May 13th Kubo v Saitoh - Williams and Fujikawa fail

Kubo is still without a win and you feel for him. Once again he did all he could but this time was denied by poor pitching from Williams and rusty pitching by Fujikawa who didn't look on top of his game. Williams though is a real concern - his pitching was terrible and he seemed to be stubbornly going the wrong way. One had hoped that he would bounce back from his performance last year but it is beginning to look like he is fading and unless he improves this is possibly his last year with Tigers. Mench has finally started playing in ni-gun and is hitting freely. In two games he has hit 6 RBIs including a home run on nine hits. Akahoshi is due for free agency at the end of this season but has no intention of declaring at the moment. He is still 100% with his steal attempts. Box scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Carp    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  1 2 7 0
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  0 1 5 0

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Ishii (Short)
3. Amaya (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Left)
6. Seabol (Third)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Akamatsu (Centre)
9. Saitoh (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Fujimoto (Second)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Kubo would once again show some fine pitching and some nice anticipation and should have walked away with the victory. He did well in the Carp's first retiring the batters in order. Saitoh was a lot better than his previous outing against the Tigers but did show a propensity to give away a walk and hit together in several innings. This would be the case in the Tigers first. With two out Toritani hit and then Saitoh walked Kanemoto. Arai was next and he hit his first pitch straight back to Saitoh who threw to first for an easy final out. Carp's second was quiet as was Tigers'. In Carp's third Kubo gave up his first hit, a one out right hit to Akamatsu. Saitoh bunted him to second but Higashide flew out and nothing came of this. Tigers third was quiet Saitoh retiring the batters in order.

Kubo ran into his first problem in the Carp's fourth. Nishii hit, followed by Amaya setting up runners on first and third with no outs. Kubo then tried several times to pick off Amaya before going through with his pitching motion in its entirety but not releasing the ball. He fired this to Sekimoto who tagged Amaya out - a very sharp piece of work.. Brown came out to argue the point that this was illegal but the umpires seemed to think that it was acceptable. Kurihara then hit a couple of pitches along the line both of which were ruled foul and with the second Brown was once again out of the dugout to argue that this second one was fair. The third base umpire was not convinced by Brown's creative interpretation. Anyway, Kubo ended up by walking Kurihara to once again set up runners on first and third. This time Shima was next and he hit into a double play to end the innings. Nice defence by the Tigers but poor play by Carp who had wasted a very good chance.. Tigers fourth saw another walk/hit combination from Saitoh. He issued a lead off walk to Toritani and then two outs later Sakurai hit to centre (most of Tigers hits off Saitoh were centre hits) to set up runners on first and second. The next batter was Fujimoto and I still can't believe he is a regular starting member. One needs a more reliable batter than Fujimoto in this position. He struck out swinging and the innings was over. Carp fifth was also quiet and in Tigers fifth we saw another of Saitoh's hit walk variations - this time Akahoshi and Sekimoto. This time the third out was Toritani who bounced it to first but didn't quite clear Kurihara. Carp's sixth was quiet. With one out in Tigers sixth Saitoh faced Arai. He got hold of a changeup and hit it over the right field fence for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. One out later Fujimoto walked but Kanoh couldn't do anything with it and the innings ended quietly.

Carp's seventh was led off by Amaya who fouled his second pitch deep into right and quite near the foul pole. The umpire wasn't paying attention or needed a visit to his optician and ruled it a hit and the three base at that. Replays showed it to be a glaring error. Mayumi came out to argue the point but once again to no avail. Kubo was furious and this affected his pitching as he walked Kurihara, runners on first and third with no outs. This brought Kubo (pitching coach) to the mound but he offered his pitcher the option of staying. Kubo didn't think he could manage it so Egusa replaced him. After the match Kubo was still angry about the umpiring error and here a video replay would have been very useful. Egusa faced McClain (pinch hitter and replacement left) and with two strikes let one go which got away from Kanoh to his right and behind. This prompted Amaya to try for home but Egusa had sprinted to home and Kanoh had thrown the ball to him. Egusa blocked Amaya and tagged him out to prevent the run. McClain then struck out looking but Egusa walked Seabol to set up runners on first and second. However Ishihara was the final out and Egusa had done wonderfully well. A superb piece of pitching and once again Carp had wasted a great chance. Tigers seventh was pitched by Umetsu. With one out Akahoshi hit and then stole second for his 10th steal of the year. Unfotunately , the next two batters did nothing and to be honest, Tigers performance against Carp's relief was not of the necessary standard. So to Tigers eighth, they still preserved a one run lead and it was Jeff Williams next so one wouldn't give much for the Carp's chances. Williams though was abysmal stubborn and unconcerned with the realities. He started by walking Akamatsu by trying to get him to swing at outside balls. Akamatsu wasn't swinging and Carp's plate discipline had been good throughout the game. They restrained themselves from swinging very effectively. Soyogi (pinch hitter) hit and Carp once again had runners on first and third. Higashide was next and once again refused to swing and walked to load the bases with no outs. This brought Kubo (pitching coach) out again with a face like thunder. His instructions to Williams were - put it in the zone. For the next two batters Williams followed instructions and both Nishi and Amaya struck out. With two outs things looked promising though the final batter was Kurihara. Williams decided to depart from instructions and get Kurihara to swing at outside balls. This was pure folly, Kurihara had already drawn two walks and this time Williams walked him in four - oshidashi 1-1 scores tied bases loaded - phenomenaly stupid pitching. Williams then remembered himself and struck out the final batter Hirose to end the innings. True the game was still tied but Kubo's victory had been blown. When Williams walked back to the dugout he was completely ignored by everyone. Tigers eighth was pitched by Schultz who was very effective striking out two batters out of three.

