Communication breakdown: Daisuke Kusano (left) and Kazuo Matsui collide while chasing a fly ball during Tohoku Rakuten's 7-0 defeat to the Tigers on Sunday. KYODOShoitsu Omatsu and Toshiaki Imae hit consecutive run-scoring singles against Masanori Ishikawa (4-4) to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and Kazuya Fukuura tacked on a two-run single for good measure in a four-run sixth at Jingu Stadium.The Marines strung together five singles in the big inning, which featured Omatsu's bounder over the head of first baseman Josh Whitesell with runners at the corners."I was thinking that I wanted to put runners back on first and third, since it makes it easier for Imae to hit," Omatsu said after Lotte pulled out of last place.Karakawa (6-2) allowed six hits, walked four and struck out three and matched a career high in wins. Iguchi, who went 2-for-5, went deep to the stands in left in a three-run ninth."I felt that I could probably get a hit in that situation," Imae said of his go-ahead single to right.Karakawa said at the least he hopes to notch double-digit wins this season. "I have nothing really to say about that (six wins). The team has higher expectations of me. I was able to get strikes today with my breaking ball and recovered after a shaky start. I was very relaxed," he said.Carp 2, Fighters 1At Mazda Stadium, Takahiro Iwamoto hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning and rookie Yuya Fukui (3-3) earned his first win since May 3, yielding one run in seven innings as Hiroshima edged Hokkaido Nippon Ham.Kenta Kurihara opened the scoring with a RBI single off Brian Wolfe (7-2) in the first inning before Atsunori Inaba's sac fly tied the game a 1-all in the top of sixth. Dennis Sarfate worked the ninth for his 13th save.Giants 10, Lions 1At Tokyo Dome, rookie Hirokazu Sawamura went seven scoreless innings and won his first decision this season on home turf as Yomiuri pounded Seibu.Sawamura (3-5) allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked two and escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam with consecutive strikeouts in the fourth. Kazuhisa Makita (2-4) took the loss.Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto hit two-run drives in the sixth and eighth, respectively.Hawks 9, BayStars 2At Yokohama Stadium, Nobuhiro Matsuda went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in Softbank's rout of Yokohama, which became the first team to lose 30 games in Japanese baseball this season.Matsuda had a two-run shot to open the scoring in the second and Seiichi Uchikawa and Hiroki Kokubo hit back-to-back homers in a four-run fifth against Kota Suda (1-5). Tadashi Settsu (6-3) limited the damage to two runs in seven innings.Dragons 2, Buffaloes 1 (10)At Nagoya Dome, Masaaki Koike delivered a pinch-hit game-ending homer off Mamoru Kishida (1-3) in the 10th inning to lift Chunichi over Orix.Tigers 7, Eagles 0At Koshien Stadium, Jason Standridge (4-2) made effective use of his breaking ball to throw his first shutout of the season and Takashi Toritani went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as Hanshin romped over Tohoku Rakuten, which fell back into last place in the PL.
