Masamune Kumagai, Toyama Sun Daily

May 30, 2011: Tokyo, Japan – Spirits are high, indeed, with the members and fans of the Lupin Cliff Hangers.  Their fabulous start to the 2011 season is well beyond most expectations.  Following a seven-win victory run over the last ten games, the Cliff Hangers rose to the top of the Bright Blade Group (BBG) of the League of the Rising Sun.  This victory streak comes on the back of the pitching staff, which ranks first in the BBG in runs allowed.  While the starting pitchers are performing well (3.42 ERA), the bullpen is performing magnificently (1.49 ERA).

Most of the starting pitchers are performing at or above expectations.   Ace Nobuhito Daikawa, recently acquired through free agency, has lived up to his billing with a 2.92 ERA and three wins.  Katsuhiko Rin and the recently acquired (through trade) Atsumori Ishikawa have performed much better than expected with 2.55 and 2.08 ERAs, respectively.

Despite the loss of up-and-coming star Katsumi Okano to an elbow strain injury, the bullpen has really been stopping the opposition.  Closer Yosai Kikuchi has a perfect seven saves in seven opportunities, with a rate of 11 strikeouts per nine innings.  Sugimoto Kudo has given up only one earned run in nine innings and earned two wins.  Yamada, Sato and Sakuma have not given up a run in a combined eight and two-thirds innings of play.  The team has won seven of eight one-run games, and the bullpen has certainly done their part in racking up those wins.

As everyone knows, wins cannot come on defense alone.  On that side of the plate, three batters have stood out.  Veteran second baseman José Aguilar leads the team in runs scored (13) and runs batted in (19).  He has quieted the group of pessimists who were concerned about his age.  Young outfielder Kiyomitsu Saikawa leads the team in home runs (6), batting average (.329) and slugging percentage (.671).  Tokuma Yamauchi is performing better than he has in over four years with a .395 OBP.  The rest of the offensive players, while not particularly standing out, are chipping in when needed.

Manager Jim Konopka seemed particularly upbeat after the win Sunday night against the Seoul Crushers.

“We’ve won every series we’ve played since the sweep by Naha to start the season.  Our batters are getting the hits when needed to put runs on the board in tight ball games.  Our starters are keeping us in the game and handing the ball off to a shutdown bullpen in the later innings.  I mean, we don’t have any superstars, but everyone from the coaching staff down to the batboy is contributing and putting their heart into this effort.  We have excellent chemistry this year and I think it is showing.  We can’t read too much into our record because there’s such a long season ahead of us, but so far it’s been a pleasure to manage a team like this.  Everyone does their job and does it well.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.  The fans should be happy with how the ownership has been handling the organization.  They deserve credit in making the moves to bring us to this stage.”