June 5th Kubo v Kaneko - Humiliation

Tigers after their hard fought loss the day before were dismal. After a bad start they went from bad to worse and were totally embarassing against a team that really didn't look very impressive either. Mayumi was on top form making imbecilic decision after imbecilic decision. He replaced Kubo with Kojima and Kojima was terrible. He used Kubota with 10 runs down - you do not use one of your elite in that situation. He replaced Johjima with Fujii and the difference in class was immediately apparent. Fujii was pathetic but he is a Mayumi crony and so quality is not an issue. His choice of relief pitchers is ridiculous, neither Kojima nor Wakatake should be pitching in the first team. Okada of course despite being only average is a far more astute manager than Mayumi and had a rather pleasant afternoon. Maybe this game a nail in Mayumi's coffin. Scores

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Buffaloes  5 2 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 14 17 0
Tigers     2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  3  6 3

Starting lineups
Buffaloes
1. Sakaguchi (Centre)
2. Taguchi (Right)
3. Gotoh (Second)
4. Okada (Left)
5. Baldriss (Third)
6. Lee Seong Yeop (First)
7. Ohbiki (Short)
8. Suzuki (Catcher)
9. Kaneko (Pitcher)

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

A dismal start for the Tigers rapidly got worse. Kubo was very out of sorts and pitched appallingly. Sakaguchi led off by hitting his second pitch to centre. Then Taguchi hit to right - runners on first and second. Gotoh flew out to left but Sakaguchi took third anyway knowing that it was safe to chance Kanemoto's arm. Next was Okada who hammered a 143 kmh straight into the centre stand for a three run home run 3-0 Buffaloes. Baldriss who has put on quite a bit of weight since his Tigers days took a dead ball then Lee hit to centre. Ohbiki walked to load the bases and Kubo was in trouble again. Suzuki hit to left over short for a timely single 4-0 Buffaloes, bases loaded. Then Kaneko took a swing at the ball and hit weakly infield. Kubo fielded but his throw to Johjima was very poor and Johjima was pulled off the home plate - Okada was home safely 5-0 Buffaloes bases loaded. Sakaguchi grounded out to third forcing out the runner going for home - Arai's throw being spot on. Finally, Taguchi flew out to right but the game was already in the bag for the Buffaloes. Tigers response was quite bright until the second base umpire took a hand. Murton led off with a hit. HIrano stroked one to third past the slow Baldriss. Then Toritani went the same way bases loaded no outs. Here Iizuka - the second base umpire took a hand. Arai hit to short and Ohbiki threw to Gotoh who didn't have his foot on the sack when he took the ball. Never mind that inconvenience to the short sighted Iizuka Toritani was out. Murton was home though 5-1 Buffaloes, runners on first and third, Arai having made first. Next was Brazell who also hit to short. This time Gotoh didn't have his feet anywhere near the sack and dropped the ball without touching base - Arai was still ruled out. Timeservers like Iizuka give Japanese umpiring a bad name, no wonder the umpires are held in contempt. Twice he had been on the spot and made complacent lazy decisions. Arai rightly looked very aggreived but didn't protest. Hirano was home 5-2 Buffaloes runner on first. Mayumi really should have protested this call but he stayed in his dugout looking miserable. Kanemoto followed and he flew out to Suzuki who almost dropped the catch but managed to hold onto it. End of innings but Iizuka's role had been far to significant. Kubo returned for Buffaloes second which was an indication of Mayumi's stupidity - if he had pitched so badly in the first why would he suddenly improve? He didn't with Gotoh leading off with a hit to right. Then Okada hit deep into right where Murton picked up and dropped the ball - Gotoh went round the bases for another run 6-2 Buffaloes with Okada on third. This finally convinced Mayumi that he had better switch pitchers. Now the obvious choice here would have been Fukuhara. He can pitch deep and as a starter has an excellent record against Buffaloes. In fact the only team he's good against is the Buffaloes. Instead we had Kojima - totally inappropriate. He started as he has done in the past by missing the strike zone and walked Baldriss - not exactly a diffcult out. The only reason Baldriss plays for Orix is because Okada (coach) has a soft spot for him, it certainly isn't because he's an excellent ball player. Runners on first and third. Lee struck out looking for the first out. Then Ohbiki after this hard work received a nicely hittable slider which was put safely into right field. Okada was home 7-2 Buffaloes, runners on first and second. Suzuki flew out to Brazell and then Kaneko struck out looking though it took Kojima more pitches than necessary - he really was dismal. Tigers second was quiet and all three batters grounded out. Kojima was back for Buffaloes third, a recipe for disaster if ever there was one. He really is not first team material and needs to be replaced. He walked Sakaguchi to lead off the innings. Taguchi grounded out to short where things went wrong. The throw to HIrano was good but Sakaguchi was safe. Hirano's throw to first was too high and Brazell had to come off base to take it and try to tag Taguchi as he went past. He missed of course but truely Tigers were a shambles. Gotoh struck out swinging and Okada grounded out to short which did take Sakauchi to third forcing out Taguchi. Baldriss walked again to load the bass and then Lee hit beautifully into centre bringing in two runners 9-2 Buffaloes, runners on first and third. Finally, Ohbiki grouded out to end the innings. Tigers third saw Hirano walk but nothing came of this. Kaneko was not exactly pitching superbly - certianly nowhere near Sugiuchi the day before but Tigers batters had given up.

