September 15th Iwata v Yoshimi - Interference

Did Blanco intefere with Arai's throw and cheat? The resounding answer is yes he did. Clearly Blanco was out - however, he continued to run the base path and blocked Arai's throw to home. He then continued along the path ensuring that Arai would not be able to retrieve the ball (which was an outside chance anyway). The correct solution to this would have been for Ibata to be given out as well but the umpires made a dreadful error. Japanese umpires are actually very poor in dealing with cheating especially with interference. They don't know the rules and so try and ignore the situations in which it occurs. A more vigorous protest from Mayumi would have been welcome but he seems content to douse any fire or passion his team might have and that includes him himself. If truth be told the umpires had a terrible game and the second major error by the second base umpire in ruling Tanishige safe was appalling. The umpire was far too quick with his decision and then like most of them do, once he had made it was not going to change it. Tigers despite their errors can consider themselves robbed and the Koshien umpires who had raised their standards recently had dropped themselves back into the mud. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Yamato (Third)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (First)
5. Murton (Right)
6. Shibata (Centre)
7. Lin (Left)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Mayumi continues to employ his favourites and the worthless Shibata was gifted with a No. 6 opening slot. He isn't a No. 6 batter and throughout the game was useless with the bat like he has been all season. The far superior Shunsuke has been dropped down to the second team because of 'performance issues'. Why then is Shibata still in the top team as he has more than enough 'performance issues' for the whole team. Dragons first started with a hit to third by Araki. Yamato was a bit slow off his base and his throw was poor (the reason Arai was moved to first). Araki was safe. Ibata tried the bunt and this was pathetic. The ball dropped down nicely for Fujii to pick up and throw to second for the force out. Toritani threw to first for the double play and Dragons had two outs. In fact their bunting would be poor throughout the game. Finally, Morino grounded out to Iwata. Hirano led off Tigers first hitting to first. Blanco made a complete mess of the take and Hirano was safe. He was bunted to second by Yamato - a sure fire sign of failure and so it proved. Toritani grounded out to Yoshimi and then Arai swung at his first pitch and flew out in foul ground. A very stupid shot, Arai needs to remember the principle of not swinging at the first pitch. Iwata then struck out the next three batters in the Dragons lineup making the second a quiet innings. It was an excellent display and showed Iwata at his best. Murton led off Tigers second with a hit and made second on Shibata's bunt. He made third on Lin's ground out but the next batter was Fujii and he can't hit for toffee. As expected he flew out. Tigers do need power lower down the order and not speed. These lightweights that Mayumi prefers only get in the way of run generation. In Hoshino's day we had Arias and Yano, Okada had Sakurai and Yano - batters who could hit. We now have Shibata and Fujii. Still Iwata was pitching well and keeping Tigers in the game. Dragons third saw two more strike outs with Araki being caught looking by a superb outswinger. Tigers third was also quiet with Yoshimi beginning to get into his stride.

