May 16th Standridge v Tanaka - Do we really need this moron?

By moron I refer to Mayumi - he was a fine leadoff batter for Tigers - in fact fantastic but as manager he is of the idiot level. His pitching selections are strange the timng is difficult to understand. Against the two worst sides in the Pacific League he has managed one victory only - why Tigers persist with Standridge at the moment is totally incomprehensible. Mayumi talks about introducing new and young talent but then does nothing. If anything Ma Tanaka was even worse than Iwakuma but came through with a victory against a stonger side. Given the non-entities and has beens who currently populate Rakuten Tigers should have won easily but then they couldn't beat the non-existent Fighters so in a way it's not surprising. Spending four billion yen on Johjima is no good if Mayumi is not up to it. Scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Golden Eagles  1 1 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 7 10 0
Tigers         0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3  5 1 

Starting lineups

Golden Eagles
1. Hijirisawa (Centre)
2. Takasu (Second)
3. Tsuchiya (Right)
4. N. Nakamura (Third)
5. Kusano (Left)
6. Yamasaki (First)
7. Shima (Catcher)
8. N. Watanabe
9. Tanaka (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Johjima (Catcher)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Katsuragi (Left)
8. Shunsuke Fujikawa (Right)
9. Standridge

Firstly, a question about Shunsuke Fujikawa. What does he add to the team? He's young, this is true, but does he actually add value? He can get on base but he can't steal. He doesn't really hit that often either. He's not on base that often if truth be told so why do we see so much of him? Mayumi doesn't really like Hirano but is forced to include him because he's so good. Shunsuke Fujikawa is one of the manager's favourites and isn't in the team for what he actually offers. What we need to see is Tigers using their young pitchers correctly. However, Mayumi doesn't understand at all. Once again we saw Standridge start - he had a fair amount of bad luck but really wasn't up to it against what is basically a fifth rate team. Under Nomura, Golden Eagles could amount to something, under Brown they revert to the level they actually are. Rakuten's first - Hijirisawa grounds out but Arai's throw is poor. Brazell is drawn off base and the runner is safe. He is bunted to second and then Tsuchiya gets a dead ball. This is dubious to say the least as the replay shows no impact. So far Standridge has enjoyed awful luck but then he faces Norihiro Nakamura who hits nicely to centre 1-0 Golden Eagles runners on first and third. Kusano hits straight to Brazell who takes the catch and tags the base to get Nakamura who was standing off base - end of innings and a lucky escape. Tigers first is quiet. None of the batters seem able to deal with Tanaka. Standridge starts Golden Eagles second by giving up a two base hit to Yamasaki. Shima grounds out but manages to move the runner to third. However, Standridge lets go a wild pitch which Johjima can't take and the runner is home 2-0 Golden Eagles. Through Tigers poor pitching the opposition have a lead. Watanabe then grounds out - once again to the superlative Hirano (who remember Mayumi doesn't really like)and then Tanaka strikes out. Arai leads Tigers second off with a two base hit to left. This is a nice hit and a nice opportunity. He advances to third on Johjima's centre fly - this is nice competent baseball. Arai is using the opportunity well. Then things go wrong. Brazell is unlucky - he hits to right but it just drifts foul. He continues his at bat and strikes out. Remember what I wrote about Brazell needing to hit with runners on. He strikes out swinging to a superb pitch from Tanaka. Katsuragi is a joke - his strike out is an embarrassment - swinging at a pitch nowhere near his bat and with no hope of an impact. In Golden Eagles third the first two batters fall easily. Then Tsuchiya and Nakamura both hit to centre. Next batter Kusano - who frankly doesn't amount to much and takes a swing. He hits and normally this would drift foul but this one stays in for a three run home run 5-0 Golden Eagles. Totally lucky even with the way Standridge is pitching - one still has to ask why are we paying him so much? Yamasaki strikes out looking to end the innings but the game is out of sight. Wel actually it isn't. With two out in Tigers third, Murton walks. Hirano punches one to right and we have runners on first and second. Next is Toritani who hits nicely to left centre and both runners are home 5-2 Golden Eagles, runner on second. Arai really needs to repeat his first at bat but he strikes out swinging to end the innings. Opportunity missed but Tanaka pitched nicely.