Showing posts with label Lottes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lottes. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Lotte's Karakawa stymies Swallows
Yuki Karakawa threw one-run ball over eight innings and Tadahito Iguchi hit a two-run blast as the Chiba Lotte Marines came from behind to defeat the CL-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows 7-1 on Sunday afternoon.Communication breakdown: Daisuke Kusano (left) and Kazuo Matsui collide while chasing a fly ball during Tohoku Rakuten's 7-0 defeat to the Tigers on Sunday. KYODOShoitsu Omatsu and Toshiaki Imae hit consecutive run-scoring singles against Masanori Ishikawa (4-4) to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and Kazuya Fukuura tacked on a two-run single for good measure in a four-run sixth at Jingu Stadium.The Marines strung together five singles in the big inning, which featured Omatsu's bounder over the head of first baseman Josh Whitesell with runners at the corners."I was thinking that I wanted to put runners back on first and third, since it makes it easier for Imae to hit," Omatsu said after Lotte pulled out of last place.Karakawa (6-2) allowed six hits, walked four and struck out three and matched a career high in wins. Iguchi, who went 2-for-5, went deep to the stands in left in a three-run ninth."I felt that I could probably get a hit in that situation," Imae said of his go-ahead single to right.Karakawa said at the least he hopes to notch double-digit wins this season. "I have nothing really to say about that (six wins). The team has higher expectations of me. I was able to get strikes today with my breaking ball and recovered after a shaky start. I was very relaxed," he said.Carp 2, Fighters 1At Mazda Stadium, Takahiro Iwamoto hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning and rookie Yuya Fukui (3-3) earned his first win since May 3, yielding one run in seven innings as Hiroshima edged Hokkaido Nippon Ham.Kenta Kurihara opened the scoring with a RBI single off Brian Wolfe (7-2) in the first inning before Atsunori Inaba's sac fly tied the game a 1-all in the top of sixth. Dennis Sarfate worked the ninth for his 13th save.Giants 10, Lions 1At Tokyo Dome, rookie Hirokazu Sawamura went seven scoreless innings and won his first decision this season on home turf as Yomiuri pounded Seibu.Sawamura (3-5) allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked two and escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam with consecutive strikeouts in the fourth. Kazuhisa Makita (2-4) took the loss.Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto hit two-run drives in the sixth and eighth, respectively.Hawks 9, BayStars 2At Yokohama Stadium, Nobuhiro Matsuda went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in Softbank's rout of Yokohama, which became the first team to lose 30 games in Japanese baseball this season.Matsuda had a two-run shot to open the scoring in the second and Seiichi Uchikawa and Hiroki Kokubo hit back-to-back homers in a four-run fifth against Kota Suda (1-5). Tadashi Settsu (6-3) limited the damage to two runs in seven innings.Dragons 2, Buffaloes 1 (10)At Nagoya Dome, Masaaki Koike delivered a pinch-hit game-ending homer off Mamoru Kishida (1-3) in the 10th inning to lift Chunichi over Orix.Tigers 7, Eagles 0At Koshien Stadium, Jason Standridge (4-2) made effective use of his breaking ball to throw his first shutout of the season and Takashi Toritani went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as Hanshin romped over Tohoku Rakuten, which fell back into last place in the PL.
Communication breakdown: Daisuke Kusano (left) and Kazuo Matsui collide while chasing a fly ball during Tohoku Rakuten's 7-0 defeat to the Tigers on Sunday. KYODOShoitsu Omatsu and Toshiaki Imae hit consecutive run-scoring singles against Masanori Ishikawa (4-4) to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead and Kazuya Fukuura tacked on a two-run single for good measure in a four-run sixth at Jingu Stadium.The Marines strung together five singles in the big inning, which featured Omatsu's bounder over the head of first baseman Josh Whitesell with runners at the corners."I was thinking that I wanted to put runners back on first and third, since it makes it easier for Imae to hit," Omatsu said after Lotte pulled out of last place.Karakawa (6-2) allowed six hits, walked four and struck out three and matched a career high in wins. Iguchi, who went 2-for-5, went deep to the stands in left in a three-run ninth."I felt that I could probably get a hit in that situation," Imae said of his go-ahead single to right.Karakawa said at the least he hopes to notch double-digit wins this season. "I have nothing really to say about that (six wins). The team has higher expectations of me. I was able to get strikes today with my breaking ball and recovered after a shaky start. I was very relaxed," he said.Carp 2, Fighters 1At Mazda Stadium, Takahiro Iwamoto hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth inning and rookie Yuya Fukui (3-3) earned his first win since May 3, yielding one run in seven innings as Hiroshima edged Hokkaido Nippon Ham.Kenta Kurihara opened the scoring with a RBI single off Brian Wolfe (7-2) in the first inning before Atsunori Inaba's sac fly tied the game a 1-all in the top of sixth. Dennis