He is a different person from when he was criticized for his “Yano Guts,” in which he expresses joy with his whole body. He has changed his words, saying, “You only live once,” and “People are moving toward death every day, and I want you to have no regrets.”The current Hanshin team has everything that is scary about baseball.

The pitching and hitting have not mesh well together to the point of being amusing, and the manager’s direction has always backfired. They have lost nine games in a row since the season opener, the lowest winning percentage in their history at .063, and in April they were beaten three times by all five teams in a row, and the magic marker for eliminating themselves from the championship has been lit. The team’s old friend Katsumi Hirosawa (60) described the current state of the Hanshin team, which has been losing at a record pace.

“The first thing that comes to mind is that the team’s new manager has been a big help to the team in the past. That’s not … a team that won 77 games last season. If they played normally, they wouldn’t be this battered.”

The reason why the Hanshin are not “doing normally” is because manager Akihiro Yano (53) is not normal. Hamanaka, 43, who was No. 4 when the team won the championship in 2003, analyzes, “Manager Yano has given up his own luck and the flow of the game.”

He said, “We went into the season determined to retreat, but we were not ready to do so. For example, the big upset loss in the opening game. At a critical moment when Yakult, last season’s No. 1 team in Japan, was about to launch a counterattack, he introduced Yukiya Saito (27), who had no experience in the game. He is a youngster with potential, so it is fine to use him in an ordinary game.”

“However, that scene in the opening match was not good enough. Not only did he show a lack of skill and let go of the flow of the game, but he also stumbled over new foreigner Keller (29). He knew he was out of shape and entrusted him to hold down the line, but he had him pitch in a tough situation, and when he saw that he was not getting results, he gave up on him and dropped him to the second team after only two games.”

He also left the fielders out of his lineup.

“Koji Chikamoto (27) is an unbelievable No. 3 hitter. What is required of the No. 3 hitter is batting average. Chikamoto, who excels at making chances, would not be a good match for him, and that would kill his good qualities,” said Hirozawa.

Mr. Hamanaka also sees the number four as a problem.

“When I saw that Yusuke Ohyama (27), who had been competing with Teruaki Sato (23) for the No. 4 spot since camp, was moved to No. 7, I said to myself, ‘What? I worked with manager Yano as hitting coach in 2019, and that year he suddenly dropped Ohyama, who had a high batting average in scoring position, from the No. 4 spot. I guess I didn’t build a relationship of trust with him, or maybe I didn’t give him enough credit. In 2003, when I was not doing well due to injury, manager Senichi Hoshino said to me, ‘Absolutely, you will be moved from the No. 4 position. The number four position is such a responsible position, so you have to climb up by yourself!　That was the message. But it didn’t turn out that way, and manager Yano had Sato batting second as soon as possible.”

The catcher, the keystone of the team, has also not been fixed.

“The regular catcher, Ryutaro Umeno (30), has been treated poorly. Umeno, who won the Golden Glove three years in a row, is being treated too lightly in terms of his defensive ability and stolen-base prevention rate.

While not changing his self-righteous approach, Yano has changed what was good about him. He was known for his brightness, but this year he is as gloomy as a different person. It seems as if a distance has developed between the players and the manager.”

Despite his endless diatribes, Mr. Hirozawa did not forget to follow up with the Tiger Party.

“If Koyo Aoyagi (28) and the others who left Corona come back, we will have six starters. If they can get a big winning streak going before May, it will be interesting.”

The message from Takamichi Yamada, associate professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design, who has authored many books on Hanshin, including “The Dusk When the Tiger Stains the Sky” (Gentosha), struck a chord.

“I don’t look at the standings anymore. I spend my time looking forward to Sato’s home runs.　It is just like those days when Yutaka Wada (59) was hoping to hit .300. I had a bad feeling when I saw Yano’s opening day speech because I had experienced the 1998 season, when Yoshio Yoshida (88) held a press conference on April Fool’s Day and ended up in last place by a landslide. Hanshin fans in Futaba are blessed to have Aoyagi, who is able to pitch against Tomoyuki Kanno (32), the ace of the Giants, a team they are not very good at and a sworn enemy of theirs.”

The Tigers are sure to feed off the memory of a manager who lost too many games.

Sato is showing no signs of the second-year jinx with a .297 batting average and six home runs (as of April 24), but he will not be a fixture at No. 4.

He was assigned as the opening day pitcher, but avoided the assignment after contracting a new type of coronavirus. The delay of Aoyagi, the right arm with the most wins last season, was a miscalculation.

Umeno was the national catcher at the Tokyo Olympics, but under the Yano administration, he continues to be treated coldly. Next to him on the left is Takuma Kirishiki, a Dora 3 rookie.

He was not only the new guardian god, but also failed to make the first team with a defense ratio in the 33-point range, and was dropped to the second team. New assistant pitcher Keller readjusting at Naruohama.

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