September 19th Standridge v Takasaki - The Tigers draw level

It seems that Tigers are moving towards offering both Fukudome and Nishioka contracts to play next season. One wants to bury ones head in ones hands and weep with despair. Did the Johjima debacle teach Tigers management nothing? It seems that the lesson is noted, it is articulated well by the management. They realise the mistake and then go and do the same thing again. The lure of the words 'he played in MLB' seems to blind Tigers management to such things as objective appraisals of a players current ability and they just throw money at the player. Nakamura GM is on record as saying that he wants to reduce Tigers payroll whilst the team is rebuilding. How will adding an over-priced Fukudome (and no doubt Nishioka) help that goal? Of course Fukudome could do well but the price is a real issue here and even with a good season he is too expensive. Scores

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

BayStars
1. Aranami (Centre)
2. Uchimura (Second)
3. Tsutsugoh (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Nakamura (First)
6. Koike (Right)
7. Kajitani (Short)
8. Takajoh (Catcher)
9. Takasaki (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (Third)
5. Murton (Left)
6. Morita (First)
7. Tagami (Right)
8. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Standridge (Pitcher)

Once again Standrige produced a fine performance for no reward. He wasn't quite as dominating as previously and in fact ran up quite a high pitch count. Takasaki too ran up a high count but does seem to have the measure of Tigers. They find him difficult to hit. BayStars firsts innings actually took a lot of effort from Standridge. He retired the three batters he faced but two took a full count and the final one very nearly did. Tigers also struggled to get going - the batters falling quicker but still fighting Takasaki hard. BayStars second saw a reduction in the number of pitches thrown and once again BayStars batters were unable to get on base. Certainly, it looked like Standridge was settling down. Tigers second produced a single to centre from Murton. Morita grounded out to first which moved Murton to second and then Tagami struck out swinging to end the innings. BayStars first base runner came in their third with Kajitani singling to left. Takajoh tried to bunt him to second and failed then Takasaki succeeded in bunting him to second. Two bunts to get a batter to second was really quite profligate and it was unsurprising when Aranami hit a grounder to Ryota Arai which ended the innings. Tigers third was another quiet affair with the bottom of the order failing to get on base.

BayStars generated a usable chance in their fourth. Standridge was striking out batters well, both Uchimura and Tsutsugoh went down swinging and then Ramirez singled right. Nakamura hit left and BayStars had runners on first and second. This ended as Koike became Standridge's next strike out victim. If BayStars chance was usable, Tigers was very much a waste. Yamato led off the fourth by flying out. Toritani walked and then Ryota Arai singled to centre - runners on first and second. Murton hit to short and forced out Toritani but made first safely - runners on first and third. Morita walked to load the bases. Next was Tagami who blew his big chance and hit weakly back to Takasaki for the final out of the innings. Standridge then managed to repeat himself in the BayStars fifth. He was trying to engineer a three strike out in a row innings again. He got Kajitani and Takajoh but then surprisingly gave up a hit to Takasaki - one would have thought that this was an easy out. Aranami singled right which put runners on first and second which was also the last hit of the game for the BayStars. Uchimura hit a grounder to second which put paid to the BayStars rally. Tigers fifth saw the batters go down in order - this time with Uemoto being the final out. BayStars sixth was much better by Standridge. He avoided the strike out and got the batters by other means. He did walk Nakamura with two outs but Koike flew out to right and so nothing came of this. Toritani picked up his second walk of the game with one out and then stole second on Ryota Arai's strike out. Murton also struck out thought and Tigers had failed to get anywhere.

BayStars couldn't hit but they could still get runners on base and did so with a vengeance in the seventh. Kajitani walked and was bunted to second by Takajoh. Takasaki grounded out to Standridge and then Standridge and Komiyama decided to deliberately walk Aranami. Probably an over-reaction and it put runners on first and second. Standridge was by now tiring and walked Shimozono (pinch hitter) to load the bases. Next was Tsutsugoh who luckily for Tigers hit his first pitch straight to short for the final out. Tigers then managed to blow their chances big time in the bottom of the seventh. Two ill conceived steals broke up any momentum they had against a tiring Takasaki. Morita led off the innings and was pinch run for by Shunsuke. Hardly a move to strike confidence in ones heart. Shunsuke tried to steal second as Tagami messed up his bunt. Shunsuke was thrown out but Tagami reached first safely. Then Tagami tried to steal second and was thrown out. Still Komiyama singled to centre and then Kanemoto (pinch hitter) also singled. Tigers had runners on first and second. Uemoto was next and he could only fly out to right. Fukuhara pitched BayStars eighth and Ramirez led off hitting to Ryota Arai. He messed up the throw and Ramirez was safe on first. Nakamura struck out swinging but Koike's ground out took Ramirez to second. Kajitani worked a walk to set up runners on first and second. However, Morimoto (pinch hitter) struck out swinging. The pitcher for Tigers eighth was Kaga. He struck out Yamato. Toritani doubled - the first and only extra base hit of the game. Ryota Arai walked in four and Kaga struck out Murton. This brought a pitching change - perhaps ill advised. Shinohara took over and walked Hiyama (pinch hitter) to load the bases. Then Yamaguchi took over and faced Sekimoto. Sekimoto managed to work a walk - oshidashi 1-0 Tigers, bases loaded. Fujii (pinch hitter) was next and flew out to right - a pointless change by Wada. For BayStars ninth we saw Tsutsui as closer - something I thought should have happened the previous game. Wada is trying to save Fujii's career as current thought is not to renew his contract for next year. Thus Fujii is getting opportunities to shine. As it was the bottom of the BayStars order a reasonable expectation was for them to fail. Tsuruoka (replacement catcher) struck out and then Kinjoh (pinch hitter) skied the ball to the catcher. Shimamura then hit the ball straight to Ryota Arai for the final out. Tigers victory.