Sarfate worked the ninth for his 13th save.Giants 10, Lions 1At Tokyo Dome, rookie Hirokazu Sawamura went seven scoreless innings and won his first decision this season on home turf as Yomiuri pounded Seibu.Sawamura (3-5) allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked two and escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam with consecutive strikeouts in the fourth. Kazuhisa Makita (2-4) took the loss.Shinnosuke Abe and Hayato Sakamoto hit two-run drives in the sixth and eighth, respectively.Hawks 9, BayStars 2At Yokohama Stadium, Nobuhiro Matsuda went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in Softbank's rout of Yokohama, which became the first team to lose 30 games in Japanese baseball this season.Matsuda had a two-run shot to open the scoring in the second and Seiichi Uchikawa and Hiroki Kokubo hit back-to-back homers in a four-run fifth against Kota Suda (1-5). Tadashi Settsu (6-3) limited the damage to two runs in seven innings.Dragons 2, Buffaloes 1 (10)At Nagoya Dome, Masaaki Koike delivered a pinch-hit game-ending homer off Mamoru Kishida (1-3) in the 10th inning to lift Chunichi over Orix.Tigers 7, Eagles 0At Koshien Stadium, Jason Standridge (4-2) made effective use of his breaking ball to throw his first shutout of the season and Takashi Toritani went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as Hanshin romped over Tohoku Rakuten, which fell back into last place in the PL.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Lotte's Kim suffering from power outage
The curious case of Kim Tae Kyun's power outage began on Sept. 18, 2010. That night in Sendai, the Chiba Lotte Marines slugger homered off Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ace Hisashi Iwakuma in the sixth inning of a 4-3 Lotte loss.
That was his 21st home run of season. The thing is, he has yet to hit another one. Stranger still is that there doesn't really seem to be a good reason either.Of Kim's 21 homers last year, his first season in Japan, 18 came prior to July 1, and it's been nearly a year since he's produced any consistent power numbers.Which is troubling because the Marines are having problems scoring runs and could use a power bat in their lineup.Kim's last big month came in June, when he hit six homers, four doubles and ended the month with a .591 slugging percentage.In 396 at-bats from July 1, including the postseason, Kim has just three home runs, 15 doubles and a slugging percentage of .316 to go with a .265 batting average.His isolated power (ISO) value, which removes singles to get a more accurate gauge of power, is a minuscule .051 over that span. To give that a bit more perspective, the PL average last season was .133 according to data compiled by the website SMR-Baseball Lab.Normally, you'd pinpoint pitching as the reason for Kim's troubles, figuring it just took half a season for Japanese hurlers to get a handle on the Korean import.That's not such a clear cut explanation since he's still getting on base at a fairly normal pace. In 22 games this year, before being removed from the roster with an injury, he was hitting .282 with a .364 on-base percentage.It's not a case of venues either, as the slugger hit eight homers at home and 13 on the road last season. Kim has homered in every Pacific League park except Sapporo Dome (45 career at-bats) and Seibu Dome (46 at-bats) during his time in Japan.What can be noted is that he just isn't getting the ball into the air as often, which to an extent can be traced to how he's being pitched.Through nine seasons in Korea, Kim had a fly-ball percentage of 38.4 percent (taking into account both fly outs and home runs), in the neighborhood of what you would expect from a power hitter.Just for comparison's sake, Orix Buffaloes star Lee Seung Yeop is in his eighth year in NPB. Once a prolific home run hitter, he has a 41.1 fly-ball percentage in Japan, including lean years from 2009-10 and a slow start this season.Kim's fly-ball percentage last year was 37.1. So far this season, he's clocking in at 25.9, while most of the NPB's big hitters are at 30 percent and above.Among regular cleanup hitters, Kim is the only one without a home run this season.He matches up favorably with the rest in few areas, though his numbers do outpace Fukuoka Softbank Hawks slugger Alex Cabrera's in batting average, slugging and on base percentage.Cabrera, however, does have four homers this season.With few dramatic changes in his swing, and no real health issues until recently, it seems Kim has just lost his mojo.Yes, pitchers have figured out how to attack him in order to maximize ground balls, but the book is out on a number of players who are still knocking in runs with regularity.The Lotte slugger just isn't getting the job done.Which can't sit well with the Lotte brass, who aren't getting a lot of value from their second-highest paid player.Kim's ?15 million salary is a hefty price tag for a player who isn't hitting for power or driving in a lot of runs and isn't particulary fast or a real threat on the basepaths.Granted, Kim's power drain hasn't seemed to hold the Marines back too much seeing as how the team did just win the Japan Series.Still, run production is becoming a major issue for Lotte. So getting Kim back on track would be a major boost for the team's currently underwhelming attack at the plate.
