May 15th Messenger v Yoshimi - The little guys day

Mayumi juggled his lineup and whilst some of the changes made sense, some were just pure stupidity and just showed Mayumi's general lack of awareness. This was a great opportunity and so why was Kanemoto batting sixth with Brazell as seven and Johjima at eight, both batters hitting better and driving in more runs than Kanemoto. Come to think of it why was Kanemoto playing left at all - he cannot throw and is beginning to get embarrassing. This game saw Tigers win but their pitchers were throwing too high. Enokida was very impressive but even so Yoshimi who didn't pitch well for the Dragons was still quite good. I do like the one, two of Hirano and Shunsuke though. At last Tigers have some speed round the bases (not that Arai is slow). Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dragons  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0
Tigers   0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 X 3 7 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. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

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

A good start was something needed from Messenger who carried the whole of Tigers hopes on his shoulders after the poor performances in the previous two games. Messenger started well and struck out Araki looking - his outside pitches found the edge of the zone very nicely. Ibata hit but then Morino grounded out to Toritani (taking Araki to second). Toritani cut his middle finger in taking and throwing the ball and had to be replaced by Uemoto who is no No. 3 but would do quite well in the position this game. Wada was next and grounded out to Uemoto giving him his first test which he handled well. Hirano led off Tigers first with a hit to centre but was then forced out by Shunsuke. There then followed that the lineup shuffle hadn't dimmed Mayumi's general tactical ineptness. Uemoto was required to bunt which he managed but recorded the second out. Arai followed and all his hit choices were sound throuhout the game but he didn't have any luck at all. This time he flew out to centre to end the innings. Messenger allowed himself to pitch too high in Dragons second and started by giving up a two base hit to Blanco. Nomoto flew out to right - a very nice running catch by Murton who was all over the field and had a great game. Guzman walked - once again too many high pitches which brought up Tanishige. Messenger got himself into trouble with a 3-1 count and still couldn't keep the ball down. Tanishige hit into left where Kanemoto fielded. Here was a demonstration of the pointlessness of Kanemoto as a starting fielder - he couldn't throw far enough to represent a threat to Blanco rounding the bases. Any other left would have thrown to home and held up Blanco on third or had him tagged out going for the plate. Blanco was able to make home 1-0, runners on first and second and the stupidity of still using Kanemoto was exposed. He was a great player but is now finished and does need to retire before he becomes a real embarassment. Yoshimi then tried to add to the score but hit to Messenger who threw to third for the first out. By the time Yoshimi reached first the ball had gone from Arai to Brazell and the innings was over. Tigers second was quiet and Yoshimi was rather effective in retiring the batters in order - his best innings. Araki led off Dragons second with a hit and you had visions of Dragons running away with things. He was bunted to second by Ibata but then Morino struck out and Wada hit his first pitch to Uemoto who made a comfortable throw. Tigers third was also quiet with the final batter Hirano tryiing to hit over the top but not having the power, flying out. Hirano needs to keep most of his shots lower down.

Messenger had more troubles in Dragons fourth. He started by getting Blanco to ground out. Then he walked Nomoto which brought up Guzman. Part of the problem with Tigers pitchers is that they are often afraid to challenge the batters and we saw this perfectly illustrated as Guzman walked in four - runners on first and second. Tanishige flew out to right and of course the final batter being Yoshimi was an easy out - strike out looking to end the innings. So to Tigers fourth with Yoshimi having had an easy ride so far generating his own problems. Shunsuke drew a lead off walk and Uemoto managed to ground out but took Shunsuke to second. Arai walked to set up runners on first and second and then Murton hit into right. Guzman fielded the ball nicely but Shunsuke has speed and was home with ease 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Kanemoto grounded out forcing Murton out but moving Arai to third and Brazell drew a walk to load the bases. The scene was set for a bit of Johjima glory but the chump swung at his first pitch and flew out to right to end the innings.. Waiting might well have generated somehting more. Messenger had to work in the Dragons fifth but retired the batters in order safely. Tigers fifth started quietly, the lead off batter Lin (pinch hitting for Messenger) grounding out and Hirano flying out again. Then Shunsuke hit into right. With Uemoto at the plate he set off for second with Tanishige messing the throw up and being unable to even make it - runner on second. Uemoto then hit along the third baseline where a diving Morino missed the ball. Shunsuke motored home 2-1 Tigers, runner on second. If we are honest Uemoto's hit was basically a bit of luck - he swung and connected safely but it's nice for Tigers to get a bit of luck for a change. Arai then tried to hit to right but was unlucky and lined out to Blanco to end the innings. To protect the lead Mayumi sent his favourite, Enokida, to the mound. He faced Wada as lead off and was a bit too predictable so that as a result Wada hit to centre. Enokida then surprised everyone by taking on Blanco and striking him out with a nice inside pitch. He also was too high at times and Kubo had to signal him to lower his pitches but the strike out gave him confidence. Next was Nomoto who hit straight to short for the double play to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet with Yoshimi retiring the batters in order.

