June 13th Fukuhara v Ono - A nice romp

Well for the Marines definitely, for the Tigers an ordeal. In the past Marines would score lots of runs and then the Tigers would catch up or even surpass them as the Marines weak relief blew the game. One thinks of the game on 16th June 2007 when the Tigers scored nine runs in the ninth innings on nine hits to beat the Marines 11-7 in particular but there have been others. Not so under Mayumi - a lead for the Marines means a comfortable victory. Brazell had another home run today - his shirts apparently are the fastest selling replica shirts at the Hanshin Department Store and one can understand why. Hanshin fans see him as the new Arias and are very excited. But back to the game, whereas Okada would view this one as winable Mayumi by his pitching choices condemned the Tigers to ignominious defeat. Box scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  8 1
Marines  0 0 3 3 1 0 2 0 X 9 13 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Hirano (Right)
2. Akahoshi (Centre)
3. Arai (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Hiyama (DH)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sekimoto (First)
8. Toritani (Short)
9. Kanoh (Catcher)

Pitcher was Fukuhara

1. Hayasaka (Short)
2. Fukuura (First)
3. Ohmatsu (Right)
4. Iguchi ((Second)
5. Hashimoto (DH)
6. Satozaki (Catcher)
7. Saburo (Centre)
8. Benny (Left)
9. Imae (Third)

Pitcher was Ono

For the first three innings Tigers blew their chances. Take the first Hirano leads off with a two base hit. Surely something will result from this start. Akahoshi bunts him to third which means that the sacrfice fly is on. Instead Arai grounds out to third locking Hirano on base and then Kanemoto strikes out - innings scoreless and a wasted chance. Marines first saw Fukuura walk with one out but then Fukuhara struck out the next two batters and one gained the misconception that this would be a good game for him. In the Tigers second with one out Brazell had a two base hit. Nothing came of this and another chance went begging. In the Marines second Saburo hit with two out but this was easily contained. Kanoh led off the Tigers third with a two base hit and reached third on the second out but nothing came of this. So for their first three hits, Tigers had produced two base hits and nothing had happened! This kind of casual wastefulness can only result in one thing - a walloping. This is exactly what happened. Fukuhara's control disappeared in the third and the Marines demonstrated just how things should be done. Imae hit - runner on first. Hayasaka bunted to Fukuhara who picked up and threw to first - too high and an error. Luckily Hirano was backing up but Marines now had runners on first and second with no outs. Fukuura bunted to put the runners on second and third and then Ohmatsu flew out to right. Hirano's throw was very very good and the runners were locked on base - no score with two outs. Iguchi was next and he dropped his hit nicely in front of Akahoshi for a hit 2-0 Marines runner on first. Fukuhara then walked Hashimoto to set up runners on first and second as his control disintergrated. Satozaki received three balls and then hit his first strike to left driving in another run 3-0 Marines, runners on first and second. Finally, Saburo was induced to fly out to Kanemoto to end the innings but you knew that Fukuhara should be replaced.

