guys you want to throw in there? That sounds like a lot of runs to me.

Not exactly. Arias isn't what I call an answer to Yomiuri's sudden fall from grace. Arias' OBP, OPS, and K numbers in Japan were high the first time, and his season in Mexico wasn't anything to get excited about, .272/.354/.520, which are down from last year.

Abe just came back from his injury, and is going to be slow getting started again. He was taken out of the 11-0 loss to Hanshin as a precaution, but says he's fine.

You have to question if Yomiuri is rushing Takahashi as Yomiuri is in Panic Mode, and making a lot of irrational moves lately.

Kosaka so far has been a non-issue, batting .182/.227/.284 with 0 HR's and 10 RBI. Same with Nishi, batting .181/.255/.257 with 1 HR and 7 RBI.

Shimizu has been a non-issue as well, batting .228/.330/.275 with 5 HR and 18 RBI. [Giants' Stats - Borisov's Pro Yakyu]

It sounds nice in theory, but in reality isn't doing very well, and Arias isn't going to help any more. Yomiuri is obviously in panic mode.

- Believe me, I hate the Giants, but I would like to see them make a run at it. The Tigers have their road trip of doom coming up, and the Dragons are due for a bad spell. Don't count out the Swallows either. I will say in the end those 4 teams will all be within 4-5 games of each other.

Yomiuri isn't going to compete as long as Watanabe doesn't develop the farm system and stop signing short term solutions like Arias that are nothing but desperation moves.

Second, I'm not really worried about the Tigers' road trip of doom as last year Hanshin came out pretty well. Right now I still believe the Central League will go down to a race between the Dragons and Tigers again. Yakult right now doesn't have enough to challenge the two, and has struggled of late.

In closing, I don't see Yomiuri in the race this year either, just more Panic Mode by Nabestune. Nothing new it seems.

Well today the roles were reversed - an abject Tigers and a performing Yomiuri. There are still question marks about all the teams, and I can see Giants coming back into contention.

As for Arias, the most important statistic, RBIs, was quite high, and if he can repeat that he will be a good signing. However, I suspect that he is past his best and will end up as a bench warmer.

The Central League race between Tigers and Dragons depends on the Tigers actually getting things together and playing better than they have been. There is massive under-performance at the moment in both aspects, pitching and batting. Fielding is also problematic with Toritani looking like he's trying to break the Tigers record for fielding errors.

The difference is that the Tigers are supposed to be strong every once in a while, but Yomiuri is supposed to be strong year in and year out. Well, at least in the old thinking ways.