October 20th Iwata v Yoshimi - Fujikawa fails

I couldn't resist the headline and it was a big surprise. Even though it's bound to happen and he has done it against the Dragons before, this season it still comes as a surprise. The shame was that Iwata's superb pitching performance was wasted. Still if Tigers had won Yoshimi's superb performance would have been wasted. Still, certain questions need to be asked - if Iwata was supposed to be only effective with Noguchi why was he so good with Yano? If this is the case then why didn't he pitch more to Yano during the regular season? Why was Noguchi used so often?

Another question, why was Arai playing? He was totally ineffective in the Climax series getting only one hit from 12 at bats. In addition his fielding at first base was poor and I suspect Okada rushed him back into the team too soon. Why didn't Imaoka play instead? Team selection was strange but then Okada has not shown that he can manage the post season at all (1 win, 8 defeats). Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dragons 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 3
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Toritani (Short)
6. Katsuragi (Right)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Hirano (Second)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Lee (Right)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Morino (Centre)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Ibata (Short)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

This game was error ridden (5 errors in all) which produced some interesting situations but was also a pitcher's duel. Iwata started nervously and dead balled Lee. The pitch hit him on the back of his hand and really hurt. Lee had to be replaced by Koike who took first base. There was nothing malicious about the pitch Lee just messed up his shot. Koike was bunted to second by Araki and this is as far as a Dragons runner would get until the ninth innings. Iwata then produced some fine pitching striking out Morino and Woods to end the innings. Yoshimi didn't start well either - he battled Akahoshi who hit to left, dropping the shot in front of Wada. Runner on first. Sekimoto tried to bunt but didn't have much success. While this was happening Akahoshi went for second. He sped past Ibata dislodging the ball and was safe on second. Then Sekimoto gave up on the bunts and hit a second grounder taking Akahoshi nicely to third with only one out. With Arai and Kanemoto next it looked promising for the Tigers. Arai swung too quickly and grounded out to short infield which allowed Ibata to keep Akahoshi on third. Then Kanemoto flew out to short to end the innings, scoreless. Wada led off the Dragons second and drove a pitch into the ground which bounced high and infield. Sekimoto coming in from first fired the ball to Arai. It bounced in front of him and Arai missed it allowing Wada who demonstrated a nice turn of speed to make base safely. The error was attributed to Sekimoto but was really Arai - he should take these difficult throws but was out of sorts through the whole game. Nakamura was next and he hit into a double play. Dragons got their only hit from Iwata next batter as Ibata hit to centre putting the ball over the field. Tanishige grounded out to third first ball and that innings was over.

Just to show that Tigers were not the only side fielding poorly, Dragons almost made a mess of things. Toritani hit to second where Araki fielded the ball but messed the pick up. He finally got the ball and threw to first where Woods missed it and Toritani was safe. As the ball went foul Toritani turned for second but then decided better of it but in the meantime Yoshimi collected the ball and threw to Woods before Toritani could make first safely - out. Katsuragi flew out but Yano hit to right. Hirano grounded out to first and that innings was over. With Dragons third Yoshimi led off and proved surprisingly difficult. Eventually he grounded out to Iwata who fired the ball to Arai who missed an easy take for another error - Yoshimi was safe. Koike tried to bunt but didn't put it far enough and Yano fired the ball to second from where it went to first for the double play. Araki grounded out easily to end the innings - this time Arai didn't drop the ball. Tigers third was quiet with the batters falling in order. In Dragons fourth Iwata walked Woods (his only walk) but nothing came of this. Tigers fourth was also quiet with all the batters grounding out.