That was his 21st home run of season. The thing is, he has yet to hit another one. Stranger still is that there doesn't really seem to be a good reason either.Of Kim's 21 homers last year, his first season in Japan, 18 came prior to July 1, and it's been nearly a year since he's produced any consistent power numbers.Which is troubling because the Marines are having problems scoring runs and could use a power bat in their lineup.Kim's last big month came in June, when he hit six homers, four doubles and ended the month with a .591 slugging percentage.In 396 at-bats from July 1, including the postseason, Kim has just three home runs, 15 doubles and a slugging percentage of .316 to go with a .265 batting average.His isolated power (ISO) value, which removes singles to get a more accurate gauge of power, is a minuscule .051 over that span. To give that a bit more perspective, the PL average last season was .133 according to data compiled by the website SMR-Baseball Lab.Normally, you'd pinpoint pitching as the reason for Kim's troubles, figuring it just took half a season for Japanese hurlers to get a handle on the Korean import.That's not such a clear cut explanation since he's still getting on base at a fairly normal pace. In 22 games this year, before being removed from the roster with an injury, he was hitting .282 with a .364 on-base percentage.It's not a case of venues either, as the slugger hit eight homers at home and 13 on the road last season. Kim has homered in every Pacific League park except Sapporo Dome (45 career at-bats) and Seibu Dome (46 at-bats) during his time in Japan.What can be noted is that he just isn't getting the ball into the air as often, which to an extent can be traced to how he's being pitched.Through nine seasons in Korea, Kim had a fly-ball percentage of 38.4 percent (taking into account both fly outs and home runs), in the neighborhood of what you would expect from a power hitter.Just for comparison's sake, Orix Buffaloes star Lee Seung Yeop is in his eighth year in NPB. Once a prolific home run hitter, he has a 41.1 fly-ball percentage in Japan, including lean years from 2009-10 and a slow start this season.Kim's fly-ball percentage last year was 37.1. So far this season, he's clocking in at 25.9, while most of the NPB's big hitters are at 30 percent and above.Among regular cleanup hitters, Kim is the only one without a home run this season.He matches up favorably with the rest in few areas, though his numbers do outpace Fukuoka Softbank Hawks slugger Alex Cabrera's in batting average, slugging and on base percentage.Cabrera, however, does have four homers this season.With few dramatic changes in his swing, and no real health issues until recently, it seems Kim has just lost his mojo.Yes, pitchers have figured out how to attack him in order to maximize ground balls, but the book is out on a number of players who are still knocking in runs with regularity.The Lotte slugger just isn't getting the job done.Which can't sit well with the Lotte brass, who aren't getting a lot of value from their second-highest paid player.Kim's ?15 million salary is a hefty price tag for a player who isn't hitting for power or driving in a lot of runs and isn't particulary fast or a real threat on the basepaths.Granted, Kim's power drain hasn't seemed to hold the Marines back too much seeing as how the team did just win the Japan Series.Still, run production is becoming a major issue for Lotte. So getting Kim back on track would be a major boost for the team's currently underwhelming attack at the plate.
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