Tigers 50th victory of the season had been a hard fought game. Chances were few and often spurned but Tigers had managed to score the vital run though once again not through a timely hit. The win went to Fukuhara and the hero interview was Sekimoto and Tsutsui. It is too soon to say whether Tsutsui will be a good closer but it was a nice start.

I'm not so much against pursuing Nishioka, as he's still under 30 and just a couple years removed from a fantastic offensive season in Japan. I think he can still play at a high level in Japan. He suffered a freak injury right away in MLB and I think just put too much pressure on himself to succeed after that. The problem is he would need to move to second, as hopefully Toritani will stay. Hopefully management has talked to Toritani about this, as pursuing him too strongly might give the wrong impression that Toritani is expendable. Knowing the current state of things, they are probably in the process of really mucking this up.

Fukudome is more of a risk. The only benefit I see is they will need some left-handed power with the absence of Brazell. However, we don't know what Fukudome has left. As you mentioned, the key should be on rebuilding. There are several young outfielders like Yamato that have never been given the chance to play a full year and I think the priority should be there. With Kanemoto finally gone, I think the time is right for a youth movement in the outfield.

Tigers have rather focused on Toritani at short and not groomed replacements. In this respect they have left themselves exposed. I think one thing the management is getting right is letting Toritani know that they want him to stay. There is a lot of pressure on the management to succeed at the moment and their problem is the incompetents they have picked to manage the team (a trait which doesn't seem to be going away - the suggested selection for pitching coach doesn't fill me with confidence either). However, this does rather encourage them to go for the short term solution of big name FAs.

At least Chunichi is after Fukudome too, so that might be his first choice. Then again, Johjima did spurn Softbank to join Hanshin. Like you, I don't get our fascination with going after players with MLB experience. Meanwhile, we've hardly pursued other valuable FAs like Uchikawa and Murata.

Again, I do like the idea of going after Nishioka, provided we don't make some ridiculous offer. I don't think his health is an issue, as he was injured by one really hard play, whereas Johjima's body had been wearing down from years of catching. As long as Nishioka is fine with playing second, we could then shift Hirano to the outfield. Hopefully Hirano will return to form with the bat, but of course everyone will improve with more swings! (Insert sarcasm emoticon here.)

I would think you mean Uemoto as Hirano is already playing outfield (mostly at right). Nishioka could replace Toritani at short but he has had neck and back problems (back in 2008) or play second with Uemoto shifting to short. However, I am not really impressed with Uemoto this season - Tigers need batters to drive in runs and he doesn't have that knack.

I agree that Uchikawa was the big loss - not so much Murata who has had an unspectacular season with Giants and doesn't look like he is any improvement on Ryota or Takahiro Arai at third.

I think Uemoto is doing OK. Not spectacular, but I think he's doing better than his last stint in the first team, so he'll be ok if he keeps improving.

Nishioka has good stats from his NPB career, but fairly underwhelming AAA stats and has been an absolute shocker at MLB level. The main thing that concerns me is his fielding, which has been really terrible for the Twins. I don't remember him being a bad shortstop for the Marines, so if it's playing under the spotlight that he struggles with, I don't know how well he'd do in the Koshien glare.

Fukudome - just no.

And the new hitting coach sounds like a sensible chap. The hitters can get the hits, but not drive runners is. Therefore it's not a mental problem. Um, OK...

(Oh and Uemoto and Yamato aren't worth half a person. Eh?)

> (Oh and Uemoto and Yamato aren't worth half a person.
> Eh?)

That one foxed me as well and it wasn't Gen's translation.