Iwata retired the Dragons in order in the fifth this time finishing with Yoshimi in three strikes. With one out Yano tried a bunt hit and was pretty fast to first. Yoshimi messed up the throw for an error and Yano was safe. If only he used this speed round the bases. However, no one did anything else and the innings ended quietly. Iwata retired the Dragons in order in the sixth and you began to wonder how long he would go on. Tigers sixth was likewise quiet with the batters falling in order. Iwata controlled the Dragons seventh as well. Yoshimi though gave up a hit to Katsuragi in Tigers seventh but nothing came of this either. So to the eighth and Okada continued with Iwata - he had thrown 94 pitches and you wondered if he hadn't been asked to go too far. There was no need to worry seven pitches was all it took to retire the Dragons. This was the end of Iwata's session - he had pitched magnificently showing awesome control particularly in the latter stages of the match when the Dragons batters just queued up to get out. He had given up only one hit during his session.

Yoshimi continued into the Tigers eighth - why not, he had pitched almost as well. With one out he faced Hiyama who he struck out in three and then ran into trouble. Akahoshi hit a two base to right and then Araki threw poorly to third and Akahoshi went for third. He was safe and the Dragons had made what could have been a costly error. It was the first time a runner of either team had been on third since the first innings, such had been the quality of the pitching. Sekimoto was next but flew out weakly to short to end the chance. For Dragons ninth Fujikawa took the mound. He faced 1, 2, 3 in the batting order and Tatsunami (pinch hitter) replaced Koike as leadoff. Tatsunami swung and hit to centre - runner safe on first and it meant that Fujikawa would face Woods - his nemesis. Hidanori (pinch runner for Tatsunami) was bunted to second by Araki which brought up Morino. Fujikawa unleashed a pitch which dropped short and bounced up hitting Yano on the shoulder before landing just behind the batter. Yano hadn't been paying attention and started looking wildly around while Hidenori ran to third. Morino of course knew where the ball was and watched Yano's antics in disbelief but wisely said nothing. Finally, Yano realised what had happened but the Dragons had a chance of a sacrifice fly and a runner on third for the first time in the game. Morino though couldn't deliver and flew out to Fujimoto (replacement second Hirano having moved to right). Next up was Woods who is the only batter Fujikawa is scared of. He started by trying to get Woods to swing but Woods wasn't swinging and Fujikawa wasted three balls trying this. Then he threw an outside strike and a foul to set up a 2-3 count. With two out you felt that Fujikawa would get the out or walk Woods. Not so, Fujikawa unleashed a straight ball right down the middle and high. Woods was waiting for it and slammed the ball into the upper tiers for a two run home run 2-0 Dragons. Fujikawa had chosen the wrong pitch and should have really thrown an outside ball or a higher pitch. Fujikawa still needed to get another out but was flustered and gave up a hit to Wada. However, Nakamura flew out to right to end the innings. Tigers ninth was originally due to be pitched by Yoshimi but with the lead Ochiai called on Iwase. Yoshimi had also pitched magnificently and had shut down Tigers clean up batters much like Iwata had done so with the Dragons batters. Iwase can be shaky but in the big games tends to be rock solid and was no different in this game. Arai flew out in foul ground, then Kanemoto flew out to centre and finally Toritani struck to end the game. It was that straightforward. Dragons victory.

A very hard fought match with an unexpected result. One didn't expect Fujikawa to blow it but that is what happened. Iwata had been superb but hadn't received the rewards. Still this is very encouraging for the future. Yoshimi had also been excellent but was beginning to tire by the end of his session. It would have been interesting to see what happened if he had pitched the ninth. There was a presentation for Okada as this was his last game as Tigers Kantoku. The entire team tossed him up in the air and the remaining fans chanted Okada, Okada. However, it is probably a good thing that he went - he hadn't been able to manage the post season effectively and with the Tigers now strong this will have more importance. Furthermore, his team failed to hold a big lead and didn't have the strength in depth. He also failed to deal with Yano's replacement and this is getting urgent. The new coach is almost certain to be Mayumi and it will be interesting to see how he fares. But we can only conclude that this was a disappointing season for the Tigers.

