July 7th Fukuhara v Saitoh - We are busy doing nothing

So to all the moaners who seem to think that these comments are too negative - what about this game? Is this satisfactory? Was the batting good? Was the pitching good? Was the fielding good? Can you honestly say that Tigers do not deserve the opobrium heaped on them? Can you say that the team performed well? The answer to all these questions is no. This is a team in deep trouble, inadequate players and coaching with a tactical game plan worthy of a dead mouse. There are no positives to take from this awful display. Five, yes, five errors in such a display of ineptness that a high school baseball coach would give up and retire. Fans at the game were shouting things like 'We want our money back' and 'Rubbish' and who can blame them.

Arai was demoted to six after this performance but really no one shone. Baldris once again showed his unsuitability for the leadoff and Fukuhara demonstrated an ability to melt down. The horror is that the game on the eighth is that Sugiyama is the starting pitcher and one wonders of the mentality of the coaches trying him out in this role again when all he has done is fail. Drastic things need to happen rather rapidly if the Tigers are to have any chance of making fourth (yes only fourth place). I haven't agreed with zman before but he is right, Mayumi needs to be sacked quickly and his whole sorry coaching team with him.

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

Starting lineup

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

Sugiyama was replaced by Baldris before the game started

Carp
1. Akamatsu (Centre)
2. Higashide (Second)
3. Phillips (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. McClain (Third)
6. Shima (Right)
7. Soyogi (Short)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Saitoh (Catcher)

Saitoh would be much the same as the last time he played the Tigers, getting runners on but not giving up many runs. He did well once again and in the Tigers first retired the batters in order. Fukuhara would have to contend with errors and fade badly in the fifth. He started the Carp first by messing up a ground out and allowing Akamatsu, the Carp leadoff, to reach first. Higashide bunted him to second and two outs later Kurihara drew a walk when Kanoh's glove touched his bat (interference). McClain walked to load the bases but Shima struck out and Fukuhara escaped that one. Tigers second saw Brazell manage a nice two base hit after Kanemoto had struck out but he stayed on second as no one did anything to move him on. Carp's second was a better innings by Fukuhara, the batters fell 1-2-3. Tigers third saw Baldris hit with two out and then Sekimoto hit, runners on first and second. Arai did nothing and flew out to centre to end that innings. In Carp's third Fukuhara was once again dominant and no one reached base.

Kanemoto led off Tiger fourth with a hit but this was extinguished by a Brazell double play. Sakurai grounded out and that was that. Once again Fukuhara dominated the Carp in the bottom and once again it was 1-2-3. Toritani drew a lead off walk in the Tigers fifth. He was bunted to second by Fukuhara (what was Kanoh thinking? - he can bunt well). Baldris then drew a walk when a hit would have been more useful and so Tigers had runners on first and second but with two outs. Sekimoto was duly out. Things started to go pear shaped for Tigers in the Carp fifth. Soyogi hit to right and stole second. Ishihara hammered a three base to right over a poorly positioned Baldris which drove the runner home 1-0 Carp runner on third. Saitoh grounded out but the runner was locked on third. However, Akamatsu hit to left 2-0 Carp runner on first. Higashide's hit was a two base, runners on second and third. Phillips hit towards Fukuhara who took the runner going for home, the last piece of good fielding the Tigers would produce, runners on first and third. Kurihara walked to load the bases but McClain grounded out to end the innings. Carp were in a good position but it could have been better. Saitoh ran into trouble immediately. He walked Kanemoto after Arai had failed again. Then Brazell hit. Sakurai hit to load the bases and here was a chance. All Toritani could manage was a pitcher ground out which brought in one run - it was good work by Saitoh. However, with runners on second and third one expected more from Kanoh but he grounded out to short. Not very good. For Carp's sxith Mayumi chose Egusa. He was perhaps precipitate in replacing Fukuhara too soon but probably not. However, the guideline Egusa, runners on, Watanabe no runners does not seem to have penetrated. This would be demonstrated with a vengance. Egusa gave up a three base hit to right with one out, once again a poorly positioned Baldris. He then released a wild pitch 3-1 Carp. Ishihara hit and Mayumi decided (in a panic) that he should change pitchers. He went with Watanabe who was also dismal. Kokubo (pinch hitter) flew out to Baldris who dropped the ball. This set up runners on second and third. Akamatsu drove a pitch to left for a nice two base hit and both runners home 5-1 Carp runner on second. Higashide hit a three base to right centre 6-1 Carp runner on third. Finally Phillips struck out and Kurihara grounded out but the Tigers middle relief had failed miserably.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Komatsu who had no trouble retiring the three batters in order. Sajikihara took the Carp seventh which is surprising given that Abe was dropped to make way for him. He gave up a hit to Soyogi, another two base. Komatsu continued with the Tigers eighth and had an easy job with a demoralised uninterested side. Sajikihara returned for the Carp's eighth and was totally useless. He walked Akamatsu and then gave up a hit to Higashide to set up runners on first and second with one out. A ground out took the runners to second and third and then Sajikihara's wild pitch allowed both of them to score 8-1 Carp. Kurihara hit a fly to right which Katsuragi (replacement right) dropped showing that Baldris wasn't the only incompetent right but finally Kimura (replacement third) struck out to end the innings. Tigers ninth was pitched by Aoki who gave up a lead off hit to Sakurai. He stayed on first as the next three batters did nothing. Carp victory.