So Kojima having given up four runs (OK one has to be allocated to Kubo) was also used in the Buffaloes fourth. Mayumi really didn't have a clue and was so passive one wonders what was going on in his mind, if indeed it was even active. Suzuki led off the innings with a nice two base hit. It was instructive that Kanemoto was not allowed to field it but Shibata who has a better throw. Kaneko bunted him to third and then Sakaguchi struck out Taguchi though hit nicely into right. The runner was home 10-2 Buffaloes, runner on second. Gotoh grounded out to first and the innings was over. Tigers fourth was also quiet with the batters falling in order. Mayumi finally stirred himself and made some changes and one had to ask what had he been smoking? He brought Kubota on - one of his star relievers to be employed in this kind of situation. This is really a waste of talent. Then he replaced Johjima with that waste of space Fujii. Kubota did well basically by ignoring Fujii totally. He would reject a couple of Fujii's calls, nod to the third and then throw what he wanted. He treated the whole situation with contempt and actually threw deliberate balls just to worry Mayumi. He was in short brilliant striking out three in the fifth and showing a level of class far above anything else seen in the game yet. Shibata led off Tigers fifth working a hit to left which he turned into a three base as Okada bounced off various walls trying to take the ball. Fujii was next (batting nine) and was pathetic striking out in three and looking totally useless. Murton showed better sense and belted the ball deep to centre for a sacrifice fly but this was still too little 10-3 Buffaloes. Hirano grounded out to second. Back came Kubota for Buffaloes sixth and once again the pattern was the same - ignore Fujii and throw what he wanted - three more strike outs. A note to Mayumi, you do not use your best relievers in this kind of situation - remember that next time. Tigers sixth saw Toritani start with a walk. Then Arai did one of his careless strikeouts swinging at everything. Brazell hit to centre - runners on first and second but Kanemoto and Lin (pinch hitter) both struck out to end the innings.

After the two innings of brilliance we got to see Fujii with an ordinary pitcher Wakatake and Fujji was abysmal. Wakatake actually followed his calls - sorry this guy could not even hold the first catcher's place in Rakuten - what is he doing catching for the Tigers? Buffaloes seventh: Sakaguchi led off with a hit - it was so easy. Then Gotoh hit to left to set up runners on first and second. Okada grounded out to Wakatake taking the runners to second and third. Fujii continued to call rubbish, Wakatake continued to throw it. Baldriss hit into right field bringing both runners home 12-3 Buffaloes, runner on first. Finally Lee flew out to centre. Okada replaced Kaneko for Tigers seventh. He wasn't going to risk his victory even though the side was out of sight. Note this as well Mayumi - not overpitching the pitchers. Kondoh took the mound and one could see that he wasn't exactly a top rank pitcher. Orix's talent pool is very shallow. He gave up a two out hit to Murton but Hirano managed to ground out to third. With the Wakatake/Fujii combination continuing into the Buffaloes eighth more runs were sure to follow and they did. Ohbiki walked on a full count. One out later Moriyama (replacement left) hit to left to set up runners on first and second. Sakaguchi hit into right centre to bring home both runners and as Murton fell over taking the ball he was able to make third 14-3 Buffaloes, runner on third. Wakatake then struck out the next two batters but this was rather poor exchange. Saitoh took over as catcher for the Buffaloes which was nice for him. Kondoh started Tigers eighth by walking Toritani. Arai struck out again but then Brazell also walked - Tigers had a chance. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) went right and flew out which took Toritani to third and then Lin flew out to short. He looked in another foul mood. Finally, we saw Fukuhara for Buffaloes ninth. The pitcher who should have come on in the second was coming on with the game almost over. Okada (who had moved over to first) hit to centre to lead off the innings. However, Baldriss flew out to short, Hessman (pinch hitter) struck out looking and the latter looked totally out of his depth. Then Ohbiki grounded out to second. Tigers ninth was pitched by Kamoshida. He basically retired the batters in order - we saw Kurose make his first appearance in the top team as a pinch hitter and it was totally unmemorable. Buffaloes victory.