Standridge returns for Golden Eagles fourth and surprisingly does rather well. He retires the batters in order. Johjima then starts Tiges fourth with a strike out. Brazell is next and he hits his fourteenth home run, unfortunately a solo 5-3 Golden Eagles. Brazell has now hit five solos in a row but failed as many times with runners on. We really need him to hit with runners on - the solos are nice but do not deliver what Tigers need. Katsuragi hits and it looks like Tigers are in with a chance. Shunsuke Fujikawa strikes out and then Kanemoto (pinch hitter) also strikes out. These were legitimate though others were questionable. For Golden Eagles fifth we saw Kawasaki and this turned out to be a good choice by Mayumi. He did walk Takasu with one out but then got the next two batters to ground out. Having got three runs in the third and fourth one expected Tigers to exploit Tanaka's obvious falibility with some intelligent batting. This was not to happen - Tigers fifth saw all three batters far too eager to hit anything and everything. Tanaka only needed four pitches to get out of the innings. Kawasaki returned for Golden Eagles sixth and got Kusano to ground out to first. Here Mayumi made the inexplicable decision to switch him for Ishikawa. Why did this happen? Kawasaki was pitching well and would have got the next two outs. If he truely needed to be replaced surely there was no need to have him pitch the first out of the sixth. What was Mayumi thinking? So Ishikawa is the next pitcher and he stinks. From a fairly comfotable situation in which we have a good chance of winning the game we go to a situation in which we have no chance of winning. Yamasaki hits to left and then Shima walks. All due to poor pitching. This gets worse as Ishikawa lets fly a loose pitch which puts runners on second and third. Watanabe then bounces one off his foot which is called a foul even though it rolls forward. Surely Mayumi should have challenged the umpire here - it was not a foul ball but a hit. Watanabe then gets a lucky hit on a pitch and puts it into left field 6-3 Golden Eagles runners on first and third but Tanaka is next. Ishikawa's next pitch is truely abysmal and Tanaka bounces it past him for a timely centre hit 7-3 Golden Eagles runners on first and second. Tigers pitchers are really pitching poorly if Pacific League pitchers like Masui and Tanaka are able to drive in runs. Watanabe tries to steal third and is thrown out - no thanks to Ishikawa. Finally Hijirisawa strikes out but really an unnecessary pitching change has screwed the situation up. Tigers sixth which should have been a fightback with four, five and six is a procesion of outs. Tanaka is good in striking out Jojima but both Arai an Brazell should have done better.

Egusa pitches Golden Eagles seventh and his style confounds the batters and the umpire but he still managese to retired the batters 1-2-3. Tigers seventh is similarly poor and finishes with Mitsunobu Takahashi flying out in foul ground. As a pinch hitter he is currently a bit comical and really needs to lift his game. For Golden Eagles Mayumi chooses Tsuru. Now he is supposed to be a starter so using him in relief is not a good idea. Probably using him instead of Standridge as the starter for this game would have been appropriate. Golden Eagles are not that good and he would have pitched competently. Anyway Yamasaki hits to centre and here is the proof that they are not that good. Yamasaki puts the hit over Murton but only manages one base on what should have been an easy two base. The next two batters do nothing and the innings is quickly over. Katayama pitches Tigers eighth and does really well striking out all three batters. For Golden Eagles ninth Tsuru returns and gives up a hit to Uchimura (replacement second). This doesn't amount to anything and the innings is scoreless. Tigers ninth is pitched by Kawagishi who has an easy job of it. He walks Arai but then Johjima manages a double play, always a morale booster for the pitcher in the final innings. Brazell is next but all he can do is ground out to end the game. Golden Eagles victory.

One would think that given the score and the fact that Standridge once again stunk that the victory was deserved. However, this is not the case - Golden Eagles were lucky to win even with Tanaka who actually wasn't as good as Iwakuma. A lot of scoring hits were fortunate and the selection of Tigers pitchers was strange. This is Mayumi's second year as a manager and if he is still making mistakes over his selection of pitchers then something really is wrong. Tigers really do need to dump him as soon as they can.