September 10th Kubo v Yoshimi - Tigers fail to take advantage

Faced with indifferent pitching, dreadful fielding and poor base running Tigers still contrived to lose to the Dragons. They also enjoyed some appalling luck whilst Dragons had some good fortune. The loss puts the Carp, who won, level with Tigers but one still wouldn't put money on the Carp reaching the Climax Series. Kubo was poor again and lasted four innings. Here Mayumi once again showed that he isn't a good kantoku. He doesn't seem to possess the ability to learn and isn't getting better which is disturbing. It would have been more appropriate to use Sajikihara before Atchison and not as relief in the ninth innings. Furthermore, Kanemura could have pitched two innings comfortably and Atchison one (the ninth). Mayumi often seems to be floundering around with the pitching and even though he has the ability to pull a pitcher quickly he doesn't really know his pitchers abilities and doesn't seem to be learning. A kantoku does need to be familiar with his pitchers and how to use them. Mayumi isn't. Hirano at second had an amazing game - he was superb and nothing got past him but we had to endure Katsuragi at sixth again and he was mostly terrible. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Ibata (Short)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Inoue (Right)
7. Hidenori (Centre)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

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

Dragons first started with Ibata grounding out. But then Araki hit to right. Morino also followed this with a right hit and Dragons had runners on first and third. Blanco was next and took an almighty swing at his second pitch - a kind of bush league swing. Somehow he got contact on the ball and it ran off to left, neatly bisecting Toritani and Arai for a single, 1-0 Dragons runners on first and second. The first run scored by a fluke. Dragons couldn't exploit this advantage and the next two batters retired lamely but given how Kubo had pitched in the previous match, this was not encouraging. Tigers first was quiet as Yoshimi retired the batters in order. Kubo wasn't much improved in the Dragons second. He gave up a hit to Tanishige (and actually Tigers would have problems with Dragons lightweights all evening). Yoshimi was out trying to ineffectually bunt but Ibata hit a two base, setting up runners on second and third. However, there was only one out to go and this was Araki who grounded out to second to end the innings. Tigers second started with a nice Kanemoto two base hit, deep and high to the left. Actually Wada should have had it but missed the ball, the first piece of poor fielding. Arai hit to left to set up runners on first and third with no outs. Next batter Katsuragi who clearly didn't know what he was doing. He hit into a double play which brought the run home 1-1 scores tied but really wasted a good chance to do some real damage. Perhaps starting Takahashi would be better. Then Lin hit but Kanoh struck out and the innings was over. Still things were level. Morino led off Dragons third with a hit. Blanco flew out to short to a very nice pitch and then Kubo let fly a wild pitch which ran off to right. Kanoh set off after it and Morino set off for second. Here, he hesitated but then decided to go for third. A laser like throw from Kanoh to Arai gave the Tigers third all the time in the world to make the tag and Morino was out. Wada then hit just past Kubo but the ball was stopped by a superb dive by Hirano who was up in time to throw to first for the final out. In fact the throw was so good Wada was well out, end of innings. Akahoshi hit to left in Tigers third. Hirano bunted him to second and then Toritani walked as Yoshimi struggled with his contol, runners on first and second. Kanemoto though failed again and this has really been the story of most of his season.

