April 17th Shimoyanagi v Nelson - The home for old and distressed Tigers

Despite all of Mayumi's mouthings about younger players this team is getting older and older. With young players such as Lin languishing on the sidelines one believes in Mayumi's managerial ability less and less (though the belief was never very strong). Mayumi decided to rest Johjima which meant that his protégée Fujii got his first start as Tigers catcher. And yes this is another Noguchi in the making - the fact that Tigers weren't beaten by a bigger score was due to the offensively challenged Dragons not Fujii's calling. With Fujii Dragons had base runners on throughout the game and considerably more than Tigers (12 to 4). Ostensibly the reason for playing Fujii was that Johjima was fatigued and needed to rest his knee. In which case it would have been better to give Shimizu or Komiyama a game but neither is in the top team at the moment (I may not think much of this pair but they are young). Kanoh is still injured and unlikely to appear as catcher this season at all. The folly of playing Fujii was compounded by inserting him at No. 7 ahead of a much better batter. Mayumi has a rigid idea that a catcher bats No. 7 no matter if he's a better batter (Johjima and Kanemoto) or a worse batter (Fujii and Shunsuke). The final idiocy was the use of Fukuhara as pitcher for the 10th innings - a case of the blind leading the blind. It would have been nice to win the first series at Nagoya Dome and with Johjima catching it would have been possible. With Fujii in such a tight game there was no chance. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 0 3 0
Dragons  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1x 1 8 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Fujii (Catcher)
8. Shunsuke (Centre)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

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

One questions why Shimoyanagi was starting and not Akiyama but the latter has been judged not ready to start the season yet. As it was Shimoyanagi pitched his best start for ages even though he needed a lot of luck to survive the crises that cropped up. Nelson though was better and coupled with a superior catcher Dragons were able to take a stranglehold on the game. They were getting the runners on base and they could afford to wait. Tigers batting dried up as Nagoya Dome sucked the life out of the team imposing its tedium on all who were playing. In Tigers first we saw Toritani hit but then Arai struck out to end the innings. Araki led off Dragons first with a walk and then stole second rather easily - Fujii having no arm to talk about. Neither Morino nor Wada could convert though and the innings was scoreless. In Tigers second Fujii had his first hit for Tigers with two out. Shunsuke couldn't convert and grounded out. In Dragons second Blanco hit but was extinguished by Ohshima's third ground out which did not become a double play. Ohshima's then stole second but this time Tanishige couldn't convert and the innings was also scoreless. Murton managed to make first on a wild pitch (his third strike) with one out but HIrano hit into a double play and Tigers third was over. Nelson drew a walk to lead off Dragons third but then Araki hit into a double play to end that chance. However, Shimoyanagi then gave up a two base hit to Ibata. Morino managed to fly out and end the innings.

So far Tigers had managed to ride their luck which was good because base runners were hard to find. The fourth was a case in point - batters falling 1-2-3. Dragons fourth was similar and we arrived at the fifth - Tigers last chance. Nelson was woolgathering and gave up a lead off hit to Kanemoto and then walked Fujii - runners on first and second. This woke him up and following pitching was excellent striking out the next three batters in a row. Shimoyanagi then did a similar thing giving up a lead off hit to Ohshima and a left hit to Tanishige. Both these were off his first pitches which suggested that Fujii didn't know what he should be calling. Once again though the following batters couldn't convert and even though Shimoyanagi wasn't up to strike outs his pitching was effective in preserving the scoreless tie. Tigers sixth saw the batters fall in order yet again. Shimoyanagi was more effective in Dragons sixth and he retired the batters in order as well.

The pitching duel continued into the seventh. No Tiger made base. However, it wasn't the same for Dragons seventh. With Blanco out the pairing of Ohshima and Tanishige had back to back hits yet again. Fukuda (pinch hitter) struck out swinging but Araki walked to load the bases. Here was a big challenge and thankfully Ibata flew out to Brazell in foul ground. Tigers had escaped seven innings of Shimoyanagi. He had done better than last season but had lived dangerously, not helped by the inadequate catcher as well. Asao took the mound for Tigers eighth and retired the batters in order. For Dragons eighth Kubota reigned supreme dispatching his three batters with ease though not throwing at full speed. Tigers ninth saw Iwase who struck out two on his way to a scoreless innings. Kobayashi pitched Dragons ninth and retired the batters in order and with two out gave up a hit to Tanishige. This didn't result in anything and the innings was scoreless the game moving into extra innings again.

This time extra innings didn't last too long. M. Kobyashi replaced Iwase on the mound for Dragons and retired the first two batters he faced. Then Suzuki took over and wrapped up Tigers tenth by getting Fujii to ground out. On to Dragons tenth and the abysmal Fukuhara who had given notice the day before that he was there to be hit. Coupled with Fujii this was a disaster in the making. The first two outs fell but then Morino walked. He was pinch run for by Kuramoto. Next was Wada who hit deep and far the ball hitting the left wall above Asai's jump. Kuramoto tore round the bases reaching home safely 1-0 Dragons and sayonara victory.

It had been tight but only because the Dragons had not taken advantage of their chances. Tigers batters had been prevented from hitting but the playing of both Fujii and Fukuhara have to be said to be big mistakes - what was Fujii doing trying to employ Fukuhara's slider in that situation? It's not a good ball and the one that is often hit. Fukuhara should be second team bound, he just doesn't have the ability to pitch at the highest level anymore. The good news is that Johjima intends to start the next series against the Giants.