Mayumi decided that Enokida deserved another innings and the youngster responded striking out all three batters including Tanishige completely fooled by a 141 kmh straight. Yoshimi returned for Tigers seventh and gave up a two out hit to Hirano but Shunsuke struck out swinging to end the innings. Kobayashi pitched Dragons eighth and was just as shaky as ever. Two outs went down comfortably but then Morino swung to right. The ball just missed being a home run - as I mentioned, it is nice to see Tigers getting some luck. Murton made sure that Morino only made second but a mound conference followed and it was decided to deliberately walk Wada to get at Blanco. Blanco fouled and fouled and then hit deep to centre. Everyone's heart was in their mouth but Shibata (replacement centre) was comfortably under it and took the catch to end the innings and the chance. Surprisingly, Yoshimi returned for Tigers eighth - he must have been tired. He faced Uemoto who hit a nice two base to left centre. Arai grounded out to second trying to hit right but took Uemoto to third. Then Murton drove a slider into centre and Uemoto was home 3-1 Tigers runner on first. This was the end of Yoshimi who hadn't really been in control of things at all. He was replaced by Kobayashi who should have started the eighth anyway. He induced Shibata to strike out and then got Brazell to ground out and end the innings. Dragons ninth and Fujikawa. He also suffered from the Tigers disease of pitching too high but started by striking out Nomoto looking with a superb straight. Guzman also succumbed to a straight ball swinging and missing. Tanishige hit to centre, more by luck than anything else his hit just evading Kyuji's glove. Donue (pinch hitter) tried to hit Kyuji's fork and didn't have the skill flying out to Uemoto to end the innings. Tigers victory.

Tigers had taken the consolation victory and the new lineup had performed well. However, it is too soon to say whether this lineup will prosper. Messenger picked up the win and Uemoto and Shunsuke the hero interview. Kanemoto does need to go and the talk is of using him as DH in the upcoming inter league matches. As long as he bats eight this is OK but having him bat six is over-rating him. Tigers still have a lot of work to do. Sakai-owner after the Friday game talked along the lines of why do I have to watch this? Mayumi talked about things slowly coming together but hang on this was supposed to have been sorted out at the beginning of the season. What were the coaching team doing?

A horrible weekend of baseball, but at least we somewhat salvaged things with a good victory today. Messenger hasn't got much run support, so good to see him get a well-deserved win out of this game.

How serious is the Toritani injury? I wonder if him not playing had some effect on the line-up changes? Although it somewhat paid off, it'll be interesting to see what Bakayumi does from Tuesday when koryu-sen starts. This will give even more chances for Kanemoto to play, but at least he will most likely just be the DH and that will hopefully give Lin more chances to prove his worth. I was also dismayed that Brazell was moved down but Kanemoto wasn't. I do kind of like the idea of Hirano leading off. Before he seemed like a typical #2 hitter counted on to bunt, but the way he has been hitting I think he deserves a more important role in the line up. Murton responded with a good game today and I still would like to see him batting somewhere besides lead off. I seem to remember him not hitting well with runners on base, but I think if he is consistently batting 3rd of 5th like today he will improve. I think he's too much of a free swinger to bat lead off and somewhere where he can use his power more will be beneficial. Hirano could work out well leading off, as he's a pesky batter that will help the team see a lot of pitches from the beginning, which is one role of a lead off batter. Although I do have some praise for Mayumi's shake up, of course I'm waiting for him to do something stupid on Tuesday and quickly lose my praise!

"I wonder if him not playing had some effect on the line-up changes?"

He did play! He injured himself in the first inning, so the shuffle must be unrelated.

I actually like the top half of the new line-up for the reasons you mentioned. I remember reading somewhere that Murton had been pretty good with runners on, though that was last summer, so maybe his performance dropped off in the second half of last season. 3 or 5 is fine with me.

The bottom half is utterly clueless. Do you think they printed all the teamsheets at the start of the season with Kanemoto's name already written in at number 6? He has fewer than half the number of RBIs that Brazell and Johjima do, and now the hitter with the most home runs this season is playing at number 8.

I genuinely thing Mayumi doesn't understand baseball. I saw a poll on Sanspo a few days ago that indicated that most Tigers fans seem to think the same, with Kanemoto being the number one problem. It's not just us!

He did play! He injured himself in the first inning, so the shuffle must be unrelated.

Oops, sorry I missed that. I was just following the game on my cell phone on the train, so I assumed the line-up was from the beginning.

An update on Toritani - he has apparently split the nail of his right index finger but there is no bone damage. He may not start the inter league matches though whilst the finger heals.

A shame about Toritani. He was struggling a bit like many of our players and this will delay his getting on track. One positive is that Uemoto is a pretty highly-touted prospect, so it will be a good chance for him to get some playing time.

Maybe Mayumi is just pulling an old Billy Martin. One of his tricks was to put all the players names on pieces of paper and then draw them randomly from a hat. He may have been crazy, but he did get results throughout his career. I'll be at Kyocera Dome tomorrow for the start of inter-league and I dread seeing what Bakayumi has in store.