May 3rd Shimoyanagi v Asakura - Shimoyanagi is disappointing

Firstly the news about Nohmi which is not good. Initially his injury was only considered to require a few days rest. However, now it seems it is a serious problem which will require two months recovery. Nohmi is not scheduled to reappear until July. This is not good.
Tigers just cannot win against Dragons at Nagoya. For some reason they have an inability to play. In the first match of the series they faced Asakura - hardly a major threat now but he pitched superbly and Tigers batters were stymied. Shimoyanagi couldn't escape his poor pitching this time and was overwhelmed by a weak but very competent offense. It makes one wonder how the Carp were actually able to take the last series against the Dragons. Scores

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

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Johjima (Catcher)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Katsuragi (Left)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ibata (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Matsui (Right)
7. Ohshima (Centre)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Asakura (Pitcher)

Asakura started well - in Tigers first he retired the batters in order. Shimoyanagi also had similar success with the batters easily out. In Tigers second Asakura dead balled Johjima but Brazell failed to attack and instead hit into a double play to end the innings. Shimoyanagi then abandoned good pitching. Blanco hit. Next was Wada who is an instinctive batter - this approach serves him very well but he's easy meat with a bit of thought. This was lacking in Shimoyanagi's pitching and Wada blasted his second pitch into right centre for a three base hit. Of course Blanco was able to make home on this 1-0 Dragons, runner on third. Matsui hit to centre to bring Wada home 2-0 Dragons runner on first. Oshima bunted Matsui to second but then Tanishige flew out. This did move Matsui round to third but with Asakura next the result was never in doubt and the innings was over. Once you are past Wada - Dragons have no one but it is incredibly difficult to get to that stage. Asakura showed he was vulnerable in Tigers third though. He started by walking Sakurai. Katsuragi hit to first and here the next batter Shimoyanagi needed to lay down a standard bunt to move the runners round to second and third. Shimoyanagi hit into a double play instead. If he can't pitch and can't bunt what can he do? Asakura then walked Murton to set up runners on first and second but Hirano struck out swinging to end the innings. Dragons third saw Araki walk. He made second on Ibata's ground out but got no further as the innings was scoreless.

Tigers fourth saw Johjima hit with two out but then Brazell failed to convert him. In Dragons fourth there was a lucky escape for Shimoyanagi. In his last start against the Carp he had left runners all over the place and he continued to do the same. Oshima hit and then Tanishige walked which brought up Asakura. This was planned but Shimoyanagi was so poor that it was a risky proposition. Anyway Asakura struck out to end the innings. Tigers fifth saw the batters fall in order but Shimoyanagi could no longer evade the final judgement. Araki led off Dragons fifth with a hit. Ibata grounded out moving Araki to second. Morino supplied the two base timely hit 3-0 Dragons, runner on second. Blanco flew out and then Wada was deliberately walked to get at Matsui who duly struck out with runners on first and second. In Tigers sixth Hirano produced at two base hit and moved round to third on Toritani's fly out. Dragons though have made quite a study of Tigers cleanup and Arai grounded out. Tigers do need to make more of their chances. Ohshima led off Dragons sixth with a hit. It is too soon to say what he will mature into but if he does become a good number six he will add much needed depth to the Dragons lineup. Tanishige bunted him to second and then Asakura hit to right bringing home the run 4-0 Dragons, runner on first and truely abysmal pitching from Shimoyanagi. He was pulled right after this and Watanabe took his place. He retired the next two batters to end the innings.

Once again Tigers wasted an opportunity in their seventh. Asakura had not pitched particularly impressively but had been allowed to get away with a lot. Johjima hit again and then Brazell hit his first pitch to centre and set up runners on first and second. Sakurai struck out looking and Ochiai switched pitchers bringing on Takahashi. He did well getting the next two outs Kanemoto (pinch hitter) and Kanoh (pinch hitter). Tigers had lost out on another chance. Tsutsui pitched Dragons seventh and was immediately in trouble. He gave up a leadoff two base to Morino. Blanco hit to centre and it was 5-0 Dragons runner on first. The runner stayed there but you did feel that Tsutsui could have done better and like the whole Tigers approach at Nagoya Dome this was a case of shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. Tigers eighth saw Takahashi dead ball Sekimoto (pinch hitter) a nice way of avoiding a rally inducing home run or hit. The final out was Arai who faced Hirai. Tsuru pitched Dragons eighth and one feels he will soon be starting given that Nohmi is now on the Disabled List. He retired the batters in order. Hirai continued into the Tigers ninth and gave up a hit to Brazell. Sakurai grounded out which brought up Hiyama and Ochiai brought in Iwase to get the final out. There was a sense that Dragons were desperate to win this game. Hiyama duly struck out looking. Dragons victory.

This had not been a good performance by Tigers who had wasted chances whilst Dragons had taken theirs. Given the paucity of Dragons batting Tigers really should have done better but then they don't play at the same level. Shimoyanagi does need to be moved down to the second team as he isn't going to get any better but one can see a further deterioration taking place.

Big shame about Nohmi, especially after how hard he has fought to become a solid member of the rotation. I always thought he would be in 2-gun for life, but the past couple seasons he has turned into one of our best pitchers, so a shame to see this happen, especially in the manner it happened. Who is taking his place in the rotation for now?

It is quite likely to be Tsuru who hopefully will be much better prepared than in 2008.