THE JAPAN TIMES Sunday June 15th, 2014: The Hiroshiima Toyo Carp have signed a new Manager of Operations, Lou Cifer. Mr. Cifer has experience managing teams from the United States, but this is his 1st try at a team in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. Being Gaijin, Mr. Cifer will have a lot to prove if he wants to have the Carp fans backing. Fortunately, Mr. Cifer has inherited a team that is only 1.5 games back of 1st place in the Central League. Look here first for all your Carp news!!!!
Monday June 16th, 2014: Mgr Lou Cifer has started off red hot, leading the Carp to an 8-2 record in his first week. The Carp have taken over 1st in the Central with lots of offense, and some timely defense. Mr. Cifer made some changes to the lineups, calling up Tommy Morris to replace Hiroyuki Ohayashi, who has been accused of "white collar crime". That wasn't enough, as the new Mgr also changed up the starting rotation, placing 2 of the previous starters back in the pen.
In a depressing finish, the Carp fell from 1st in the division to 4th, ending up with a .500 record. Most of their problems stemmed from the 8 injuries sustained since June 16th, but some of the frustrations have seemed to boil over, as the press partially blamed Mgr Lou Cifer for his lack of experience. Hopefully, Mr. Cifer can have a productive offseason and show the pundits that this collapse was a fluke. The Carp have signed 4 of their 5 draft picks in what was widely regarded as an extremely poor draft class. Finally, the big shocker out of Hiroshima was that the Carp will not be tendering an offer to CF Tommy Morris.
