June 6th Andoh v Tanaka - Skinning a Tiger

Fujii not only exceeded his design speed the night before he pulled a hamstring. This has put him out of action for the immediate future. One would have thought that this would have brought the immediate recall of Komiyama but instead Wada used Imanari. As a catcher the latter is still developing - he showed a lot of variation in his calling but also a lot of naivety in what he was calling and consequently the pitchers took a lot of hits. Where he did score was with his bat - this guy can hit and hit regularly. Komiyama's main issue was his inability to find the gaps whilst Fujii was only an occasional hitter at best. Imanari looks to be someone who can eventually bat higher up the order. Two of Tigers runs came from batters charging the catcher - Golden Eagles Ishimine was blocking the plate illegally and it was nice to see runners going through him rather than trying to avoid him. Scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers         1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3  8 1
Golden Eagles  0 3 0 0 2 2 1 0 X 8 14 3

Starting lineups

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

Starting pitcher; Andoh

Golden Eagles
1. Hijirisawa (Centre)
2. Akaminai (Second)
3. Fernandez (First)
4. Garcia (DH)
5. Nakamura (Left)
6. Takasu (Third)
7. Masuda (Short)
8. Ishimine (Catcher)
9. Teppei (Right)

Golden Eagles are a poor outfit but had the benefit of some poor Tigers calling and so their error-ridden performance was not such a big deal. However, against better pitching they really do need to tighten up considerably. They have regressed since the days of Nomura. Tigers start was nice with Hirano hitting to centre for a single. The stupid bunt was laid down by Shibata and really Wada has to think - does he want the side to score runs? More hits and more runners on mean more runs. Toritani would have a good night against Tanaka who started terribly. He hit to centre and Hirano charged round the bases shouldering Ishimine out of the way to score 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. All this had taken three pitches. Kanemoto grounded out to second - his brief flurry already over - and this took Toritani to second. Then Murton also grounded out and the innings was over. Golden Eagles first saw the first two batters ground out to short and then Fernandez strike out. Arai hit to short who threw over Fernandez for an error. Brazell struck out but Imanari singled left - runners on first and second. Asai was next and should have waited, instead he hit into a double play and ended the innings. Now things unraveled for Tigers. Garcia grounded out but Rakuten's lower order seemed to know exactly what the call would be. Nakamura singled to centre. Takasu hit to left as did Masuda to load the bases. Ishimine hit a grounder to second - the ball bounced high and even though Hirano was able to field his only option was to throw to first for the second out - this brought the tying run in 1-1 scores tied and runners on second and third. Teppei was next and looped one deep into the left outfield between Murton and Shibata for a timely three base hit 3-1 Golden Eagles, runner on third. Finally, Hijirisawa grounded out to first to end the innings. Tanaka though wasn't much better than before. Tanaka wasn't responsible for the first mess up which was another mistake by Masuda who missed the throw to first again. Shibata flew out to left - Wada eschewing the bunt this time. Toritani whacked the ball to left centre for a two base hit and Hirano raced round three bases to score 3-2 Golden Eagles. Kanemoto walked and really Tigers were nicely poised. Here the plate umpire intervened with a couple of very poor calls. With runners on first and second Murton was judged to have struck out looking - the ball was clearly below the zone. A similar thing happened to Arai with a pitch for which the zone had to be specially widened. Golden Eagles third seemed to indicate that Tigers had sorted out their pitcher catcher issues and even though Fernandez singled with one out he didn't advance beyond first and the innings was scoreless.

