May 14th Kubo v Chen - More wasted opportunities

More totally strange decisions and a poor performance against a struggling pitcher. Tigers really do need a change of management. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

I actually prefer this lineup with Johjima at six and Kanemoto out of the picture. Of course, Mayumi would mess it up with some rather strange decisions later in the game but more of these later. Kubo started the game much more effectively than Nohmi the night before retiring the batters in order. Chen did the same and the action moved to the Dragons second. Here we saw Blanco get a lucky impact and drive the ball over the fence for a solo home run 1-0 Dragons. No one else did anything though. Arai led off Tigers second with a hit but Brazell struck out swinging. Then Johjima hit into a double play to end the innings. The first two Dragons, Tanishige and Chen struck out swinging in the thrid but then Araki hit to right. Ibata hit to left and Dragons had runners on first and second. However, Morino hit nicely to HIrano to end the innings. So far Kubo had done quite well. Lin started Tigers third very nicely with a two base hit. This is normally a very good chance but Tigers contrived to blow it. Shunsuke flew out to short and Kubo lined out to second. Murton walked but HIrano couldn't do anything and flew out to left. He would try to work the ball to left all day but without much success.

Wada led off the Dragons fourth with a hit but then stayed on first as no one could move him any further. Tigers fourth was quiet. Dragons fifth was also quiet with no one being able to get on base. Tigers fifth followed the same pattern and we seemed to be settling into a typical soul draining Dragons performance. Things were slightly more exciting in Dragons sixth though. With one out, Morino drew a walk and then Wada also walked - danger threatened. Blanco took a swing and flew out to first and then Nomoto struck out swinging to end the innings. Chen also had problems in Tigers sixth. With two out Hirano hit to right and then Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second. Arai hit along the first baseline and Blanco was able to take the ball before it hit the ground for the final out.

Here we see the difference between the managers. Kubo had struggled in the sixth and had thrown 99 pitches. He has given indications that he doesn't have the stamina of the previous season and shouldn't have pitched the Dragons seventh. Instead Bakayumi did just that. Guzman was lead off and walked with Kubo being unable to locate. Tanishige bunted him to second - another Ochiai yawn. Then Donue (pinch hitter) a non-batter hit into right centre for a two base hit bringing home Guzman 2-0 runner on second. This should have been a warning sign but instead Kubo was allowed to continue. Araki hit his first pitch straight to Toritani who screwed up badly. This was ruled a short hit but was a Toritani error - runners on first and second. Then Ibata hit to right but Guzman didn't chance the run for home - bases loaded. Finally, Mayumi acted and replaced the tired Kubo. How does he expect his pitchers to be able to pitch late season if he insists on over-pitching them early season? Kubo had thrown 120 pitches of which the last 21 were unnecessary and Mayumi's stupidity had blown the second game. The unlucky replacement was Enokida who immediately threw a wild pitch 3-0 Dragons runners on second and third. Morino struck out but then Enokida walked Wada to load the bases again. However, Blanco also struck out to end the innings swinging at a low cutball. Maybe Johjima learned something from the previous night. Ochiai didn't pitch Chen in the Tigers seventh - he was much wiser than Mayumi. However, his pitchers ran into trouble anyway. Mise started the innings and gave up a hit to Brazell. Johjima flew out but then things get weird. LIn was pinch hit for by Sekimoto who drew a walk. Why was Sekimoto used as a pinch hitter for Lin who had hit a two base earlier in the innings? Shibata pinch ran for Sekimoto. Shunsuke hit to right to load the bases but the runners didn't test Guzman's arm again. Once bitten, twice shy. Then we had a more logical pinch hitter, Ryota Arai who is rapidly becoming a popular addition to the side. He hit nicely to left bisecting third and short for a two run timely 3-2 Dragons, runners on first and second. This was the end of Mise who exited to 'Auld Lang Syne' to be replaced by Kawahara. He got Murton to fly out and was then replaced by Kobayashi. There then followed a fascinating battle with Hirano who tried to work the ball left, aiming to lift it high enough for the wind to catch it and drift it over the fence for a home run. This didn't come off and Hirano struck out trying to drive an inside pitch to right to end the innings. Dragons eighth was pitched by Watanabe. He persuaded Ohshima (replacement centre) to ground out but then left one in the zone for Guzman to hit. The home run that followed was enormous - but a devastating blow 4-2 Dragons. Tanishige tried to follow suit but flew out to left - his luck wasn't in this time. Asao took Tigers eighth and saw Arai drive him nicely to centre. Then he faced Brazell who was much more cautious this time but Asao still won striking Brazell out with an inside fork. Johjima's strike out to end the innings was just pathetic - he needs to bat more intelligently. For Dragons ninth Mayumi chose Fukuhara who got both Araki and Ibata to fly out to right before walking Morino. To be honest, Fukuhara's pitching this innings wasn't particularly impressive at all. However, Wada was induced to ground out to short to end the innings. Iwase took the mound for Tigers ninth and struck out Okazaki (pinch hitter). Why Okazaki was pinch hitting for Shibata is one of those mysteries. It seems to be a pointless Mayumi change - leaving Shibata in would have been more logical. Shunsuke grounded out which meant another pinch hitter - the superlative Hiyama. He walloped a 138 kmh slider over the right field fence showing other Tigers batters how it should be done for a solo home run 4-3 Dragons. Murton followed but lined out to short to end the innings. Dragons victory.

Tigers had lost the series and looked very amateur in doing so. Dragons were better prepared and much more able to take their chances. However, Dragons are strange, the hero interview went to Chen. How this can realistically be considered escapes me. He only pitched six innings and wasn't particularly wonderful, certainly well below level of Nelson the night before. Guzman should have been awarded the hero interview for his performance over the two games and his huge match winning home run in the eighth. For Tigers, Hiyama has now overtaken Mayumi in the Tigers pinch hit home run list. Tigers are not firing and I cannot see them doing so until Mayumi and his coaching team are laid face down with stakes at the nearest crossroad through their hearts so that they cannot rise again and bother Tigers fans.

Just this morning I've been reading about different pitching patterns, and radical ways of restricting pitch counts, working starters in tandems, the concept of an 'opener'... and Mayumi can't even count to 100.

I find it genuinely astonishing that an organisation with so much money and prestige and so many fans employs a coach who literally doesn't understand baseball. Fans in every sport often say 'I could do a better job'... but this is one case when I think a fan really could do a better job.

Japanese baseball is very, very conservative and new ideas take a long time to penetrate. The Hanshin higher ups believe that old boys can manage teams given a good team of back up coaches. This doesn't quite work because they select anyone no matter what their management experience. Not all baseball players have the ability to convert to management but Hanshin cannot identify which ones do.