It's time to see what first-year manger Koji Akiyama and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks are made of.

The Hawks are on pace for a second consecutive interleague title, have won 11 out of their last 14 and have soared into second place behind the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in the Pacific League.

The team, however, is far from being on cloud nine.

The Hawks got two doses of sobering news this week when they were forced to take left-handed starting pitchers Tsuyoshi Wada and Kenji Otonari off the active roster.

Wada was removed because of inflammation in his pitching elbow, the same elbow he underwent surgery on in 2007. Otonari was removed after injuring his finger in a car collision.

One of Softbank's top pitchers, Wada was 3-3 with a 3.05 ERA and a team-high 67 strikeouts. Otonari had gotten off to a slow start this year, going 2-3 with a 6.39 ERA in eight starts.

Their situation puts the Hawks in a bind, suddenly leaving the team without two members of its starting rotation.

Now the team has to find a pair of arms to fill in for an undertermined period of time.

This takes on added importance because while the season is young, it's important that Akiyama make the right moves.

After all, games in June gain greater significance in the fall when a team its fans are ruing missed opportunities after falling a few wins short of the pennant or even reaching the Climax Series.

So the first-year manager doesn't need a pair of caretakers, he needs to identify players who can fill the role effectively to keep the team afloat in the competitive Pacific League.

This is where a manager earns his keep. When things are going well, the manager doesn't get enough credit. When things are going bad, however, every move the skipper makes is scrutinized and all the blame falls in his lap, justified or not.

On the field, the pressure in the rotation falls on the shoulders of Toshiya Sugiuchi and Dennis Houlton.

Sugiuchi has been the Hawks' top pitcher this year, winning a team-high five games with a 2.49 ERA over 68 2/3 innings in 10 starts.

The left-hander is a proven winner and can handle the pressure of being the team's top starter.

Houlton, meanwhile, is 4-3 with a 2.21 ERA in nine starts. Houlton has bounced back from a rough start to the season with three solid outings, going 2-0 with one no-decision in that span.

Both will have to stay on top of their game to take the pressure off the newcomers in the rotation until Wada and Otanari are able to return.

The Hawks won the interleague title last season, then slumped to a last-place finish. If they hope to avoid that fate this year, Akiyama and the team will have to make the right moves during this unexpected bump in the road.