Kroon to return to the bullpen tonight?
by Gen on Aug.11, 2010 @ 10:58 am, under NPB
Marc Kroon should be back on the active roster again today. On Monday, Kroon tossed a shutout inning in relief against Ni-gun Lotte. And yesterday, Kroon joined the Ichi-gun team for pre-game practice yesterday and worked on his fielding and ran some sprints.
Kroon told reporters yesterday that while he felt some pain from pitching on Monday, it wasn't the kind that would prevent him from throwing.
That's good news for the Giants, especially after Testuya Yamaguchi gave up a walk-off HBP last night to the Yakult Swallows. Incidentally, it seems last night marked the third time the Giants lost a game on a walk-off HBP in franchise history.
And it wasn't all bad news for the Giants' pitching staff last night. Seth Greisinger only last four innings, he did manage to throw 76 pitches and he only gave up 1 run. That's a positive step forward.
Greisinger told reporters that he was still lacking in arm strength but felt he could build that back up over his outings.
August 11th, 2010 on 6:07 pm
This isn’t the first time Yamaguchi has performed poorly in recent history. I cringe everytime I see him standing up in the bull pin. I quite often read in Yaku Baka where pitchers are sent down to ni-gun due to poor performance. I do not understand how Yamaguchi avoids such a fate.
August 12th, 2010 on 12:18 am
Yamaguchi played fairly big role last season. I think that probably bought him some extra time this year. Plus, I don’t know that there’s really anyone at Ni-gun the Giants feel comfortable with right now.
I guess they’re hoping Yamaguchi turns things around.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Giants’ staff, on a whole, hasn’t exactly sparkled this year.