I think the Japanese bring suffering to new levels. I try to walk the fine line between Zen perfectionism and masochistic obsessive compulsive problems. I don’t mean to generalize or objectify. This is not the point. I’m just saying that I love watching Japanese baseball but this is a new level of torture to have to go through.
Today’s game was another gem by former MLB player Andre Jackson. He has been magnificent this year. In the beginning of the year, he suffered badly with walks. His command was ridiculous and he was like a fish out of water. Something happened in the dugout, and openness towards him happened. I think the team showed him some extra warmth and he bonded with them and the yips went away. He is absolutely a model of consistency and has an ERA below two for the bulk of the time since his bad beginning.
Today he was in fine form. He gave up one run but it wasn’t earned as there was an error that allowed the base runner in the first place. But then he was tight as a drum until the top of the 6th. His pitch count was just short of the the low ’90s which is about his limit. The first batter of the inning walked on four pitches and miura, probably the most suffering fellow I have ever seen for a good looking guy, went to the telephone immediately. I think Jackson saw this and took a deep breath. He not only got through the inning, but the thought of not giving the ball to the bullpen in an important game suddenly was the center of everyone’s thinking.
This is the last week of the season. They are playing the makeup games for the rain outs and cancellations and such. It’s a normal part of the season that they do this extra time. Japan is travelable so it’s not a huge expense to do this. The Baystars are in third place. The carp are in 4th and the first three places get into the playoffs. It was a playoff match to get into the playoffs with the carp that ended the season for Yokohama last year. This was the Trevor Bauer debacle. Let’s not get into that. Right now, or at the beginning of the game today, Yokohama had a two-game lead with six to play. Today’s game is the only head-to-head meeting between the two teams. Last night’s game was important because the carp did not play and it was an opportunity to move ahead a half a game. Today’s game probably locked up the season. Not absolutely, that hasn’t happened yet. But today the stars got even for last year.
Miura not only let Jackson pitch the 7th, he let him hit for himself in the 6th. For sure that would have been a call for the bullpen in a close game but not now. The bullpen has been trashing the club for the last month. There is a horrible disease out there for the one inning people. It’s a psychological catastrophe. Something is making the relievers crazy. They are throwing away all the games. Jackson singled. He has four hits this year and an ‘098 batting average. But still. Not bad. Crazily and on a hunch, he was also allowed to bat one more time and got a walk. He also laid down a bunt today to move a runner over. Outstanding baseball day for Mr Jackson. Truly, a one-of-a-kind gym to be remembered and honored.
Yesterday’s game was also a gem. Mitsuki Yoshino had one of those modern baseball days where you throw a no-hitter for six innings and yet get pulled. When I talk about torture, this is what I’m talking about. What was it? It was a close game. There was one bit of offense all day and that was with Toshiro Miyazaki, the great third baseman and stoic captain of the infield. With a runner on, he came off the bench to pinch hit and crushed one but just foul. They called for a replay to make sure and had to look at it for almost 5 minutes. And it’s true, the ball was slightly to the foul side of the foul pole. There was no argument. Why they needed to wait so long in the middle of an at-bat is crazy. You would think they could tell if it was fair or foul. Just ask someone in the stands. They’ll tell you. But that’s okay. They went back to playing and he hit another one, this one equally as fair as the first was foul. That was it. Two to nothing and the bullpen held.
A pitch limit is a pitch limit however and if Andre Jackson was over a hundred pitches, as good as he is, it looks like we’re in the playoffs and Yokohama very much needs Jackson to throw some games. Ise Daimu came in to relieve Jackson in the eighth. 106 pitches. And of course, the first three balls he let go were balls. He managed to throw a strike. And then got a pop-up to the catcher and promptly called for the trainer. Something went wrong with him and he was not right for the game.
Time to bring in and unexpected picture. Yofrec Diaz is an amazing looking fellow. There’s just too much of him. He’s in his mid-20s but has a huge barrel chest and a huge face and huge everything. He just doesn’t quite fit in his uniform. And he hangs out with the relievers. He’s also been infected with the bullpen yips. I won’t torture you with the details because he got out of the inning. It took a remarkable play by Kooki Kajiwara in right, a bang bang play it first and with runners on in a two-run game, he threw a wild pitch. But amazingly, amazingly, the umpire decided that two low pitches that were obviously balls should be called strikes and it seems the Baystars are destined for greatness.
Morihawa, The poster boy, the closer. He has been the king of the yips. A tall straight thrower with some decent movement and genuine velocity should be a lock in the Mariana Rivera argument of how to close ball game. It’s just that he hasn’t been exactly on. You can’t expect perfection all the time. Even the best of the best have their days. This is an infestation of yips in the bullpen. This is a psychological problem. And, though he got the groove that this game was meant to be and got a couple of easy ground balls and a pop-up to send everyone home happy in Yokohama, he also had to give us a base runner and an unnecessary walk before his pitches became more sincere.
