September 18th Nohmi v Imai - Nohmi is lazy

The alternative title for this entry was 'Brown almost blows it' but more on his stupidity later. Carp benefited from a very lazy start by Nohmi whose pitching was substandard for the first three innings. Once he lifted his game (too late of course) he was unhittable and it is significant that the Carp could only generate one hit in the six innings after the third. So they had a narrow window of opportunity and they made the most of it, though Arai's mistake in the third was also significant. Some inept batting by Tigers did doom their cause but this is not significantly serious as Swallows went down to the Giants and Carp are still 1.5 games behind. Scores

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

Starting lineups

1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Phillips (Third)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Hirose (Left)
6. Amaya (Right)
7. Kokubo (Short)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Imai (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Asai (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sekimoto (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Nohim's start was OK. He gave up a lead off hit to Higashide but then retiredt he next two batters. Higashide then decided to take matters in hand himself and stole second. However, Kurihara grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers first innings was quiet as no one got on base. Nohmi then showed signs of not being on the ball. He gave up a hit to Amaya and followed that with a two base hit to Kokubo hit driving in Amaya 1-0 Carp. The next two batters were out but the situation wasn't too bad. Carp's lead lasted only as long as the Tigers second. Kanemoto led off the innings with a powerfully struck straight home run 1-1 scores tied. With one out Sekimoto then hit to third and beat the throw. Sakaurai had a two base hit which set up runners on second and third. Kanoh pulled one to left and Sekimoto was home 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and third. Nohmi struck out as did Asai and the innings was over. Carp's third was where Nohmi was really dreadful. He started with a lead off hit to Higashide again. Akamatsu bunted him to second and then Phillips walked as Nohmi insisted on pitching too low. Kurihara struck out and Kubo came out to talk to Nohmi. His comments were not pleasant but this didn't shake Nohmi out of his lasitude and he walked Hirose to load the bases (this was Hirose's only real contribution to the game and he looked totally out of his depth). Nohmi then let go a wild pitch which got under Kanoh and brought the runner on third home 2-2 scores tied, runners on first and second. Next batter Amaya who swung at one which went up into foul ground and Arai got under it. He dropped the catch which would cost the Tigers dear. Somehow this error did not make it to the record but error it was and serious. Amaya then hit into the right centre sweet spot and brought in two more runners 4-2 Carp, runner on third. Kokubo was next and he hit to left to drive in Amaya 5-2 Carp. Finally, Kura grounded out to end the innings with a nice lead for the Carp. Tigers third saw Toritani hit but he then tried to steal second as Kanemoto struck out and was thrown out to end the innings.

Nohmi woke up in the Carp's fourth retiring the batters in order. This is what he should have done in the previous innings and it was rather a case of shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. In Tigers fourth Sakurai hit but nothing came of it and the Carp's lead remained intact. Nohmi then again retired the batters in order in Carp's fifth but you could tell the management were not happy with him and this would be his last innings. In fact if Kanoh had not struck out in the Tigers fourth Nohmi would have been replaced with a pinch hitter and would not have pitched the fifth. Tigers fifth saw Asai hit with one out but then Hirano hit into a double play and the innings was scoreless. Sajikihara replaced Nohmi for the Carp's sixth and retired the batters in order. Which took us to Tigers sixth and Brown's piece of idiocy. Imai returned and why not - he was in control and had mastered the Tigers batting. He walked Toritani but then got Kanemoto to fly out to third with a nice piece of pitching. Here Brown (who looks fat and tired) decided to replace Imai. One has to ask why? Certainly there was a runner on first but it was unlikely that he would be able to advance and Imai was comfortable and had only thrown 71 pitches. Anyway he chose Hayato Aoki who got Arai to fly out but then served up a nice fat pitch to Sekimoto who put it over the left stand fence for a two run home run 5-4 Carp. Sakurai hit to left and Brown hurredly brought on Yokoyama. Carp were stunned and Imai looked furious. Kura was also replaced by Ishihara and this combination worked nicely getting Kanoh to strike out and end the innings but things were now very close.

Sajikihara returned for Carp's seventh and walked Higashide. He stole second with two out but Phillip's flew out to centre and the innings was scoreless. In Tigers seventh, Hirano hit but nothing came of this. Carp's eighth was pitched by Atchison, a sign Mayumi considered the match winnable and he motored through the three batters he faced. For Tigers eighth Brown went with Schultz who also had no trouble retiring the batters in order. Here Mayumi chose Kanemura in the ninth and he started with a lead off hit to Kokubo. He got the next two outs and then was replaced by Tsutsui who got Higashide to ground out to second. Nagakawa pitched Tigers ninth and produced an entertaining if unusual innings. He used a ladder technique to dispose of Sakurai whose first ball was too high. The second was lower but still too high. The third was also too high but Sakurai swung at it. The next one was lower and fouled and the final one was in the dirt but Sakurai also swung at this and was out. Nagakawa's next two strike outs involved a lot of wild pitching but enough to get the batters to swing though Hiyama (pinch hitter) did try and run to first but didn't make it. Carp victory.

If Nohmi had been pitching well in the first three innings Carp would have not had any runs. They had taken their chances well but are a pure B class side lacking talent and players. Brown has done what he can with the material at his disposal but really for the Carp to be anything above their own level they need to open the purse strings. They rely too much on other teams mistakes and have no play makers. It was nice to see Kanemoto hit a solo home run but he didn't hit with runners on and this is more important. Brown had almost blown the victory but had been rescued by his team and by some inept batting by the Tigers who failed to exploit their advantages sufficiently. To win games it is not enough to be the better team but to play like you are the better team. Nohmi had forgotten this and Tigers had also adopted the same attitude.

I'll give Nohmi a break here, as he has been our best starter during the hot streak.
Arai's mistake really did affect the game. I was at the game and the ball was hit a mile and it was a bit windy, but a professional ball player needs to make that catch. I was really excited when we picked up Arai last year, but he must be considered a bust so far.

Given the importance of the game I'm afraid we can't really give Nohmi a free ride here. He was abysmal for three innings and the fact that his fourth and fifth were so good is just rubbing salt into the wounds. I agree that Arai's mistake was dreadful and fully matched Imaoka in all his glory. One cannot imagine Kataoka making such a mistake.