June 5th Tsuru v Yamamoto - A bad day in the field

When people in Japan want to comment on a really bad performance by a team they sometimes say the team is 'playing junior high school baseball'. This was exactly the case with Tigers this game. After fighting back nicely from 3 runs down, the fielding proceeded to disintergrate and there were so many errors by Tigers players that they equalled the number of runs scored by the team. The relief pitching was also very poor indeed and what should have been a straightforward win against a lesser team turned into an embarrassing display. Scores

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Buffaloes  0 0 0 3 0 0 3 1 2 9 13 0
Tigers     0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 4  8 1

Starting lineups

Buffaloes
1. Sakaguchi (Centre)
2. Arakane (Right)
3. Gotoh (Second)
4. T. Okada (Left)
5. Kitagawa (First)
6. Hidaka (Catcher)
7. Ikki (Third)
8. Yamamoto (Pitcher)
9. Ohbiki (Short)

Tigers
1. Toritani (Short)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Asai (Centre)
9. Tsuru (Pitcher)

Tsuru started nicely striking out Sakaguchi looking. He then dead balled Arakane on the hand - it looked quite painful and Arakane needed to leave the field for treatment, returning a few minutes later to take his place at first. T. Okada walked but with only one out to get Tsuru was able to persuade Kitagawa to fly out. In contrast Tigers first was quiet as Yamamoto retired the batters in order. The Buffaloes second was also quiet as was the Tigers second. The third followed the same pattern - Tsuru mostly getting his victims to ground out whilst Yamamoto had more flyouts. At this stage no team had had a hit.

Things changed in Buffaloes fourth. Gotoh hit to centre and then Tsuru walked T. Okada to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Kitagawa struck out but Hidaka got a straight ball which he latched onto and deposited it in the right stand for a three run home run 3-0 Buffaloes. Ikki flew out and then Yamamoto struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers needed to respond immediately and they did just that. With Toritani back in the dugout, Hirano hit a two base along the right line which beat first. Murton flew out and Hirano tagged up and got to third safely. Arai was next and after a battle with Yamamoto got hold of a pitch and turned it along the left baseline where it just stayed the right side of the foul pole for a two run home run 3-2 Buffaloes. Then came Brazell who hit a straight solo home run 3-3 scores tied. Johjima hit to left but tried to turn it into a two base - Okada was on it and threw to second who was waiting for Johjima as he slid in - tagged out and the innings was over. Johjima needs to be careful - he's not that fast. Still the lead had disappeared and Tigers could be happy. They could be even happier at the end of the fifth when they had a lucky escape from a situation their incompetence had put them in. Ohbiki hit but was forced out when Sakaguchi grounded out to Tsuru. The double play didn't come off though and Sakaguchi was safe on first. Arakane was next and he broke his bat, grounding out to Tsuru who threw to Toritani at second. Toritani failed to take and the runner was safe. Gotoh then hit to Toritani who this time threw poorly to Hirano at second and the ball spilled and the bases were loaded. This was the end of Tsuru - the coaches felt he wouldn't get out of this situation. Kawasaki took the mound and T. Okada hit straight to Brazell at first. Brazell threw to Johjima who tagged home and then threw back to Brazell for the double play. Tigers had escaped. In contrast Tigers fifth was quiet with two of the three batters striiking out. Uezono pitched Buffaloes sixth and he retired the batters in order. However, he doesn't look entirely happy as a reliever. In Tigers sixth Hirano, tried a cheeky bunt hit along the first baseline and beat the throw. He was forced out by Murton and then Murton wandered off base and was tagged out. It rather looked like a half-hearted steal that had gone wrong. Certainly, it didn't look very competent and once again one was reminded of junior high school baseball.


Uezono returned for Buffaloes seventh and was rapidly in trouble - all self-generated. With one out he walked Ohbiki. Sakaguchi hit nicely to left but the double play was on. Taguchi (pinch hitter) hit to Toritani who juggled the ball before throwing to first which meant that the double play didn't happen. More poor play. Gotoh was next and he hit to left to bring home the runner on third 4-3 Buffaloes, runners on first and second. It was time for a pitching change and Uezono left the mound to be replaced by Egusa. He just cannot get on with Johjima for some reason but even so his first pitch was truely awful, 122 kmh slider in the middle of the strike zone. T. Okada, the batter, accepted the gift and hit nicely to right centre for a bases clearing double 6-3 Buffaloes. Kitagawa grounded out to third to end a not very distinguished innings for the Tigers. Okada then switched his pitchers for Tigers seventh. Hirano replaced Yamamoto and got Arai to strike out. Brazell hit to left and was only going to take one base (unlike Johjima he does not have any illusions about his speed) but the ball hit the wall and rolled round the sand path. Taguchi (replacement left) missed the ball and Brazell made second. Johjima grounded out but then Sakurai hit to left and Brazell was home 6-4 Buffaloes, runner on first. Kanemoto (pinch hitter) followed with Hiyama warming up but Kanemoto struck out and the innings was over. Egusa's next innings (Buffaloes eighth) was just as bad as his previous one. Hidaka hit to centre and then was bunted to second by Ikki. Arakane then hit into centre field where Shunsuke Fujikawa (replacement centre) then failed to take a straightforward chance, 7-4 Buffaloes, runner on second. The next two batters fell quickly but the damage was done. Buffaloes had a comfortable margin again. Tigers eighth was pitched by Hirano again and he walked Hirano. Nothing came of this and the innings was scoreless. Sugiyama was the pitcher for the Buffaloes ninth and was, well Sugiyama. No control and no chance of any control. He started with a leadoff hit to Taguchi. Next Gotoh hit and then Sugiyama walked T. Okada to load the bases with no outs. Go Kida (pinch hitter) hit to right to bring home a runner 8-4 Buffaloes, bases loaded. Then Hidaka also hit to right 9-4 Buffaloes, bases loaded. Shiozaki hit into a double play - once again the ball going to Johjima to get the runner from third and thence to first. No run scored but runners on second and third. Finally Akada flew out but Tigers were totally beaten by now. Kishida pitched Tigers ninth and gave up a two out hit to Johjima but was otherwise untroubled. Sakurai was the last batter and he struck out swinging to end the game. Buffaloes victory.

Tigers fielding had not been up to standard at all and it had cost them dearly. Mayumi wielded the axe quickly with Sugiyama, Egusa, Tsuru and the ineffective Katsuragi all being sent down to ni-gun. Kanemura, Tsutsui, Takahashi and Lin replaced them. It is nice to see Lin back in the top team at last but it remains to be seen how much he can do. Tigers need to work on their fielding - errors do happen but the number of errors in this game was far too many. Okada was happy, though, he had beaten his old team 3-1.