June 7th Standridge v Sugiuchi - The first tied game

Once again Mayumi failed to use the relief at the appropriate time and blew another victory. This was especially frustrating as it would have been against Hawk's best pitcher. Standridge had pitched seven good innings but there was no point in putting him in for an eighth. Mayumi still needs to learn when to pull his starters and when to use his relief. The eighth innings should have been pitched by either Nishimura or Watanabe with Kyuji pitching the ninth. It shouldn't have been pitched by a tired Standridge. Mayumi does not trust his relief pitchers and because he does not trust them they do not respond to him. However, his starters cannot pitch for ever and do need to rest especially if they are to be still able to perform later in the season. Therefore, Mayumi really does need to use his relief in the appropriate situation - it was nice that Kubo got a complete game the night before but it was unnecessary. It wasn't a shutout and the lead was big. Here the lead was one run and to put a tired pitcher on against a batter who has already hit a home run against him could be said to be ill-considered and also unnecessary. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Hawks   0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0  0  0  0 3 10 2
Tigers  0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0  0  0  0 3  7 1

Starting lineups

Hawks
1. Kawasaki (Short)
2. Honda (Second)
3. Ortiz (Third)
4. Matsunaka (Left)
5. Petagine (First)
6. Hasegawa (Centre)
7. Akashi (Right)
8. Yamazaki (Catcher)
9. Sugiuchi (Pitcher)

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. Standridge (Pitcher)

Standridge against his old side and against Hawks best pitcher. This was certainly a mouthwatering prospect and proved to be an interesting game. Kawasaki led off the first innings with a hit but then tried to steal second. He was out and the next two batters fell easily with the dangerous Ortiz striking out to end the innings. Toritani led off the bottom with a grounder to first which Hawks messed up allowing him on base. Hirano bunted him to second and if there has been one benefit of the Mayumi regime it has been the reduction in the number of bunts laid down by Tigers players though we have seen some strange ones (Johjima bunting for example). The second started quietly enough with Matsunaka flying out but then Petagine hit to centre. Akashi hit to left - a two base which put runners on second and third. With Yamazaki next it was decided to deliberately walk him to load the bases and get at Sugiuchi. This was a wise move on the face of it but it unnerved Standridge who found it difficult to focus. With two strikes he threw a high pitch that was intended to go over the swing but instead intersected with it. The ball went through the infield into left and the runner was home 1-0 Hawks, bases loaded. Kawasaki grounded out to end the innings. Whilst, it had seemed logical to walk a poor batter to get at an even worse one it hadn't worked out that way. Brazell entered Tigers second swinging and luckily for him Sugiuchi's RBI had gone to his head. He let fly a wild pitch which Brazell swung at and then set off for first. As Yamazaki couldn't take it Brazell was safe on first. Johjima hit to third and made first safely but Sakurai struck out. Next was Asai who in his brief time in the first team (before injury) showed an ability to hit powerfully. He took three balls before hitting his first strike into centre for a run 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Standridge struck out looking on a full count and then Toritani tried to direct his first pitch past first but failed and the innings was over. Hawks hadn't enjoyed their lead for long but would restore it next innings. Honda lined out but then Ortiz hit a big solo home run to centre 2-1 Hawks. Standridge was somewhat aggreived by this and dead balled poor Matsunaka (probably not deliberate). He then let fly a wild pitch which took Matsunaka to second. Petagine struck out but Hasegawa walked. Another wild pitch followed which took the runners to second and third. It looked like Standridge was about to throw the game away but he settled down and struck out Akashi to end the innings and escape. Sugiuchi was still suffering the effects of his RBI and walked Murton and then Brazell but got out of the third without damage.

Standridge having established something resembling control, the Hawks fourth was straightforward - the batters fell in order. Tigers fourth wasn't so good for Sugiuchi. With Sakurai out he faced Asai who had previously taken three runs off him in the five times they had faced. This at bat Asai hit hard to right centre for a solo home run 2-2 scores tied. Standridge struck out and then Toritani flew out and the innings was over but the lead was gone. With two out in Hawks fifth Matsunaka fouled a pitch off his knee and collapsed on the ground in pain. He had to be stretchered off and his at bat finished by Egawa who flew out. One of those rare occasions when a pitcher faces four batters in an innings. Hirano led off Tigers fifth with a hit. Murton hit to third and then a wild pitch took the runners to second and third. Next was Brazell who hit a fly to left. Hirano tagged up and made home safely 3-2 Tigers, runner on second and the lead. Johjima flew out to centre and the innings was over. With the lead in Tigers hands, Standridge needed to protect it and did so very effectively - he did give up a hit to Akashi in Hawks sixth with two out but the latter didn't get beyond first and the innings was scoreless. Tigers sixth saw Standridge reach first on Honda's error but nothing came of this either.

