July 4th Fossum v Tohno - Fossum's last game

Fossum was finally dispatched to ni-gun after this outing. It may be that he matures into a good pitcher able to strike fear into opposition batters but what is clear is that he is not at that stage now. In fact, it has been clear for quite a few games that he is not first team material. As batters and coaches have seen more of him they have been able to figure out his pitches and hit him hard. This should have been apparent to Tigers management in May and the perseverance shown was far too indulgent especially given the treatment of Uezono. The good news is that with Andoh's struggles Uezono is going to be given another chance as a starter and all one can say is it's about time. However, rest assured that this is because the coaches have no one else and not because they value him. Giants could have been expected to win this game on the bounce back but Fossum made sure that they would. Tigers batting was poor - 2 runs on 11 hits was not adequate. We also saw Komiyama at catcher - when will Tigers restore Kanoh to the position? We have a talented catcher being converted into a outfielder because the team manager is an idiot who cannot see beyond his own nose. Komiyama is not good enough to be second catcher and Yano is past it - what is difficult to understand about the situation? Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0  2 11 1
Giants  1 3 3 0 1 0 1 1 X 10 16 1

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Chono (Right)
7. Takahashi (First)
8. Edgar (Second)
9. Tohno (Pitcher)

This was one of those must win games for the Giants - the previous series at Tokyo Dome had seen a Tigers sweep and to have this happen twice would have been too humiliating. Tigers though started nicely with Toritani hitting to right. He was bunted to second by Hirano but Murton flew out to centre. It did move Toritani to third however Arai did the same as Murton and the innings was over. Fossum started his poor outing with a dead ball of Sakamoto. This was not the start Tigers wanted especially as Matsumoto hit to right to set up runners on the corners. Ogasawara hit a deep sacrifice fly to centre and Sakamoto was home 1-0 Giants runner on first. This sacrifice fly and Tigers tactics in their first showed that both teams expected a close game. Ramirez followed and managed to hit into a double play and end the innings. Brazell led off Tigers second with a centre hit. Two outs later Asai also hit to centre but the next batter was Fossum who hit his first pitch straight down Matsumoto's throat to end the innings. Fossum faced Abe to start Giants second and with the count full gave up a solo home run 2-0 Giants. Chono hit which brought up Takahashi. He slammed the ball to right - over the fence for another home run 4-0 Giants. Things looked bad but Tigers had overturned such a margin before. Edgar struck out but Tohno hit to centre - poor pitching by Fossum. Matsumoto hit to right but Fossum was spared any further embarrassment in the innings when Ogasawara flew out to end it. Tigers third was quiet as Toritani, Hirano annd Murton fell in order. Ramirez led off Giants third with a hit - not good. Then Abe hit as well. Chono flew out to right taking Ramirez to third and once again Fossum faced Takahashi. Once again the result was a home run - a three run this time 7-0 Giants; this scoreline would be more difficult to come back from. Mayumi acted and Fossum had pitched his last in the first team for the time. After the game he was dispatched to ni-gun. Uezono took over and got the final two outs but Giants were now in a match winning position.

Tigers fourth was quiet as the rather depressed Tigers batters lined up to be out. Happily the Giants fourth was also quiet as Uezono demonstrated better control of the ball than Fossum. In Tigers fifth Uezono hit but Toritani failed to take advantage of this gift grounding out to first to end the innings. Uezono stumbled slightly in Giants fifth giving up a solo home run to Ramirez 8-0 Giants but then showed the difference between him and Fossum by not giving up any more runs. He did give up a two out hit to Takahashi but struck Edgar out in fine style to end the innings. Tohno got himself into a mess in Tigers sixth. Hirano led off with a hit to left. Arai hit a grounder to first which Giants threw away and Tigers had runners on first and third. Brazell hit to right 8-1 Giants, runners on first and third. Johjima grounded out to first forcing out Brazell but Arai was safely home 8-2 Giants, runner on first as the double play didn't come off. Lin hit a nice two base to right and Tigers had runners on second and third. Asai walked to load the bases as by now Tohno was in a bit of a funk. Hara, remembering Gonzalez's seventh of two nights before went to his bullpen and Yamaguchi took the mound. Mayumi, of course, sent a pinch hitter to face him - this was Kanemoto who grounded out to first to end the innings. Tigers needed to have made more of that innings to have any chance of winning. Having been pinch hit for Uezono needed replacing and Mayumi chose Watanabe. He gave up a hit to Sakamoto and then one to Matsumoto - runners on first and second. Ogasawara hit to left and Sakamoto went for home only to be tagged out at the plate - very satisfactory. Ramirez then popped one up to Watanabe to end the innings.

Tigers started their seventh well. Consecutive hits to Toritani and HIrano put runners on first and second. Murton ballsed this one up by hitting his first pitch to Ogasawara for a double play but moving Toritani round to third. Arai struck out swinging for the final out. It just wasn't Tigers night. Fujihara pitched Giants seventh but wasn't able to control things. He surrendered a lead off hit to Abe and then let fly a wild pitch which took the Giants catcher to second. Chono hit a nice two base which brought Abe home 9-2 Giants, runner on second and no outs. Here Fujihara woke up and got Takahashi to ground out which moved Chono round to third. A sacrifice fly was on but Tani (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and then Furuki also struck out swinging and the innings was over. Kubo replaced Yamaguchi for Tigers eighth and struck out Brazell. Johjima hit but Lin struck out and then Asai hit. Once again Tigers had runners on first and second and once again they failed to execute, this time the culprit being Hiyama who grounded out to Kubo for the final out. Wakatake then pitched his first full innings for Tigers. Sakamoto hit to Hirano who made a dogs dinner of it and Sakamoto reached second. Matsumoto banged a two base to left 10-2 Giants, runner on second. Wakatake then retired the Giants cleanup in order which shows considerable potential. Fukuda took Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order - game over. Giants victory.

A comprehensive and complete victory for the Giants who had dominated. Tigers batters hadn't been able to get going and had been well beaten. The puzzling aspect of this game was why Fossum was still starting. There was ample evidence that he wasn't a first team pitcher but he was still persisted with. Probably, no one wanted to admit that he wasn't ready but his pitching certainly required heroics from the batters to get him out of the holes he had dug. Still even though the final game was disappointing Tigers had taken the series once again and continue to dominate the Giants.

Too bad the way things worked out for Fossum. He's really had a rollercoaster ride here. Immediately sent to ni-gun, then got off to a really hot start, but since then has been pretty dismal. Glad to see Uezono gets the shot he deserves. Don't know why they always feel like they need to fill the rotation with a couple foreign starters when they really should be focused on bringing up some of the young Japanese pitchers.

It always baffles me why the foreign players seem to get special treatment. When the Japanese players make mistakes, they're "punished" quite swiftly while the foreign players seem to be given chance after chance and chance. It was obvious that Fossum needed to go quite a while before he was finally demoted.

Admittedly, this is my first season as a Tigers fan, so I'm not sure if this is a usual trend, but it has been frustrating to see.

Replying to the comment by Guest, I imagine a lot of it has to do with money. A foreign import will most likely be making a much higher salary than a young Japanese player, so I guess the team feels like they have to try to make the most of their investment. It might make sense business wise, but it's definitely not the best way to manage a baseball team.