So how would Ono fare in the Tiges fourth? So far he had given up two base hits for each of his three earlier innings. Very well as it turned out he retired the batters in order. Fukuhara returned for the Marines fourth and this decision screamed big mistake. His problem in the third had been control and this would be his problem in the fourth. Benny led off with a two base. This was stretching Benny - he his very how shall we say it? - sluggish. But anyway he was able to make second. Imae though struck out - maybe Fukuhara was going to be OK? Not quite, Hayasaka hit and Marines had runners on first and third. Another out followed but on the basis of the third you didn't have any confidence in Fukuhara to get the third out. Which is surprisingly what Mayumi had. Hopes are so cruely dashed. Ohmatsu put the ball nicely between centre and right for a two base hit. Benny of course was home but Hayasaka showed good running to add another run 5-0 Marines, runner on second. Fukuhara continued and walked Iguchi and finally Mayumi realised that Fukuhara should be replaced. Fukuhara had thrown 84 pitches in his 3.2 innings - far too much. Mayumi's choice was Tsutsui - hardly a good choice in a game which was still winnable. But then Mayumi seems to have no awareness of what has gone before. Tsutsui faced Hashimoto and gave up a hit. This allowed another run home 6-0 Marines runners on first and third. Finally, Satozaki grounded out to third but only after Arai had had a chat with Tsutsui. Even now the situation was not beyond redemption - this was the Marines. Ono though was determined to make sure that Tigers didn't get any momentum. He couldn't prevent Kanoh hitting in Tigers fifth but he was able to make sure the Tigers catcher did not progress beyond first. Tsutsui returned for the Marines fifth, an ill-considered decision if ever there was one and set about demonstrating his unsuitability for the role Saburo led off with a hit. Lambin (replacement right) also hit - runners on first and third with no outs. Imae flew out to left and even though the throw from Kanemoto was good, Imae was home 7-0 Marines. With two outs Fukuura hit to set up runners on first and third but the final batter Ohmatsu struck out swinging but by now the Marines were cruising. Tigers sixth saw Kanemoto hit with two out but nothing came of this. Ono remained in control of the match. For Marines sixth Mayumi brought in Watanabe, maybe a good choice to immediately replace Fukuhara rather than Tsutsui. He gave up a two out walk to Satozaki but then retired Saburo (struck out looking) to end the innings.

In Tigers seventh Brazell led off with a home run, hammering the ball to right centre 7-1 Marines. One out later Toritani hit but a Kanoh double play finished the chance of more runs. For Marines seventh Mayumi chose Nishimura - a decision of such stunning stupidity that one wonders. Maybe Mayumi had written off the game entirely and thought that Nishimura deserved a run. Anyway he started well with an out. Then Imae hit. Nishimura's control disappeared and he walked the next two batters to load the bases. Ohmatsu hit to centre driving in two runs 9-1 Marines, runners on first and third. Iguchi took a dead ball to load the bases again. but Hashimoto flew out and then Satozaki struck out looking to end the innings. The strike out of Satozaki was very nice but too little too late. Ono returned for the Tigers eighth but obviously was very tired. He was lucky with his first two outs (right fly outs) but gave up a two base hit to Arai. He then walked Kanemoto to set up Tigers runners on first and second but luckily for him Lin (replacement DH) broke his bat and grounded out weakly to Ono himself. Nishimura returned for Marines eighth and started by walking Heiuchi (replacement short). However his pitching improved and he kept the Marines player on first as he retired the next three batters. For Tigers ninth Valentine didn't continue with Ono. Ono had done enough and so Kawasaki took the mound. He found things easy getting Takahashi (pinch hitter) to fly out to right and then striking out Baldris and Toritani looking to end the game. Marines victory.

Tigers had been completely outplayed but inept pitching selection had also played its part. A 5-0 lead to the Marines is an irrelevant figure given the past history between the teams. Mayumi doesn't seem to realise this and gave up. This transmitted itself to his batters who despite generating eight hits managed only one run. Ono did well but in the Tigers eighth was clearly tired. Tigers though didn't have any spirit to exploit this. They now have four losses to counteract their four previous wins.

After a great outing, the "real" Fukuhara is back. He really doesn't deserve to be in the rotation and should be dropped to make room for one of the young guys.

This is the problem with Fukuhara. If you could guarantee consistency with him you would have a good case for keeping him in the side. However, given his inconsistency he does keep young pitchers who would benefit from the exposure to the top level out of the side. Mayumi being stubborn, one cannot expect a change very soon.

Not too much to be happy about for this game from a Tigers prespective. However, Brazells homer was impressive. He had hit I think 2 foul balls in his leg and he was in pain, and then the pitch after he hits it out. He was limping and could barely run around the bases. He is a hard player. That should motivate the other Hanshin batters.

Lotte after that crazy game against Hiroshima where they set a Japan record by getting 15 runs in 1 inning is looking like they are on a good roll now. Hope this continues.