June 20th Andoh v Nagai - A pitcher's lot is not a happy one

N26 mentioned some interesting stats and how Tigers ERA and runs scored were better than Hiroshima's. This is true but it doesn't factor in an inability to hit with runners on and to hold leads. The pitchers cannot keep the opposition of the scoreboard and the batters (this is not a weak batting lineup) cannot hit. There are serious failures in the coaching and an urgent need for some good batting coaching. Andoh was responsible for the latest failure but the way it happens indicates a very unhappy team. I wrote at the beginning of the season how Tigers should go with their young pitchers. Instead we have a reliance on tired old arms. What of Uezono, Ishikawa, Iwata, Kojima, Chen? Tigers ni-gun is doing very well with this mainly young rotation (they are leading the Western League). All of them have been tried and rejected by over-conservative and short-sighted pitching coaches. They really need to be given long runs in the top team. At the moment any victory by the Tigers seems to be due to luck not to good planning. Box scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Golden Eagles  0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 12 0
Tigers         0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2  7 1

Starting lineups

Golden Eagles
1. Naoto Watanabe (Short)
2. Hiraishi (Right)
3. Masato Nakamura (Left)
4. Kusano (Short)
5. Yamasaki (First)
6. Teppei (Centre)
7. Johbu (Third)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Nagai (Pitcher)

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

Golden Eagles would start nicely, hitting from the outset but Tigers would take a long time to get going. In their first Hiraishi hit with one out and then Nakamura hit to set up runners on first and second. Kusano hit into a double play though and removed the chance of a score. Tigers first was quiet as the batters fell in order. Teppei hit in Golden Eagles second but nothing came of this. Kanemoto walked to lead off the Tigers second but stayed on first as the next three batters did nothing. Andoh, who hadn't looked at all impressive then proceeded to throw the match away. He started impressively striking out the first two batters he faced. Things looked good but then Hiraishi hit again. This was followed by another hit from Nakamura (also his second) - runners on first and third. Kusano was next and he hit to right, the ball carrying nicely over the fence for a three run home run 3-0 Golden Eagles. Yamasaki then drilled one over the centre wall, home run 4-0 Golden Eagles. Teppei hit to left, a two base as Andoh just served up rubbish. Johbu hit to right, another two base and 5-0 Golden Eagles, runner on second. Shima was the only one who missed out on this hitting feast as he was deliberately walked to get at Nagai who struck out swinging to end the innings. A terrible piece of pitching. Tigers third saw their third hit, from Lin (pinch hitting for Andoh). Akahoshi bunted him to second. He has been practising bunts quite hard after his disaster against the Marines. However, Sekimoto grounded out and the innings was over.

Andoh of course didn't return for the Golden Eagles fourth. To do so would have been quite suicidal. Instead his place was taken by Egusa who managed to balk. This meant that Nakamura who hit to short was able to take second base but Egusa was quite able to get the final out. Nagai ran into a bit of trouble in Tigers fourth but was able to escape. With two out, Brazell hit. Sakurai followed up with a hit of his own and Brazell made third nicely showing that his leg problems might be easing. Toritani though still can't remember which end of the bat is which and flew out to end the innings. Golden Eagles fifth was also exciting - Yamasaki led off with a walk. One out later Johbu hit and a wild pitch took the runners to second and third. Shima walked in four which brought up the second out with the bases loaded. Finally, Watanabe struck out to end the innings and the Tigers had escaped. Tigers fifth was quiet and the batters were out in order. Golden Eagles sixth was also quiet as the batters fell to ground outs, Tsutsui being the pitcher and doing much better than his last outing. Nagai returned for Tigers sixth and showed that he was getting tired. With one out he gave up a hit to Arai. Kanemoto was next and he hit a two base to right - runners on second and third. Next batter Brazell who is not a one dimensional home run batter but quite a versatile hitter. He demonstrated this nicely by hitting to right driving in both runners 5-2 Golden Eagles, runner on first. Nomura decided that Nagai had had enough and replaced him with Arime who duly got the final out to end the innings.

Watanabe pitched Golden Eagles seventh and was secure retiring the batters in order. This time the relief was much more secure. Akahoshi hit in Tigers seventh and then stole second but once again Sekimoto failed to convert him and the innings was scoreless. Abe pitched Golden Eagles eighth and was also much more secure. He retired his three batters in order as well. Arime returned for the Tigers eighth and dead balled Kanemoto. This brought up Brazell who managed to hit into a double play and end the innings. Abe started Golden Eagles ninth with a hit to Teppei but he was picked off going for third which left a runner on first. He went nowhere and the innings was scoreless. For Tigers ninth Nomura chose Gwyn. He had a straightforward job finishing by getting Hiyama (pinch hitter) to fly out. Golden Eagles victory.

