April 13th Iwata v Fujii - A Fujii debacle

Wada's policy of using Fujii as (almost) exclusive starter began to reap dividends. After a few days of dwindling crowds Koshien was full and the assembled faithful didn't like what they saw. Iwata is a unique kind of pitcher who needs a very skilfull catcher to bring out his abilities. Fujii is not that catcher being limited and well: dull. It brings to mind the pairing of Okazaki and Kubo because they had played together at Osaka Gas. Kubo didn' start winning until he was paired with a different catcher. Incidentally, it took Tigers management a long time to recognise that Okazaki was not first team material. This is a similar situation though to be fair Fujii isn't quite that bad. Fujii does not understand how to use Iwata and Iwata gets easily frustrated by Fujii's incompetent calls. This situation has been building up and Wada needs to take note - Fujii is not good enough to call to all his pitchers. He does need to be replaced by Komiyama who is more in tune with the pitchers not with calling patterns. Scores

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Uchimura (Second)
3. Tamura (Right)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Ramirez (Left)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Aranami (Centre)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Fujii (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Conrad (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

An error ridden display by Tigers started early; in the first innings in fact. Ishikawa started by hitting the second pitch of the day into right centre. He was bunted to second by Uchimura and one thinks that if the BayStars coach had any inkling of what was to come there is no way he would have stupid bunted. Tamura, making his first appearance of the season against Tigers singled to centre bringing in the run 1-0 BayStars, runner on first and ouch! It got worse. With practically no communication betwen Fujii and Iwata first Blanco and then Ramirez walked to load the bases Fujii of course demanding his quota of low outside pitches (Iwata is best going inside). Nakamura managed a weak grounder to second which brought in a run but didn't turn a double play 2-0 BayStars, runners on first and third. Then Aranami got a straight down the middle and hit it to centre for another run 3-0 BayStars. runners on first and second. Tsuruoka went further driving his second pitch to right centre for a timely double 4-0 BayStars, runners on second and third. Still with two outs it was the BayStars pitcher next and this should have ended things. Fujii hit a weak grounder to Nishioka who planted his legs either side of the ball and then let it through them. Both runners were home 6-0 BayStars, runner on first and basically the end of the game. Ishikawa came up for his next bat and grounded out to Arai at first to end the disaster for the Tigers. Nishioka perhaps in response to his error led Tigers first off with a single. Yamato and Toritani managed to fly out before Murton singled. I know Murton is hitting but at No. 4 Tigers need more extra base hits than he has been generating so far. Fukudome could only ground out to second and the innings was scorless. With a six run cushion BayStars could afford to take it easy and this is exactly what they did. Their second was quiet with the batters falling in order. With one out in Tigers second Conrad worked a walk - something he is good at but then it would have been a slice of luck for Tigers to score with Fujii and Iwata next and they didn't. BayStars third saw everyone ground out as Fujii let Iwata do his stuff. Nishioka grounded out to start Tigers third but then Yamato drove a triple to right. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and third and then Murton hit deep for the sacrifice fly 6-1 BayStars, runner on second with Toritani tagging up and taking second. Fukudome went deep as well but could only fly out and the Tigers had reduced the margin by one run.

The first two BayStars in the fourth fell but Ishikawa singled again as Fujii demanded more outside pitches. Uchimura struck out though and that innings was over. Arai led off Tigers fourth with a single. Conrad struck out and as he did so Arai tried to steal second. The term forlorn hope is highly appropriate here as Tsuruoka has a decent arm and Arai was out. Finally Fujii grounded out to end the innings. All three batters in BayStars fifth grounded out and the innings was scoreless. This would be Iwata's last innings as Wada in desperation employed a pinch hitter, Asai who proceded to ground out. Nishioka though doubled which was extremely useful one though. Toritani flew out to left and then Murton grounded out - not such a useful double after all. Here Wada also and surprisingly wisely removed Fujii and brought on Komiyama. The question has to be though, what took you so long? Komiyama was calling to Saiuchi and the pair induced Nakmura to line out, Aranami to strike out and Tsuruoka to ground out to the pitcher. Kaga pitched Tigers sixth as Fujii pitcher despite holding the lead had not looked entirely secure and had thrown 95 pitches. Kaga was competent - an ominous term for Tigers batters as it meant that he retired the batters in order.

BayStars seventh and Saiuchi walked Shimozono (pinch hitter) to start the innings. Not good but then Ishikawa lined out to Nishioka and Uchimura flew out to Fukudome taking Shimozono to second. All very good and then Tamura hit to Conrad. His throw to first was too high for an error which put runners on first and third. Saiuchi held his nerve and induced this time when the hit from Blanco went to Conrad the throw was good and the third out came. However, the pitcher direction was excellent from Komiyama - a sharp contrast to Fujii in the first innings. Ohara pitched Tigers seventh and retired the three batters in order. Tigers might be holding their own but they weren't reducing the margin. Fujihara pitched BayStars eighth and received a grounder from Matsumoto (replacement left) which he messed up allowing the runner on base - another error. Nakamura singled and then Aranami bunted to third to load the bases with no outs. Conrad could not get the ball away in time but really BayStars bunting with a five run lead. This was dangerous and here Komiyama was superb. Calming his pitcher he a ground out to Toritani. Matsumoto went for home but was forced out.Then Yamazaki (replacement first) hit into a double play. Fujihara had gotten himself into trouble but he had gotten himself out of it. Sosa pitched Tigers eighth and Nishioka earned himself a walk to lead the innings off. Yamato flew out and then Toritani hit into a double play - BayStars could see the finish line now. BayStars ninth was quiet with Fujihara having recovered his confidence and pitching well finished on a strike out. Mishima pitched Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order to end the game. BayStars victory.

Tigers had been overwhelmed by the onslaught in the first and hadn't recovered. After the game Wada expressed his dissatisfaction at the pitching and the four errors committed by the Tigers. Iwata was dispatched to the second team to work no doubt to work on his low outside pitches until the meet the satisfaction of Fujii. The thought of replacing Fujii who is well past his sell by date has not registered in Wada's tiny mind even though Komiyama was far superior and visibly so during this game. BayStars could be happy after one innings of good work they could cruise the rest of the game but the eighth should give them pause for thought. Despite this Tigers still have a very good chance of taking the series and should win Sunday's game.

With so little exciting to watch during this game, I kept looking at Blanco's stats this year and wondering why the Tigers didn't go after him in the offseason. (Maybe because they have an obsession with Japanese ex-Major Leaguers?) He already has more home runs than the whole Tigers team and would have been a nice addition at 1st. Yes, that's where Arai is playing now, but I think most of us have given up hope that he will ever be healthy or consistent enough to be a true clean up batter.

Did anyone out there watching the game on TV get a good look at the long Yamato fly ball (maybe in the 5th or 6th) that was ruled foul? I was sitting just behind the pole and we were all convinced it curled inside the pole and should have been a HR. I wasn't sure why Wada didn't ask for a video replay, but maybe I just had a deceiving angle.

I think the Yamato hit (fifth by the way) was foul - given Tigers desperate state they certainly would have pushed if it wasn't. For Blanco the sad truth is that home run style would have been 'beaten out of him' if he had joined Tigers. Wada doesn't like home runs.