Dragons fourth saw Araki ground out and then Ibata had a bit of luck. He swung at a pitch and his bat broke and what had been a centre fly became a centre hit landing out of reach of Toritani. Morino then also managed to put the ball over the infield into no mans land. This looked a bit more planned than Ibata's lucky swing and Dragons had runners on first and third. Then came Blanco's interference - he hit straight to Arai at first. Arai stepped on the sack and then threw to Fujii at home. Blanco hadn't reached the three foot path yet and moved to block the ball which he did successfully. Ibata reached home behind Fujii as Arai stared in disbelief. All the umpires would award was a first ground out 1-0 Dragons, runner on second. This was an embarrassment, umpires that ignorant of the rules of the game officiating in a top level contest. Mayumi did come out to query the decision but it all seemed passionless and one wished for a Seibu reaction (the manager of the Lions in one Japan series match pulled his team off until the umpires admitted their mistake and apologised). Several Dragons players also had the decency to look sheepish as well. The final batter of the innings was Wada who flew out to right. Dragons had taken an undeserved lead. Toritani led off Tigers fourth with a two base hit to left making second safely. Next was Arai who seems to want to hit everything straight out of the ground. Once again he should have left his first pitch alone as he flew out to centre. Murton drew a walk and it looked like Tigers would do something useful. But....the next batter was Shibata. He grounded out to second and Dragons tried to work the double play. This didn't come off and while Murton was forced out Ibata fell over him in his attempt to make the throw and Shibata was safe with Toritani on third. Lin swung at his first pitch and flew out to left - another one who needs to learn to leave the first pitch alone and the chance was gone. Errors were now flowing thick and freely and the Dragons fifth was perhaps the piece de resistance. Tanishige led off the innings with a lucky hit over the infield. Next was Hirata who bunted infield. Yamato threw to Toritani who was unbalanced as he took the ball and took his foot off second base. However, he was able to put it back on the base well before Tanishige slid in and hold it there as Tanishige touched the base - an out. The second base umpire missed this and ruled Tanishige safe. Another very poor piece of umpiring and indicative of the amateurishness of the umpiring performance that night. Toritani was rightly amazed but this time Mayumi didn't protest. So Dragons had runners on first and second with no outs. Ochiai decided that another bunt was in order and Ohshima duly bunted into the left infield. Iwata picked up and threw to Arai at first but the throw was abysmal and well above Arai's reach. This was an Iwata error and no one elses. Dragons of course took legitimate advantage of this and both runners made home 3-0 Dragons runner on second. A dismal bit of play. Yoshimi bunted Ohshima to third and the Dragons had the chance of a sacrifice. However, Iwata reacted well and struck out Araki to end that danger. Ibata flew out to centre to end the innings. Dragons were three runs ahead without having actually driven in a run. Tigers fifth saw Yoshimi face the bottom of the order and he had no problems with Fujii or Iwata. His main threat was Hirano who hit to third but the ball was plucked out of the air by Morino for the final out. Thankfully in Dragons sixth there were no more errors and even though Blanco hit with one out he stayed on first. Tigers sixth was also quiet with Yamato misjudging a pitch and leaving it to strike out looking. He really messed up with this one.

Iwata got another chance to pitch in Dragons seventh and immediately gave up a centre hit to Hirata. Ohshima bunted him to second and then Yoshimi struck out swinging. A wild pitch from the tiring Iwata took Hirata to third but Araki grounded out to short to end the innings. Tigers seventh saw Murton, Shibata the useless and Lin all fail and was over quickly. Given how Iwata had struggled in the Dragons seventh it would have been wise to rest him. However, a vindictive Mayumi sent him in again to pitch the eighth. Once again a Dragons batter managed a lead off hit, this one being by Ibata. Morino bunted him to second and it seems that Mayumi is not the only idiot who has his number three bunt. Blanco struck out swinging looking totally out of his depth but then Koike (replacement left) took a painful dead ball on his shoulder. Iwata was visibly tiring. Still he only had to face Tanishige who flew out to left to end the innings. Yoshimi was now in a position to go for a complete game shutout and with only 78 pitches thrown was in a far better position to pitch the eighth than Iwata. He faced Saka (pinch hitter) and why Saka was considered suitable for this role escapes me - he's only had one game back. More Mayumi strangeness. Saka duly struck out which brought up Kanemoto (pinch hitter). This was much better as Kanemoto professionally worked the count full and then hammered the ball into the right stand for a solo home run 3-1 Dragons. This really was a good at bat and ended the chance of a shutout. Hirano grounded out to Yoshimi hitting his first pitch. Finally, Hiyama (pinch hitter) flew out to centre to end the innings. At least Iwata did not return for Dragons ninth and was replaced by Enokida. He struck out Hirata and Ohshima nicely before getting Ohyama to ground out to second. For Tigers ninth, Ochiai didn't use Yoshimi - there was no point and it was better to bring on one of his relief. This time though he didn't use Iwase but Asao and it may be that Dragons are easing Asao into the closers role as Iwase fades. Toritani grounded out but Arai hit a two base into left. Murton needed to go for a home run as the last legitimate home run batter but instead tried to hit along the ground and grounded out to third A poor piece of thinking by Tigers number five. The final batter was Shibata who had survived the whole game despite his lacklustre performance. He struck out swinging to end the game. Dragons victory.

All Dragons runs had come from other peoples mistakes not from their own efforts but this shouldn't obscure the fact that Yoshimi had pitched well and deserved his victory. Tigers had made too many errors and in a resurgence of a previous issue swung at too many first pitches. They didn't get any help from a terrible umpiring peformance and a complaint will be sent to the umpire's organisation. Tigers now have no chance of winning the pennant and are struggling to even finish A class this year. With Nashida available it would be worth their while to see if he's amenable to taking one of the two top management jobs in Japanese baseball. Of course, this would mean dumping Mayumi and his team but then this can't come soon enough. Tigers are now below .500 again and with all the talent they have this is nothing short of scandalous.