July 22nd Iwata v Tateyama - A disintergrating side

Is Tateyama that good? He can give up 11 hits, have 14 runners on and pitch a complete game shutout. I posed this question to the Tsubamegun guys (a very readable website by the way) whom I suspect will answer yes. The reality is no - this was an indifferent performance made easy by a disintergrating side. Nothing is functioning as the players lose interest and motivation. An assessment of the first half of the season would be a succession of zeros - hitting with runners on - 0, pitching - 0, player selection - 0, base running - 0, strategy and tactics - 0, perception and ability of the coaching team - 0.

Despite religously reporting the rumours of possible new coaches it seems that Mayumi will be safe until the end of the season at least (as I regretfully predicted). Sakai-owner said that there were no plans to remove him and that he was counting on a revived counter-attack in the second half of the season. Maybe nobody wanted the poisoned challice of the Tigers management. One can fulminate endlessly about the idiots who run the Hanshin company and their failure to sack this sorry crew and bring in some genuine management but there were similar calls with Okada during his first season and he delivered in the second. However, Okada had more managerial competence even in his first season. Taking the long view is all very well but pig-headedly clinging to the wrong choices is short-changing the fans. I still treasure an outside hope that Mayumi will do the decent thing and resign but must admit it is very unlikely. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 5 11 0
Tigers    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 1

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Fukuchi (Left)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Keizoh Kawashima (Short)
9. Tateyama (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Akahoshi (Centre)
3. Katsuragi (Right)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Arai (Third)
7. Toritani (Short)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

For Tigers fans this is not a pretty match but for Swallows fans it will make enjoyable reading. Iwata was useless and really it says something about Tigers coaches that they have the ability to take a fine promising young pitcher and screw him up (rather like the Yankees and Igawa). He lasted all of four innings and seemed to have no clue. He started with a hit to Aoki. Aoki was bunted to second by Tanaka and then Fukuchi flew out. D"Antona hit nicely to centre and Aoki motored home 1-0 Swallows, runner on first. Guiel was next and struck out to end the innings (more on that later). Tigers first saw the spirit of waste that would pervade their entire performance. With one out Akahoshi hit. He then allowed himself to be picked off for the second out. Still all was not lost as Katsuragi hit a two base to left. Kanemoto though grounded out to third and once again spurned the chance to score. Iwata started the Swallows second just as badly as he did the first, giving up a leadoff hit to Miyamoto. This was followed by Aikawa's hit which set up runners on first and third. Kawashima grounded out to Iwata and Miyamoto tried for home only to be tagged out. Aoki then grounded out to short with runners on first and second, ending that less than elevating innings. Tigers second started with a Brazell hit. Arai then hit into a double play but Tateyama promptly put another runner on by deadballing Toritani. The pitch hit him in the left calf and needed ice but no hospital visit. Toritani though had to be replaced by Yamato at short at the end of the third. Kanoh struck out to end the Tigers second and the runner went nowhere. Tanaka made first on a Tigers error at the start of Swallows third and then Fukuchi hit to set up runners on first and second. D'Antona sent another hit to centre and drove in another run 2-0 Swallows, runners on first and third. Guiel struck out looking and then was ejected for arguing the call. This was really pointless as if he had stayed he would have probably picked up a couple of hits later on. He was replaced by Iihara. Miyamoto then hit to left and Swallows were 3-0 with runners on first and second. Aikawa grounded out which took a runner to third but then Tateyama struck out to end the innings. With one out Hirano hit a two base to right but neither Akahoshi or Katsuragi did anything and the innings ended.

Iwata returned to struggle through the Swallows fourth albeit scoreless. Tateyama then had the most incredible escape as he made a complete mess of Tigers fourth. He started with a hit to Kanemoto. This was extinguished by a Brazell double play. Then Arai hit. This was followed by Yamato's first hit of the game. Kanoh walked to load the bases and here Mayumi chose Lin as a pinch hitter. He managed to ground out to first to end the innings but what a waste. It was almost if Tigers had given Tateyama numerous get out of jail free cards and he took full advantage of them. Cheng pitched Swallows fifth and this proved to be a nice workout for him. With two out he faced Iihara who crushed his first pitch into the centre stand for a solo home run 4-0 Swallows. Miyamoto then hit a three base also to centre but Aikawa struck out and the innings was over. Hirano led off Tigers fifth with a hit but then got caught up in a Katsuragi doublle play which ended the innings. Cheng returned for Swallows sixth and was much better retiring the batters in order. Tigers sixth saw more runners stranded. Arai walked and then Yamato hit a two base to left to set up runners on second and third with two out. Kanoh managed to ground out and waste that chance.

Swallows seventh was more fun for the Yakult outfit - they got another run. With one out Fukuchi tried a bunt hit to Cheng who was so surprised he didn't react fast enough and Fukuch was safe on first. He then stole second showing nice initiative and with Cheng rattled it was a simple matter for D'Antona to hit to right and drive the runner in 5-0 Swallows runner on first. D'Antona was pinch run for by Ueda who also tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. Tigers seventh saw Yano used as a lead off pinch hitter which didn't make any difference and Tateyama had one of his easiest innings retiring the batters in order. Watanabe pitched the Swallows eighth, the seventh proving to be their last hitting innings. The batters tumbled in order. Tateyama also managed this in the Tigers eighth which is really nice if you're going for a complete game shutout even if you haven't pitched particularly well. Swallows ninth was once again a quiet innings. Tateyama retired the first two batters in Tigers ninth but then gave up a hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter). He then followed this with a hit to Sakurai but it was Hirano's turn to ground out and end the innings. Swallows victory.

It all ended up being surprisingly comfortable for the Swallows. Tateyama hadn't pitched well but had walked away with a complete game shutout being faced with pathetic batting. Tigers batters seem to be batting only for themselves, if they can hit for their own average they do so, otherwise they don't try. It is impossible to guess what Sakai-owner is thinking if he believes that Tigers will improve in the second half of the season. How? Shi-no-rodo anyone? The players are sending signals that they are very unhappy. These should be taken notice of rather than having the air filled with meaningless platitudes.