Everyone all over Japan is now questioning Kyuji's decision to pitch to Woods like that, so I will keep off that topic. Will be interesting to see how things go without Okada. I may eat my words, but I also think we'll be better without him. I think he just inherited Hoshino's great team and the 1-8 postseason record speaks for itself. It might take time to adjust to a new manager, but hopefully the next manager won't also think that Hiyama is Reggie Jackson and always put him in at the most crucial moments. In any case, looking forward to next year!

Thanks for the excellent blog and the season Christopher. Hope you continue next year too. Keep up the good work!

Okada Hanshin has had some good seasons ( and miserable post seasons.) It will be quite a challenge for Mayumi to build up a future Tigers as many of the stars are getting quite old. Kanemoto, Shimoyanagi, Yano just to name a few.

Why do you use the term "end of innings" to describe the end of half an inning? Or even one whole inning? End of the top, end of the bottom, end of the inning are correct phrases within baseball terminology...

Personal preference. I like end of innings.

Even though it is incorrect grammatically and incorrect baseball terminology? You have criticized commentators for less...

Grammatically its acceptable. As for correct terminology its actually convention not an essential. You strike me as a purist. I am not and to be honest when writing bottom of... or top of... are actually boring terms. I try (inadequately I know) to make the pieces readable and mix them up. Sometimes correct terminology is necessary but sometimes substitutes are just as understandable and sound more interesting. Convention is fine in its place but shouldn't become the be all and end all.

Am I correct in the assessment that you thought that Okada-kantoku left Iwata in too long? Your replay makes it sound like you were nervous that the youngster wasn't replaced by JFK earlier, like around the 7th inning, despite his great performance. Granted, even Yokohama had more pitchers throw over 7 innings, but they didn't have the bullpen support. These are the only games I could find when a Tiger threw over 7 innings:

Mar 30 Fukuhara    vs YOK 9.0 IP (CG)
Apr  5 Iwata       at YOM 8.0 IP
Apr 11 Andoh       at YOK 8.0 IP (CG)
Apr 16 Shimoyanagi vs HIR 9.0 IP (CG)
Apr 26 Iwata       vs YOM 9.0 IP (CG)
May  3 Andoh       at CHU 8.0 IP
May 16 Andoh       vs YAK 8.1 IP
May 31 Iwata       at NIP 8.0 IP (CG)
Jul 25 Andoh       vs CHU 9.0 IP (CG)

It looks to me like both Andoh and Iwata could handle throwing over 7 innings. Although neither did at all the second half of the season. (Might that have been the problem with the Tigers' second half? Over reliance on the bullpen?)

Tigers starting pitching did tend to deteriorate over the second half of the game and this was the worry. I wasn't so much worried that he left Iwata in too long but that he might have done. Iwata did get left in too long at times.

I felt really sorry for Iwata. He really suffered from a lack of run support this year. So, of course he pitches one of his best games of the season and the Tigers can't score again!
What worried me more was not keeping Andoh in long enough! He lifted him in the fifth inning of Game 1. Andoh had scattered a few hits, but had limited the Dragons to 1 run. Then, Atchison immediately gives up a monster shot to Morino. Even though it was just a solo shot, I think it totally changed the game. Instead of just going for one run and the tie, the Tigers started swinging for the fences.
Anyway, I think the perfect job for Okada after quitting is to write cheesy sports novels. He seemed to be writing one by always putting Hiyama in in these key situations. Although he actually hit well this year, Hiyama has obviously had a mediocre career. But Okada seemed to hope that the loyal Mr. Tiger could go out a hero.

Though Hiyama has been the only effective pinch hitter Tigers have had this year. I don't think its such a bad thing to put him in and Atchison has pitched well in relief. Andoh hasn't looked convincing in the latter half of the season so I tend to be relieved when he is taken out.

I live-blogged the last two Hanshin games for what its worth. You can check them out at stevesayskanpai.blogspot.com if ur bored! Just scroll down a bit.

Thanks for a great blog this season! It really has been an invaluable resource.

Ja ne.