Carp had done well and had taken advantage of a truely amateur performance by the Tigers. Everything had been lacking and there was no effort or drive. The terrifying thing was that the coaches had no ability to alter the situation and one gets the impression no one knows how. The sooner the rumours about Yamada firm up and become reality the better. This is a very unhappy team and there needs to be a change very soon or they will sink even further.

Just when I thought the Tigers were doing the right thing by dropping someone from the rotation (Nohmi), what do they do? As you mentioned, Sugiyama gets yet another chance. The result? 7 hits in 4 innings! Uezono, Kojima, Chen, Ishikawa???

I think it was Bobby Cox who said if you want a championship team, first build it around good starting pitching. Hanshin don't have any pitchers in the rotation that you can be confident in getting it done. No ace, no stopper, nobody to eat up innings.

The lineup lacks pop. They need to string lots of singles and the odd extra-base hit together to trouble the scorer. That's not always going to happen.

This team just has a bad formula and I would be looking to criticize the front office before blaming anyone else.

Just curious Christopher, do you have any management experience? You talk like you could do a better job. Do you think you could do a better job? Hindsight is 20/20. That doesn't make you an expert. I think you set unrealistic expectations for this team.

You seem eager for Yamada to take over. What do you think he can bring to this club that Mayumi can't? Are you going to put your hand up for the job?

If only the BayStars could make up more ground. Oh, but I guess there'll be enough time for that during August and September, when the Tigers usually fall apart.

I could not agree with you more when you say that the manager and his coaching staff need to go. Finally someone agrees!

Wow- calls for Mayumi to be sacked. I don't think you've been too negative Christopher- in fact I think you've defended Mayumi and been remarkably patient when many of us- myself included- were calling for his head a while back.

Still, can't see it happening before the end of the season- can you?

> ...Mayumi needs to be sacked quickly...

AMEN to that, man!

Oh, and btw don't care about those critics on the negative comments, only other teams' fans could actually afford not being negative about this year's Tigers.../.__.\

Many thanks for all your posts, mate. ^__-

I don't think the front office is to blame for the players non-performance. They may be to blame for the selection of manager but they do not influence the team to any great degree. The team also has a lot of high potential players and the problem is that no one is bringing out this potential. This is the responsibility of the coaching team. We are not dealing with a team that is lacking in talent - the Tigers home record shows they are able to win.

Why Yamada you ask? Well apart from the fact that anyone is better than Mayumi he has a reasonable record. His stint with Dragons produced a second and third place finish. He was also the pitching coach on Hara Japan when they defended their WBC title and he handled the pitching well. Mayumi can't really show anything like that level of experience. He was a fine player but not every fine player transitions successfully into a manager.

Michael - your wishes could come true.

The front office is responsible for assembling this team. No matter how many ways I break down this team, on paper, they are probably only the 4th best team in the CL which is where I expected them to finish at the start of the season. They put this team together and this is what you are now seeing. I don't think other managers could produce a much better result than what we've seen.

They are a light hitting team with an unreliable rotation. With such a poor slugging percentage, you need too many players to have career years in regards to batting average to move the runners around to score. There are no dominant studs in the rotation to worry any opposing teams and set the table for the offense.

I would be interested in hearing from Christopher about this team's upside that he earnestly promotes. Where's the upside? What position do you think this team is capable of finishing in?

I believe this is a 4th placed team. The fact they are currently 5th is a wash. So please tell me what potential they have but are not realizing. They are a team of declining veterans and overated prospects. Not much to see here other than a B-class team.

If I'm missing something (which I don't think I am) please point it out to me.

Christopher,

glad you have come around. It is sad to see this team do so poorly. I think a gaijin coach is in order to really shake things up. Bobby will no doubt get a job in the US so I am not sure who would be best to bring in for next year. They really need a change agent at this point and I do not see a former Hanshin player from the glory year having that ability.

Westbay,

thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. I can see the Tigers in last place at year end. I would have never guessed that any team would be worse than the Baystars this year, especially our beloved Tigers. Maybe you could be assigned as manager of the Tigers next year . . .only if you bring Miura with you.

I am afraid that the idea that the Front Office is running the show doesn't really fit the evidence. We really have to look at the people who have the direct inputs into day to day performance and this is the coaching team. Here we have significant changes and we have a demonstrated past record of new Tigers coaches taking a year to establish themselves - Hoshino in 2002 and Okada in 2004. Now Hoshino broke the Front Office influence and it hasn't been reestablished since. Yet he still delivered a fourth place finish in his first year.