Tigers fourth saw the batters go down in order. Whilst Golden Eagle's lower order was doing well Tigers wasn't. Andoh continued to put runners on with Takasu leading off Golden Eagles fourth with a single. He was stupid bunted to second by Masuda and then Ishimine struck out swinging. Teppei was walked - he was hitting well and this one was intentional before Hijirisawa also struck out. Both Hirano and Shibata struck out and incidently what is Shibata doing in the lineup in place of Yamato? Yamato is the one who can hit whilst Shibata has been rather anonymous. Toritani was next and hit hard to right for another two base. This brought up Kanemoto who watched as Toritani tried to steal second and was tagged out by an effective throw from Ishimine. A poor call by Wada again. Andoh had been riding his luck rather and this ran out in the Golden Eagles fifth. Once again a lead off batter singled, this one being Akaminai. Next was Fernandez who didn't really connect with a low pitch but still had enough power to put it just over the left centre fence for a two run home run 5-2 Golden Eagles. The next three batters struggled and couldn't get onto base but the Tigers looked to be beaten. The sixth seemed to confirm that - Kanemoto in his delayed at bat flew out to the catcher, Murton grounded out to short and then Arai grounded out to second. Murton incidently is not looking comfortable at fifth at all. Kubo took over from Andoh who retired after the fifth having pitched poorly but he did have Imanari's calling to contend with. Kubo didn't prosper either and Masuda singled right. He was bunted to second by Ishimine - another wasted out. The way the Golden Eagles were hitting they didn't need bunts. Teppei hit right bringing home the run - Shibata's throw being poor 6-2 Golden Eagles runner on first. Hijirisawa singled left to set up runners on first and second. Akaminai grounded out which force out Hijirisawa but allowed Teppei to make third. Then came Fernandez who singled to left to score the run 7-2 Golden Eagles, runners on first and third. Finally, Garcia flew out to short to end the innings but Tigers were reeling.

With Brazell out Imanari raised Tigers hopes significantly by hitting a two base into left field. Tagami (pinch hitter) struck out swinging though and Hirano flew out to centre. It was a nice hit but it was neither long nor short and Hijirisawa was easily able to track it down. Watanabe pitched Golden Eagles seventh and had similar problems with Imanari that the other pitchers had. Tagami had taken over right field and was totally out of his depth - in fact the run that scored was attributable more to his lack of competence. Firstly Enomoto (replacement left) hit high to right and Tagami tracking back got the ball comfortably in his glove then dropped it. Enomoto was able to make second on this error. Takasu hit deep to right which Tagami took but Enomoto tagged up and made third. Then Nishimura (replacement short) hit to right as well. Tagami was poorly positioned for what could have been a fly out but ended up being a two base hit. Enomoto was home 8-2 Golden Eagles runner on second. Ishimine struck out swinging but once again Teppei walked to set up runners on first and second. Finally, Hijirisawa grounded out to end the innings.Tigers eighth and Shibata led off hitting to Abe (replacement third). Abe fumbled the ball and allowed Shibata to reach second on the error. Then a procession of batters failed to move him round and this was Tanaka's best innings. Tsuru took over for Golden Eagles eighth. He struck out Uchimura (replacement second) but then Fernandez hit a two base to right centre. Garcia flew out to right and then Enomoto flew out to Arai at third. Tanaka returned for Tigers ninth - why it is difficult to fathom. He had already given up two runs so it wasn't as if the complete game was important. He got Arai to ground out and then struck out Brazell which brought up Imanari. This was a superb at bat working the count full, Imanari fought Tanaka all the way, fouling off again and again. Finally, Imanari drove his fourteenth pitch into right for a two base hit. A Daily Sports after poll match gave him a 32% rating after Toritani for his effort. Tagami followed and drove into centre. Imanari rounded the bases and was faced with Ishimine. He charged the catcher knocking the ball out of his glove and tagging home for the run 8-3 Golden Eagles, runner on first. This had been a fine piece of work by Imanari. Hirano followed and hit to centre - once again a nice swing but in Hijirisawa's comfort zone and flew out to end the game. Golden Eagles victory.

Tigers had once again struggled with Imanari behind the plate and they do need to bring in Komiyama again. Imanari may mature into a good catcher but at the moment his propensity to call predictably is an issue. One hopes he can learn quickly as he has a really exciting bat and is young. If he can catch well he will be an exciting addition to the side and Fujii can be consigned to the dustbin of mistakes. Tigers lost this series against Golden Eagles 3-1 which is really embarrassing as Golden Eagles are truly second rate with no chance of rising above this status. Tigers will play Orix and Softbank at Koshien and need to make some improvements - Kanemoto out of fourth and Asai back as a regular starter would help.

The Eagles are currently comfortably in 3rd place, which would qualify them for the Climax Series. The Tigers are stuck in 4th. Can you explain how this makes the Eagles "truly second rate with no chance of rising above this status"?

With five errors in the field this series (two games) and a batting lineup of intense feebleness it's a reasonable conclusion. I expected something a lot better at from them at home. I don't expect Golden Eagles to be third by the end of the season.