Dragons fourth saw more superb fielding by Hirano, with one out Hidenori hit a fly ball but running back Hirano jumped and took the catch, tumbling over as he landed but holding onto the ball. Tanishige then took another hand in affairs driving a straight ball into the centre stand for a solo home run 2-1 Dragons. This was very bad pitching on the part of Kubo. The final out was Yoshimi who struck out but it seemed a bit deflating - Kubo was wasting other's hard efforts. Arai led off Tigers fourth and flew out tamely to first. Katsuragi then grouned out to short but the throw from Ibata was dismal and Katsuragi was amazingly safe. Lin grounded out to second which moved Katsuragi round to second base and Yoshimi deliberately walked Kanoh to get at Kubo or so he thought. It didn't work out that way and he faced Hiyama. This though proved no problem as Hiyama flew out to right and the innings was over. Kanemura replaced Kubo for the Dragons fifth, he was as good as Kubo had been bad, in control and with a battery of difficult pitches. He struck out Ibata and then had Araki ground out. Then Morino also struck out to end the innings. Yoshimi walked Hirano with one out in Tigers fifth and then Toritani hit to Araki who let the ball get by him for an error. Tigers had runners on first and third with one out - an ideal situation for a sacrifice fly. This was clearly on Kanemoto's mind and finally he hit deep to right. This was actually a very good hit and for a long time it looked like it would be more, a home run but unfortunately died just before it reached the fence. Tigers were unlucky here but got the run 2-2 scores tied, runner on first. Arai then snatched at one and flew out to second. Atchison replaced Kanemura in a very questionable decision as surely if Kanemura needed replacing Sajikihara was a better choice. Anyway Dragons sixth flew by with the batters all grounding out to second. Tigers sixth saw Kanoh hit to Morino. His throw was to first was also terrible and Kanoh was safe on first with two outs. Here Mayumi made another mistake - he had decided to pitch Atchison for two innings and so Atchison batted and duly did nothing. It would have been a better option to have used a pinch hitter to try and generate a run. By replacing Kanemura after one innings, Mayumi had generated problems for himself.

Atchison's pitching in the seventh wasn't so good. He was unlucky with his first batter, Hidenori who got a lucky impact for a left hit. Tanishige bunted Hidenori to second which brought up Yoshimi who decided to eschew the bunt and struck out. Here it looked OK for Tigers, two outs and Ibata next. He though hit to centre and Hidenori was home 3-2 Dragons, runner on second. The throw to Kanoh had been good and Kanoh had blocked the plate but Hidenori had touched home successfully before the ball arrived. Ibata used this opportunity to make second. Araki though grounded out to end the innings. In Tigers seventh Hirano hit to right and even though Blanco dived he could not stop the ball. The rest of the batters once again did nothing and the innings was scoreless. For Dragons eighth Mayumi used Tsutsui who did quite well. However, with one out Blanco grounded out to Toritani. This was an easy out, the hit was gentle and Toritani had more than enough time to gather the ball and throw. The throw, like the Dragons players was far too high and Blanco was safe. Tsutsui kept his cool and retired the next two batters to end the innings. But you couldn't help thinking, why was he pitching the eighth? Wouldn't it have been better to use him earlier and Atchison in the eighth? Yoshimi retired at the end of the seventh and for the Tigers eighth Asao took the mound. With one out he faced Katsuragi who hit deep to centre and once again the Tigers were unlucky as the ball was just below the fence but was a two base. Lin walked to set up runners on first and second but here Asao was lucky. Kanoh swung too soon and flew out to centre and then Takahashi (pinch hitter and replacement first) grounded out easily to short to end the innings. Tigers should have made more of this opportunity against some very ordinary pitching. For Dragons ninth we had the strange spectacle of Sajikihara taking the mound - no Fujikawa? He gave up a hit to Tanishige and then threw a wild pitch to take the Dragons catcher to second. Tatsunami (pinch hitter) grounded out to second and Tanishige was round to third. Ibata was next and he basically struck out but the plate umpire had forgotten what a strike zone was and gave him a walk. This brought up Araki who turned an inside pitch nicely off his hip for a left hit 4-2 Dragons, runners on first and second. Morino grounded out but now Dragons had a commanding lead. For Tigers ninth of course we had Iwase. He wasn't so good and after striking out Asai (more inept batting) gave up a two base hit to Sekimoto (pinch hitter). Once again Tigers had an opportunity to score and once again they blew it. Toritani grounded out weakly as did Kanemoto to end the innings. Dragons victory.

An inability to hit with runners on against an ordinary attack had cost Tigers the game. Dragons had played better and Yoshimi has pitched better - something that you can say of all the Dragons pitching. Tigers had their opportunities but squandered them whilst Dragons were able to take theirs. The handling of the relief was strange to say the least and given that Mayumi has now managed 120 games it is disturbing to see that he hasn't learned how to do this yet. This suggests his unsuitability for the management role and is worrying as he is likely to be asked to manage for another year. One can always hope that someone sees the light but it isn't looking likely at the moment.