One cannot also look at a team and brand them lightweight and B class so easily. If you take the example of Nippon Ham they show what can be done with good coaching and motivated players. Even a team of supposed heavyweights can end up as B class (the Giants under Horiuchi spring to mind). Thus I think that we can safely discount Front Office influence as being the cause of the poor performance. This leaves us the coaches.

The team is new to some extent and the manger is new but significantly we have a new inexperienced batting coach. Wada was third base coach in Okada's final year and his conservative approach prevented many runs (you may remember my comments on this matter). Moving him to batting coach seems to have created problems with the batting. Hirosawa (the previous batting coach) was not wonderful but he was able to bring good performances out of Toritani, Sekimoto and Arai (before his injury). This is the problem with the coaching team, they are too conservative and are not open to new ideas. Tigers rotation does need a revamp but is not getting it. In fact, the Front Office provided Tigers with a fine pitcher Kubo who is being wasted by the coaches.

We must come to the conclusion that Kido and Kubo (coach) have both reached the end of their useful lives and need to be put out to grass. The same needs to be said of Oka and Wada. They will probably be retained though and a future manager needs to be able to bypass them. Tigers are not short of talented young pitchers, Uezono, Kojima, Ishikawa, Chen all have the potential. Couple them with Iwata and Kubo and you have a very high quality rotation. Relief pitchers of the calibre of Egusa, Watanabe, Fujikawa, Abe, Tsutsui cannot be sneezed at either. The batting lineup itself is pretty strong and one wouldn't call Kanemoto a lightweight. They are just not peforming - you can see it in the players body language. The problem lies with the coaching and management which is not able to cope or adapt to their talented players. The Front Office doesn't really care about this situation as long as the cash continues to roll in. However, the fans do and the pressure from them is growing. If it begins to affect cashflow the Front Office will act and we will see a new manager. I am still expecting Mayumi to be coach at the end of the year though - Tigers management are unlikely to humiliate one of their old boys by sacking him.

"I am still expecting Mayumi to be coach at the end of the year though - Tigers management are unlikely to humiliate one of their old boys by sacking him. "

Yes, you are right! An example of how poorly this club is run and in my 17 years in Japan, hardly a surprise. My point exactly.

With all respect, I think you have over-valued your team. I noticed on a previous post you admitted to pretty much just watching Tigers games which explains a lot of your views and why, for example, you seem to think Nippon Ham, who run rings around Hanshin in terms of pure talent, are somehow over-achieving.

If I could make a suggestion, check out some other teams and it will add depth to your analysis. An example would be what Yakult has done with limited resources over the last couple of years and it is now paying off.

Again, with respect, the fact that you only watch one team reveals why you have such a blinkered negative view of the game.

I understand you are a newcomer to the game so I can only suggest that exposure to other games and teams would help your analysis. This is not a knock, just advice. I wish you all the best of luck with your blog in the future.

I think you are confusing things. Nippon Ham are an example of a team which is using its resources well as is(you mention) Yakult. Tigers are an example of a team which is not using their resources well. With players like Kanemoto, Arai, Fujikawa, Iwata, Kanoh, Hirano, Brazell, Toritani, Sekimoto this is not a talent starved team and remember they whipped Nippon Ham last year 3-1 in the Inter-league. The problem is the coaching - Nippon Ham didn't become a good team until Hillman reorganized them. Likewise Lotte - Valentine turned them into a championship team. Before then they were nowhere. Seibu went from being last to winning the Japan series in one year with the right coach. Softbank's last year was abysmal under Oh despite the talent they had. The only teams which you may be able to say is lacking in talent are Rakuten and Hiroshima. It is the direct inputs which matter ie: the coaches. This is Tigers current problem and a change in coaches and manager will produce a change in performance.

"Again, with respect, the fact that you only watch one team reveals why you have such a blinkered negative view of the game."- The Biz

What the hell are you talking about? You clearly misunderstood the point mate. Hanshin are underachieving, that is plain to see, and while its an academic argument until all teams perform to an "equal level" of their potential, I think many of us would argue that on paper (if nothing else this season), Hanshin's squad at least equals if not bests Yakults and/or Nippon Hams.

Also how do you know Christopher is a newcomer to the game? Being in Japan for 17 years doesn't make you an expert on Japanese baseball, and your patronising comments would be more appropriate if they were actually backed up by some salient points.

Wow I've been away from Japan for 18 months and have been listening to my father-in-law & brother-in-law bemoan the state of Hanshin this season but didn't realise how bad things were.

I thought that we couldn't drop any lower than life with Okada, an indecisive manager at best but it seems I've been proved wrong!

Still the fact remains, I can't wait to grab my green seat at Koshien next time I'm out and let the fusen fly!!

Go Tigers!!