April 29th Akiyama v Bullington - Slackness at Koshien

It is the second time in a row that a pitcher under Fujii's direction has given up a comfortable lead. This time the poor victim was Akiyama as Tigers once again squandered a three run lead. One wonders when it is going to penetrate Wada's mind that Fujii is not suitable to be lead catcher for Tigers. How he thought that Akiyama would be suitable to pair with Fujii escapes me - another nervy pitcher who because he didn't hold the lead is demoted to ni-gun. Tigers fielding was poor and as a result could also be said to be a big factor in losing the game. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Carp    1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 6 12 0
Tigers  0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5  9 2

Starting Lineups

Carp
1. Lewis (Left)
2. Kikuchi (Second)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Hirose (Right)
5. Matsuyama (First)
6. Soyogi (Short)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Bullington (Pitcher)

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

It all started poorly for Tigers. With one out Kikuchi drove his fifth pitch into the stand for a solo home run 1-0 Carp and not a welcome start. Hirose singled but then Matsuyama grounded out to first to end the innings. Bullington's start was dubious and one thinks that Carp were reverting to their tactics of targeting the players not the zone. Yamato took a dead ball but Toritani hit into a double play to end the innings. Dobayashi singled with one out in Carp's second and it looked to be one of those days. Ishihara was next and he hit over the infield to left to set up runners on first and second. Next was Bullington who conveniently hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers decided to do something about things and Murton led off the second with a single. Fukudome hit to centre and then Arai singled to load the bases. Ryota struck out but Fujii was able to drove into centre to bring in a run 1-1 scores tied, bases loaded. Akiyama grounded out to second which forced out Arai but brought Fukudome home 2-1 Tigers with runners on first and second. Nishioka walked to load the bases again and then Yamato in revenge for his dead balling drove nicely into centre to bring home two runs 4-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Finally Toritani flew out to end the innings. Carp's third was quiet - they didn't seem to comprehend what had happened and failed to mount a response. Tigers third was where they should have buried Bullington after his appalling pitching of the second. Instead he was allowed off the hook. All three batters were rapidly out and the innings was scoreless. Poor batting by the Tigers but they still were comfortably ahead.

Things were by now proceeding nicely for Tigers. Akiyama was pitching well and he retired the batters in the Carp fourth comfortably. Ryota doubled to lead off Tigers fourth. This should have seen another score especially as Fujii's flyout took Ryota to third. Akiyama also flew out to left but Ryota didn't attempt to reach home - he is rather lumbering but against the Carp it was a good chance. Nishioka grounded out to Bullington and the chance went begging. Carp's fifth was a quiet affair and the game seemed to be settling down nicely to a comfortable victory. It was not to be. Tigers fifth was also quiet and the batters fell in order. One has to say that Toritani does not seem to be pulling his weight with the bat at the moment though. Then things fell apart in the sixth. Fujii has problems dealing with tiring pitchers and Akiyama was beginning to reach his limit. With one out Kikuchi doubled to left - a similar pitch to his home run. Another out followed but then Hirose walked - too many low outside pitches. Matsuyama hit a single to right 4-2 Tigers, runners on second and third. Fukudome had fielded and thrown into to Toritani who retreived the ball but then spilled it as his glove collided with Hirose's heel. This was the end of Akiyama who was judged unable to continue and replaced by Tsuru. He had worked well with Komiyama a few days before but not with Fujii. Soyogi drove into centre to bring both runners home 4-4 scores tied, runner on second. Dobayashi though struck out to end the innings. Fukudome and Arai failed to do anything in Tigers sixth which brought up Ryota. Ryota called time with the umpire also doing so but Bullington threw the pitch anyway. This was dubious behaviour to say the least and brought a protest from Wada. However, no action was taken and Ryota eventually struck out to end the innings.

Andoh pitched Carp's seventh and with two out gave up a single to Lewis. It seems Carp have Fujii figured out. Kikuchi grounded out to end the innings though. Imanari (pinch hitter) singled in Tigers seventh with one out. Nishioka then hit into a double play and that was the end of the innings. Fukuhara took over the pitching for Carp's eighth. He started with a single to Maru. Next was Hirose who bunted. This was messed up by Fukuhara who couildn't decide where to throw and set up runners on first and second. Matsuyama grounded out taking the runners to second and third and then Soyogi flew out to short locking the runners on base. Dobayashi walked to load the bases and then Ishihara struck out to end the innings. Bullington returned for Tigers eighth and got Yamato to ground out. That was the end of his success. Toritani woke up and doubled deep. Then Murton singled to right - runners on first and third. Kawauchi took over and faced Fukudome. Fukudome hit a grounder to third which scored Toritani 5-4 Tigers, runner on second. Imai took over for Arai who flew out to end the innings though. Tigers now held the lead and brought on Kubo to close things down and deliver the close victory. It didn't work out at all. Once again poor fielding and indifferent calling were the cause. Nakahighashi (pinch hitter and replacement left) singled left. Lewis grounded out taking Nakahigashi to second. Then Kikuchi doubled to right centre putting runners on second and third. The ball drifted in the wind and even though it was initially in Fukudome's zone it was Yamato's take. He left it and then Fukudome failed to take it either and it bounced betweeen the fielders. Yamato later apologised to Kubo over this. In a move of stunning mindlessness Fujii walked Maru to load the bases and set up the double play. Saka messed up the ground out allowing the tying run to score 5-5 scores tied, bases loaded. Matsuyama flew out but Soyogi singled right to bring in another run 6-5 Carp, bases loaded. Finally Dobayashi struck out swinging to end the innings. Imamura took over for Tigers ninth and showed Kubo how it should be done retiring the three batters he faced for the save. Carp victory.

Carp shouldn't really have won this game but Tigers squandered the game. Comfortably up they sat back and allowed the lead to dribble away. Poor and casual fielding recalled the 90s coupled with abysmal calling by Fujii. He may hit but his run generation ability does not match the amount of runs pitchers under his direction give up.

To be continued.

Bad fielding did the Tigers in in the 9th much more than any calling by Fujii. Walking the batter to load the bases was the right call. With first base empty, a ground ball to the right side of the infield scores a run and leaves the Carp with two outs but still a runner on third. With the bases loaded the same ground ball gives the Tigers a double play to end the game or the option of a force out at home. It was Saka that messed things up, not Fujii. I'm not a huge fan of Fujii either, but you seem to be placing the blame for every Tigers defeat solely on his shoulders.

Perhaps I am banging the Fujii drum a bit too much. I think that getting the second out is more important than trying for a double play though. Too much can go wrong with a double play as we saw with the Saka error. Getting the batter to pop up or strike out is the wiser option. It also increases pressure on the third batter - he has to deliver.

When things go wrong--as they did in this case--it's always easy to criticize putting an extra person on base. But I think it was the right call to load the bases.
At least Fujii is hitting well this year. But that could actually work against us, as it might make Wada less willing to replace Fujii with a light-hitting catcher. This was Kubo's first meltdown--not that it can all be blamed on him--but over all he's looked fairly solid as a closer.

Fujii's batting has been a revelation it is true and as you note it may mask his other deficiencies though in Wada's case even with these apparent he will ignore them. At other times I would agree about loading the bases but not in the ninth unless the final out is a guaranteed out (and what out in the ninth falls into that category?). By loading the bases in such a pressure situation you increase the pressure and as a result the chances of mistakes or of failed double plays. I am not saying that errors will result more likely the result is a hit through the infield or a double play that doesn't come off.
It is still a bit too soon to say about Kubo - he has made a solid start but the real challenge is yet to come for him.