Atchison pitched the Carp ninth and unlike Williams was focused on what he had to do. He did give up a leadoff hit to Seabol (who was pinch run for by Kimura. The very next out saw Ishihara who hit to Arai. Arai fired the ball to second but the next throw was just too late to get Ishihara. Still, the runner hadn't advanced. The next two outs came easily and the innings was over. Tigers ninth was quiet, Yokoyama was much more assured and the Tigers batters really didn't try hard enough and the game went into extra innings. For Carp's 10th Mayumi brought on Fujikawa who didn't look ready. Some of the old brilliance was there but there were also too many loose pitches and he looked quite rusty at times. He struck out his first two batters and then walked Amaya showing his rustiness. Kurihara was next and swung mightily at his third pitch. He got a good contact and flew deep to left. Kanemoto was under right on the fence it but the ball drifted to his left and so when he jumped he missed the take and the ball landed safely for a hit. Of course Amaya was home 2-1 Carp and Kurihara was safe on second and very pleased with himself as well he might be. It had been a lucky shot but then so had Kanemoto's of the night before. The final out was a ground out and of course for the Tigers 10th Brown summoned Nakagawa. He has mostly got over his early season jitters but was shakey this innings. He walked Akahoshi who was bunted to second by Sekimoto. Then one out later he deliberately walked Kanemoto to set up runners on first and second. This time Arai did not come through and flew out to end the match. Carp victory.

An undeserved victory for the Carp - they hadn't really done anything to merit the win and had been outplayed in the field. Once again Tigers batting hadn't been good enough particularly in the later stages but the relief pitching had also been a problem. Williams had been very poor and really needs to pitch with more intelligence and application. Agression is not enough and he needs to think how he pitches. The fact that he got three strikeouts shows he can do it and if he had applied himself properly he would have avoided the walks. Fujikawa struggled this game and his control wandered too much after the first two outs. He also needs to tighten up.

Seems like they rushed Fujikawa back and it showed. Jeff almost got out of it, but not quite. I feel sorry for Kubo, who really deserved a win and hasn't gotten much run support this year.
This is the second time in the last few weeks that the Carp have made a good fielding play on Arai to end the game. At the end of last month they threw him out at the plate on the last play (not surprising, considering his lack of speed). And also made a nice catch last night on what I thought was going to be a hit to tie the game. The Carp must really smile to get revenge on their old teammate!

You scared me with the mention of Akahoshi and free agency- what do you think the chances are of him leaving Hanshin? He's my favourite player!

The Hanshin relief did seem rusty as Christopher says. Fujikawa's fast ball was good, I think he got hit with a breaking pitch, a fork ball if I remember correctly. Relief pithers losing games happen from time to time, but with Fujikawa coming back, this should be a tremendous boost for Hanshin over all and with an improved Williams as set up, I am expecting Hanshin to improve their record. I think Williams is the bigger question mark out of the 2.

I think it is unlikely that Akahoshi will leave for an another team. His lead off spot is secured, he plays for one of the most popular if not the most popular team in Japan. Only if some other team are willing to offer him a lot more than Hanshin which I think is unlikely or if he wants to go to the Majors which I don't think he does so I don't see him leaving Hanshin.

Akahoshi has stated clearly that he wants to continue with the Tigers and isn't looking to move. I think it is almost certain that he will stay but one can never be 100% certain.