For Giants fans, this is a welcome change from the first two weeks of the season, when freshman skipper Tatsunori Hara was outmanaged and outmaneuvered on a nightly basis.
Exhibit A: April 10. Hara lifts starting pitcher John Wasdin, who has a 2-0 lead after seven innings and is in complete command, for a pinch hitter to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning at Tokyo Dome.
The Giants go three and out, and the Swallows take batting practice against left-handed reliever Yukinaga Maeda in the eighth and ninth inning to win.
Swallows outfielder Alex Ramirez said the following day that the guys were jumping up and down in the dugout when Maeda went in as the Swallows had good success against him the year before, when Maeda was with the Dragons.
Was pulling Wasdin dumb? Not necessarily. There are so many variables in every situation that nobody has any idea which of many options is the best one. What Hara did might have made sense had it been part of a larger scheme, but the manager was second guessed because 1) it was unconventional, 2) it didn't work, and 3) the Giants blew a lead and lost.
These are the three deadly sins for any manager. Repeat them frequently enough and you will be out of a job by Golden Week unless your name is Shigeo Nagashima.
Since then, Hara has gone from a managerial minus to the managing Midas.
Exhibit B: Takayuki Saito. The Giants reserve outfielder has done little for the Giants through his career until Hara put him on the spot in recent games as a pinch hitter, and Saito looked like he was auditioning for the lead in the Japanese version of "The Natural" as he pounded out one extra-base hit after another and the Giants began to win and cut into the Hanshin Tigers impressive Central League lead.
Actually Hara has been using Saito all along. Saito batted for Wasdin on April 10 and made an out as the leadoff hitter.
Exhibit C: Tomohiro Nioka. The Giants No. 1 shortstop was slowed in the spring by a muscle tear in his rib cage and was replaced in the lineup by Daisuke Motoki, who if left at short for the entire season would have the worst range of any regular in either league at the position.
Despite Nioka's being ready on opening day, Hara chose Motoki over Nioka at short, so the Giants could employ their best shortstop as a reserve outfielder. Nioka, who had never played in the outfield before this spring, cost the Giants a couple of runs while playing left field.
The injury bug struck the Giants on April 18, when starting first baseman Kazuhiro Kiyohara was scratched from the lineup, and the following day, when second baseman Toshihisa Nishi was deactivated. But instead of collapsing, the Giants got hot. Nioka was shoved into the starting lineup, and Saito began to work his magic.
In the 17 games since Kiyohara's was deactivated, the Giants went 12-5.
When starting pitcher Yusaku Iriki was lost for a month or more on April 27, Hara activated reliever Hector Almonte, who was getting openly frustrated with a prolonged stay on the farm after suffering lower back pain the first week of the season.
Almonte was brilliant in short relief in his first night back with the Giants, who, led by Nioka, beat up on the Yokohama BayStars.
After the game, Hara said he had been anxious to get Almonte into a game quickly, but didn't explain why, if he was so anxious, he had let Almonte stew in Kawasaki for two weeks after his back had recovered.
The manager also commended Nioka's play and said what an important part of the team he was and that his lineups would depend on any number of factors--meaning Nioka was not assured a place. Again, the skipper didn't explain why, if his lineups were flexible, he had little use for Nioka before injuries wrecked, what had been for all intents and purposes, his fixed and inflexible lineup.
In other words, injuries have forced Hara to be flexible, and the skipper showed just how willing he is to trust in his team's depth when he sent veteran journeyman Kazuhiro Takeda to the mound at Nagoya on Tuesday night, one day after the Giants' streak came to a halt.
Takeda, whose matchup against Dragons starter Makoto Kito looked more like an old-timers game, than a league game, repaid Hara's confidence with a fine performance and a victory against the team that had released him last year.
This could be a big deal. Generations have grown accustomed to seeing pitchers fail with the Giants only to find success with other teams. It never works the other way around.
Should Takeda play any kind of role at all in a Giants championship this season, it will be a real departure for a team that has long relied on names rather than ability.
Hara's use of Saito is also promising. Before the season, head coach Yoshitaka Katori said Hara would dismantle the glass ceiling that had prevented the team's proven minor league hitters from getting playing time in the CL.
Although some of the Giants' recent success is attributable to good luck, the real luck is that circumstances have inspired the new skipper to actually use some of his available talent.
The Giants went into the season with a deep talent-laden club. If Hara continues to use all his resources, the Giants could be very tough to beat come September.
The Hot Corner appears each Thursday in The
Daily Yomiuri .