Tyler Austin is a great baseball player and he is having his career year this year. I think he has 24 bombs and an average over 300. He is cut from the Will Clark mold. He is pure intensity. If you want to talk about stoic pressure, Tyler Austin is absolutely living it. I saw a film that the Yankees made when he and Aaron judge were newcomers. They were the two big hitters coming into the lineup. Judge had all his smooth California social graces. Austin is purely uncomfortable in social discussions. I think this is true for most super intense people. They would rather be doing something really exciting than talking about it. He’s like that. But even he has warmed up to the team. For a while, while it was normal to do high fives with the entire team after a home run or a great play, Austin preferred not to touch everyone and would tap his shoulder with two fingers. His teammates did this with him happily. This has changed recently. I don’t know who talked to him but lately, he’s been getting really friendly with everybody. And he still hitting so there you go.
Hideo Maki is the superstar. I think Kujiwara could develop into something very special but Maki is the real thing. He’s fast, aggressive, he hits for average and hits for power. He is a fine second baseman with a strong arm and he seems to be a great team leader. He’s everything you want in a ball player and I can see that they will probably even think about him going to America probably. Which is a shame because he is a really beautiful ball player to watch. He stole home the other day. Everything. He’s Superman. He does everything.
Toshe Tsutsugoh has problems. The former home run hitter and MLB sellout is having a hard time of it. That brilliant heroic beginning, not bad work for a while as a regular but then out after out after out after out. He can’t keep his average up. He’s not a balanced hitter right now. He’s got the power if you make a mistake. But you have to make a mistake. They have brought him in to pinch hit and he’s managed to be a hero. But he can’t keep his average up. He’s below the Mendoza line. There’s something wrong with him. There’s something wrong with his balance. He has power. He has knowledge. Something bad happened to him in America. America did not treat him well and America did not like him very much. They don’t like hitting stars who can’t hit more than 100 and take the money and run. That’s what happened and that’s what he’s carrying around. He was injured for a bit and then began to show up from time to time. He got to start the other day. He’s a ball player. He’s just got the same mental problem that everyone else is suffering from. Or he eats and drinks too much.
Keito Sano covers left field most reasonably and is hitting 300. Masashi Kuwahara is one of my new favorite players. He is not a terrible center fielder though he has nothing close to the arm as Kujewara, He is a brazen showman. He is a small fellow and he has that Altuve bravado without Altuve’s game. He is very dramatic and has a very expressive face and you can see what he is a fan favorite. Tatsuo Ebina is an outfielder with a little pop in his bat. And honestly, I wish Yudai Yamamoto was available to catch. Maybe he’s resting or maybe he’s hurt. But he is also Major league talent and Major league quality as a catcher. Tobashiro and Itoh are not terrible unless they need to be talked to about the yips in the reliever group.
I could name all the players on the team. They have the kind of offense right now that is reminiscent of a time in history when they had something called a machine gun offense. They were just such fantastic hitters, it was the greatest Yokohama team ever possibly until now. This team is this good. This team has everything you need to be a successful ball club. And if they play as a club, they’ve got it. All they need is to cure the bullpen.
As of the time of this writing, the Baystars are plus three over the Carp with five to play. The last three games against the swallows might not be necessary if they can just manage to take a game or two from the Giants and the tigers. These are the first and second place teams in their division. These are the problems. Tomorrow they play in the Tokyo dome against the Giants and then on Thursday they are in Yokohama to face the tigers. The weekend has three against the dragons but I think it’s fair to say that barring a complete insane disaster, today was the season as far as the playoffs were concerned. The carp only play three makeup games. The next two days they play against the swallows. If Yokohama wins or the carp lose anything, it’s over. And if you still feel bad about last year’s playoff picture and our relationship with Hiroshima, I think the monkey finally got off the back today.
So let’s see how it goes. Playoff preview for the next 2 days. Is Yokohama good? Yes. They are a very good baseball team and if they could just find a way to smooth out their bullpen problems, they have hitting, they have starting pitching, they can field and throw and run. They are a good team and they fight hard and when the machine gets going, they are a hit parade. They could be champions. They could be champions. Why they aren’t in first place this year is the real question to be asked. Go Baystars.
2:30 p.m. on Wednesday
I have a small update. Today, the stars are getting beaten by the Giants. They have a hard time playing the Giants and they have a hard time playing the tigers and those are the opponents going into the playoffs. And the Giants have that big 90 years thing. It’s hard to fight against such a weight especially when you might actually have the best team in the league. Strange things.
Nevertheless, as I write these words, Hiroshima is losing 5-3 to the swallows. Such a beautiful name for a team.
They call this backing into the playoffs. But it’s not really so much. Everything was already decided and you can’t have five more games to play, eight if you count the carp and even one loss by the carp or one win ends it pretty much tells you it was over. It was just precipitous in this moment. Another delicate flower of a situation.
And that’s it. The stars have one more ups in the bottom of the ninth against Tokyo down by two but for them, it is now happily redundant if they care about such things. I’m sure they do. I don’t have a picture of this for the moment until the highlights come. But something tells me that the results from Hiroshima will bring a great noise from the Yokohama faithful.
The road to the top through their own division is impossible. I’m sorry to use that word. I don’t mean to be someone who stands there and says I told you so when you have unhappiness in the end. Quite the contrary. I really want them to man up for this first series against the tigers. They are cursed against the tigers. Even when the tigers aren’t the tigers, the stars can’t play the tigers. But they’re going to have to. They are going to have to if they want to play against the Giants in their jubilee year where the playoffs dictate that they have already won a game in the series. And that is just to get out of the division.
Let’s go! You bet! Let’s go! Yokohama is in the playoffs. Let’s go get the tigers!