Andoh's meltdown had been the key. From pitching well, he suddenly couldn't pitch at all and this kind of disintergration is worrying as it suggests problems with the pitcher. Brazell is a real find and once again showed his worth but the rest of the team isn't pulling its weight. Replacing Toritani would be a good idea but this is problematic as there is no-one quite as good at short in Japan. If he is rested it would mean that more errors at short could be expected. One has to start thinking of this season as a rebuilding season but rather than the younger players being given experience we are having to put up with the same old faces. This should change as should several of the coaching team.

Christopher,

Your posts always are so negative. You say you are a Tiger fan and I understand you are writing about what you see but if you are a fan how about you write something positive in one of your posts, would be nice for us real Tiger fans to have something to smile about!

It is difficult to be positive when there's very little to be positive about. Currently, the team is underperforming and the manager is struggling. A fifth place postion is not normally considered something to be happy about. One has to be honest about the situation to present a realistic view. Fielding, batting and pitching are not up to standard and to write positively about two superb strikes when the third weak pitch gets hit for a two base does not seem to be an appropriate use of blog space. Being blind to the reality is not what a real fan should be.

But I would suggest that you are missing the positive elements of the post. A quote 'Brazell is a real find and once again showed his worth'. That is a positive comment and you will find others. It would be nice to find more to smile about but realistically at the moment we don't have much. If you read the blogs in Japanese as well, you will find much the same comments, only not as moderate (it's not easy being Tigers manager). What would you say was positive about Andoh's meltdown from the point of view of a Tigers fan? Or for that matter Kanemoto's current slump? I am not a propagandist but write about things as I see them and try to inject an element of objectivity into proceedings. This will inevitably have a negative element at the moment.

I did not mean to refer only to this particular article, but rather to the theme of many of the articles you have writen are negative in nature. I suppose i need to better understand where you are coming from. Are you writing your stories as an objective reporter or as a fan? When you listen to a game on the radio your home team commentator will try to find the positives in what is happening, he will not be finding all the faults (as well as the positives) and mentioning them. If you are an independant person writing then I have no arguements about your style or your constant negativity (except for the sarcasm). if you are a Tiger fan then I feel you could be somewhat more positive in your writings.

Maybe I am crazy for thinking this way, if you have a child that is doing poorly in school do you scold it every day and belittle it in front of their friends? or do you try to look at what was good about what they did and try to be positive and in a nuturing way help it improve? You seem like a father who hits his child and yells at it every time it makes a mistake.

I realize that you do have suggestions that can help the team and I like reading them but i really think that if you are writing as a fan you could have some optimism and not bash the players as often as you do. if you aren't writing from the perspective of a fan then I have no issue but it seems like you are a Giants fan writing about the tigers

You were positive about Brazell as you did point out but let us be honest, that was the "needle in the haystack" I counted 15 negative comments in your write up, many of them sarcastic in nature. If you say "Andoh was having a tough night and gave up X hits" I would say that is reporting, when you say "Ando was responsible for the latest failure" and ""Ando...then proceded to throw the match away" and "A terrible piece of pitching (refering to Andoh)" and "Andoh of course didn't return... To do so would have been quite suicidal." then I call that negative, and sarcastic and you seem to enjoy attacking him. it seems you are biased against him.

I agree with you that you can't make his performance positive for this outing and nor should you but does that mean that a player should be verbally ridiculed constantly.

I suppose I am being to sensitive and I should shut up and go back to reading the results/write-ups in the paper and get an indpendant view of the game and not read Tiger Tail Sarcasms. As the owner of the blog you can say whatever you want but I just wanted to express my opinion and I thank you for that opportunity.

I would accept that recent articles are shall we say not positive but then one has to consider the nature of the of the performance under discussion. Is it a good performance? Did the players play to their potential? Could they have done better? A comment like 'A terrible piece of pitching' or "Andoh proceeded to throw the match away' is not though a sarcastic comment. It is admittedly blunt but can be described as accurate. Certain commentators would go further and (as you may have experienced) Tigers fans at the games are even fiercer. It is an established Tigers fan tradition to abuse poorly performing players. We praise them when they do well, we hammer them when they do badly. This is what fans are like and to expect constant praise from a Tigers fan is a very tall order. For example Imaoka's nickname - Mr Yatta Dekiru Yan Ka (see what you can do if you try) is hardly the most positive of appelations

If you explore the posts on this blog further you will find quite a lot of praise for Andoh (when he does well). It is the same for most players and for the manager (ask Tigers fans about him and stand well back). There is also the need to make these reports readable. This requires more in the way of value laden comments than straight reportage. You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension that somehow Tigers fans are always positive about their team. They are not as a couple of games in the gaia will demonstrate. If you stick around you will fiind that the winning streaks will produce a plethora of positive comments.

Tigers Mania, historically the infamous Christopher has always been a negative and argumentative poster even in winning seasons. That's what he does. You'll get used to it and anyway, it adds a bit of color to the boards.