By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Yomiuri Giants manager Tatsunori Hara's credit to Lee Seung-yeop appears to be weakening.
The manager hinted he would reshuffle the Giants' batting order, publicly expressing frustration toward the South Korean slugger.
According to Yomiuri affiliate Sports Hochi and Sanskei Sports, Japanese sports dailies, the manager would pull struggling clean-up hitter Lee out of the No. 4 spot and shortstop Tomohiro Nioka, who has been riding a slump, would be taken off of the Giants' roster.
It is Sunday's game against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks that made manager Hara, 47, former Giants clean-up hitter, run out of patience.
Lee, 30, entered the at-bat with runners in scoring positions five times, but was held hitless with three consecutive strikeouts.
More frustrating is that he was used twice by Fukuoka to end the inning after walking Michihiro Ogasawara, who batted third, intentionally.
``Lee and Nioka's slumps last too long. I can't understand key players' batting average being lower than that of the team,'' manager Hara said.
Lee is hitting .259 and Nioka .268 while the league leading Giants' batting average is .280.
He went on blaming Lee on strikeouts.
``Two strikeouts are okay but getting fanned three times is not. His June 17 performance was not good,'' he said, shaking his head.
The South Korean hitter, the home run leader in inter league games for the second straight year, was limited to two homers with a batting average of .240.
He hit 12 long bombs in 2005 and 16 last year in the inter league.
Lingering pain in his left shoulder and a left finger injury has pulled him down from the beginning of the season.
Lee conceded his No. 4 spot to his close friend catcher Shinnosuke Abe on June 10 for the first time since he joined the Giants in 2005.
Although he came back to bat fourth two days later due to Abe's injury, it is not settled for good.
If Lee is out of the clean-up position, captain Abe, who has 14 home runs and a batting average of .307, is expected to bat clean-up again.