Standridge returned for the Hawks seventh and retired the batters in order. He had managed to pitch well over his seven innings. Sugiuchi didn't pitch Tigers seventh - he was pinch hit in the top and replaced by Kattoh. Arai hit to left but with two out and Brazell next it was unlikely that a run would result and so it proved. Hawks had two innings to salvage a game that was running away from them. You expected the pitcher to be one of Tigers relief with Fujikawa in the ninth. Standridge had pitched well but with 109 pitches over seven innings and a one run lead it was time to replace him. Mayumi did no such thing but sent him into the eighth where he faced Ortiz. Ortiz hit his third pitch nicely to left centre for a two base hit. He would be pinch run for by Kidokono as Hawks switched into desperation mode. To Mayumi's credit he acted quickly and took off Standridge to bring on Fujikawa - probably the best choice with no outs and a runner on second. Egawa bunted the runner to third but then Fujikawa struck out Petagine. Next was Hasegawa who hit straight back at Fujikawa who was not able to take cleanly and fell backwards onto his butt. By the time he had the ball in his glove Kidokono was home and Hasegawa safe on first 3-3 scores tied. Fujikawa had blown another lead but one can't really blame him - the hit was rather lucky to say the least. The fault lay with Mayumi who shouldn't have put Standridge in for an eighth. Akashi who had had a good game up to that point took full advantage of the shock to hit another two base and Hawks had runners on second and third with two outs. Fujikawa made sure that they didn't get anymore runs striking out Yamazaki to end the innings. Tigers eighth saw more strange management. Sakurai a home run batter was replaced by Hiyama (pinch hitter) who rarely hits home runs nowadays and Asai who had driven in two runs was replaced by Kanemoto for his regular streak preserving appearance. The pitcher was Settsu who had no trouble retiring the batters. Maybe neither Sakurai or Asai would have done anything but it is an unusual time to bring in your pinch hitters especially as Kanemoto is only there to preserve the streak - as a pinch hitter he has not been effective. In Hawks ninth we saw Kawasaki hit and steal second as Fujikawa struck out the other three Hawks batters he faced. Settsu retired the three batters in the Tigers ninth without too much trouble.

For Hawks tenth we saw a pitcher who probably should have pitched the eighth if Mayumi had gotten it right - Watanabe. He struck out the first two batters and then got Hasegawa to ground out to short for a very effective innings. Tigers tenth was pitched by the formidable Falkenborg who struck out all three batters, Murton, Arai and Watanabe, the former two trying to hit the winning run. Watanabe returned for Hawks eleventh and with one out Toritani messed a straightforward ground out. Morimoto (pinch hitter) instantly bunted the runner to second but Kawasaki grounded out to second to end the innings. Falkenborg was replaced by Mahara for the Tigers eleventh. Johjima grounded out but Yamato (replacement second) hit. This brought Lin (pinch hitter) to the plate but he grounded into a double play to end the innings. Nishimura replaced Watanabe for Hawks twelfth and got Honda to fly out and then struck out the next two batters - Hawks couldn't win. Unfortunately, for Tigers Mahara was just as effective and struck out Sekimoto (replacement first) and Toritani before getting Hirano to ground out and end the game. Tied game.

Well Tigers hadn't lost and they had done well against Sugiuchi. The handling of the pitchers by Mayumi had been a problem and seems to be an inbuilt fault with him. He wants his starters to go on too long and doesn't use his relief. In fact his handling of the pitchers does show an insecurity and lack of awareness of their abilities. Hawks were fortunate to walk away with this tie as the tying run had been rather lucky. Tigers took the series against them 2-1-1 which is satisfactory. This was the last interleague game at Koshien for the year as the next two series are away at Seibu Dome and Chiba Marine Stadium.