The only gem Tigers can take from this sorry debacle was Kubota's pitching. Mayumi's mismanagement of the game was truely cringeworthy. How this fool can continue to manage a talented team escapes me. His use of Fujii as a catcher is so incredible it takes ones breath away. His choice of relief pitcher has no relation to match condition and his management skills are zero. We saw Tigers as they were in the 1990s, inept, demotivated, managed by morons and totally outplayed by the opposition. Kaneko's first start hadn't been particularly good but he had still been comfortable. Buffaloes batters had feasted on poor pitching but the thing is Tigers have better relief pitchers than they are using now. Mayumi is playing favourites and not using his best players. It shows in the teams performance and once again one has to say this. He and his whole coaching team must go and be replaced by competent managers.

I had the misfortune to watch most of this game on TV this afternoon. The Tigers truly were apathetic, an obvious result of the (mis)management they have been getting. Even my wife noticed- she said, "they don't look like a team". When so many talented players make it plain that they do NOT want to play for a manager, there is really no choice- the manager has to go.

Having said that, who are the alternatives? If we look deep into the remaining OB Tigers, we can see.... Yano perhaps. Hell, have Kanemoto take over as a player/manager, and pinch-hit occasionally. Or, heaven forbid, the organization could look outside for talent.

I thought this season was going to be difficult even before it began. The lack of interest the Tigers showed in any quality free agents (Uchikawa, for example) was a worrying sign that this would be a substandard year.

I honestly didn't mind the choice of pitchers in this one. Kojima's the correct choice for long relief, and Kubota has been so horrible this year that it's exactly this kind of situation in which you want to give him the chance to show that he's still got it. I'd hate hate hate even more if Mayumi tried to trot him out to protect a one-run lead. I know you like Kubota, Chris, but calling him an "elite" pitcher this season is ludicrous. His ERA yesterday was over 6.

This is where I would disagree - Kojima has been poor of late and has tended to miss the zone particularly at the start of his spells. I have yet to see much evidence that Kojima is a first team pitcher. As I mentioned I thought Fukuhara was the proper choice for this situation - and I never thought I would say that! We had Kojima give up four runs and then Wakatake give up four runs. I don't think we can say that the choice of relief was correct in this case.

Kubota has been flakey it's true but he is still an elite pitcher. His pitching yesterday showed this - he was the only Tigers pitcher to master the opposition. I also don't put too much emphasis on ERA which can be inflated by bad luck especially for relief pitchers. One could equally say that Kyuji is not a elite pitcher because he has blown a Climax Series and a championship. Or that Kobayashi is not an elite pitcher because he can't settle down. No all these guys are top quality but because Mayumi doesn't know how to use his pitching they struggle. One wants to be able to rely on a fit Kubota late season, as Tigers were able to do last season. This can't happen if he has been over-pitched on unimportant games early in the season.

Ha ha ha Kubota elite?!? Yeah a real household name. You use yesterdays game as the only example to support your weak argument when it was already a forgone conclusion yet ignore all the runs he's given up in games that were still on the line. Then you compare his performance entering a blown game to others in a playoff game. Bizarre reasoning. How many elite pitchers have ERAs over 6 this deep into the season?

Elite?? Please!

Of course Kubota is an elite pitcher - try to look at the history first and then how he actually pitches. Sure he's having a bad run now but under Mayumi practically everyone is. When you take account about Tigers recent history the JFK trio (of which Kubota was one). His performance late last season, the Tigers pre-season marketing of KKK (Kubota, Kobayashi, Kyuji) as the elite closing trio then maybe your views will have some value. Until then you're just displaying your ignorance.

Guess we'll agree to disagree, then, but I'd be interested in hearing your take after watching Kubota cough up another run tonight. I agree that Mayumi has no clue what he's doing, but down by 7 it doesn't really matter who he trots out. I honestly did like Kojima there. Was also happy to see Nishimura tonight - where has he been all year?

Kubota is not an elite pitcher anymore. He is too dangerous in tight games at the moment and I also think he should be used in situations like this to prove that he has more value.
Just because the Tigers had a catchy relief corps nickname in JFK, I'm sick of them trying to continue to get mileage out of that and come up with a new nickname. I highly doubt Kubota would be linked to any marketing at the moment, as I view him as one of the least popular Tigers.