September 19th Standridge v Fukui - A terrible day

This was a game that Tigers fans would like to forget. An embarrassingly bad performance coupled with poor management decisions and poor pitching and calling. I wrote about Fujii and maybe not using him anymore this series in my previous post. Once again he had to be replaced (not that it generated much improvement) but he should have been replaced earlier, after the first innings. The same goes for Standridge - he was left in far too long given the evidence that he was failing. Standridge did talk about having no strength in his arm after the game and one has to lay this at the door of Mayumi's casual over-pitching of him earlier in the season. Chasing milestones is all very well but you want your pitchers to be able to go the entire season not melt down in the closing stretch. There is a precedent for this as he did collapse in his second season at Hawks and Standridge hasn't won since July. With Kubo also out of action Tigers rotation is looking decidedly threadbare.

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  4 14 2
Carp    2 0 5 0 3 0 0 2 X 12 21 0

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Kimura (Short)
3. Matsuyama (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Maru (Right)
6. Akamatsu (Centre)
7. Matsumoto (Third)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Fukui (Pitcher)

The game started well as Tigers faced their favourite pitcher, Fukui who tends to fall apart when he faces Tigers. Today was no different. Hirano hit to right and was bunted to second by Shibata. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second but Arai struck out swinging. Brazell hit right and brought home Hirano 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Next was Murton who hit over the fence to left for a three run home run 4-0 Tigers. Kanemoto hit to right and Fujii to centre as Fukui was trly dreadful but he final batter of the innings was Standridge and he flew out. Carp's first innings ought to have been the warning sign - Higashide led off with a hit. Kimura hit to right to set up runners on first and third. Then Matsuyama singled right bringing in a run 4-1 Tigers, runners on first and third with no outs. Next was Kurihara who hit into a double play but Matsuyama was able to make home 4-2 Tigers. Maru hit to centre and Akamatsu hit to right to set up runners on first and second. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third but the final batter Kura grounded out to second. Here Standridge should have been pulled. Carp had failed to convert their chances but they had hit freely - too freely and this was the issue, Carp should not have been hitting so freely against a side with a four run lead. Something else was wrong. Fujii should have also gone but both stayed on. Tigers second was quiet with all three batters sitting back and getting out easily. Carp's second saw Standridge strike out all three batters swinging. This was a worrying sign - he was trying too hard to get back into the game. Tigers then worked their next big chance. Arai struck out again at the beginning of the third but Brazell hit to left. Murton hit to centre and then Kanemoto reverting to fly out mode flew out to the catcher. Fujii hit to right to load the bases. Tigers could have gone with a pinch hitter here but having decided that Standridge was OK they used him here. He flew out to right this time. The base running was far too conservative this innings and yes Brazell isn't the fastest but with Standridge next Brazell should have gone for home. Kimura led off Carp's third with a hit. He made second on Matsuyama's ground out and then third on Maru's hit to short. Akamatsu hit to Standridge who didn't field and the runner on third was home 4-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Here Mayumi finally reacted and pulled Standridge but significantly didn't pull the other issue Fujii. Kojima took the mound and walked Matsumoto to load the bases. Then he walked Kura oshidashi 4-4 scores tied, bases loaded. A truly dreadful display of calling. Kojima was replaced by Watanabe but still Fujii stayed on. Barden (pinch hitter) jammed one to left bringing home two runs 6-4 Carp, runners on first and second. At least Nomura was unafraid to remove his failing pitcher. Then Higashide hit a two base to right centre bringing in another run 7-4 Carp, runners on second and third. Finally Kimura struck out swinging to end the innings. It had been a disaster for Tigers and poorly handled by Mayumi. Fujii should not have been left in and Tigers paid the price.

Imamura took the mound and normally this wouldn't have been a problem for Tigers who would have battered the Carp relief into submission but they had given up. With both Hirano and Shibata grounding out to short Toritani hit to right. He stole second but it didn't help as Arai struck out looking. Arai just wasn't interested this game. Fujihara pitched Carp's fourth and gave up a lead off hit to Matsuyama. Kurihara hit to left and Carp had runners on first and second with no outs. Maru bunted the runners to second and third. One wondered what on earth Nomura was thinking with a three run lead? It was a stupid move. Akamatsu was next and he lined out to short with the runner being caught off base as well for the double play to end the innings. Tigers fifth was quiet - the five, six, seven combination who should have been getting on base did nothing. Fujihara dead balled Matsumoto to lead off Carp's fifth. Kura hit to right setting up runners on first and third. Imamura failed in his three bunt chances and was out and then Higahside lined out to second and still no run had been scored. Still Fujii had one more chance to screw it up and he took it well. Kimura hit right - a two base hit which compounded by a Murton throwing error which became a three base and two runs brought home 9-4 Carp, runner on third. Matsuyama hit a three base to centre - poor work by Shibata here and it was 10-4 Carp, runner on third. Finally, Kurihara grounded out to short to end the innings. Amazingly Fujii was allowed to have his at bat leading off the Tigers sixth by striking out looking. The next two batters also failed and the innings was quiet. Komiyama was the next catcher and here would have been a good time to use Kanoh who is far better and needs the practice to get back into the swing of things. However, it's unlikely that Mayumi will even consider the option of Kanoh as permanent catcher - it would be a big loss of face for him to admit that he got it drastically wrong over Fujii. Komiyama called to Tsutsui who gave up a single to Akamatsu with one out. Akamatsu stayed on first though and Komiyama was much more assured than Fujii.

Aoki took Tigers seventh and with one out gave up consecutive left hits to Toritani and Arai. Brazell's fly out took Toritani to third which brought a pitching change. Even with a 6 run lead Carp were scared of the Tigers and Nomura brought on Toyoda. He retired Murton who looked suitably disgusted with himself. No rally that innings. With two out in Carp's seventh Kimura hit to left. Matsuyama also hit left and Carp had runners on first and second which became second and third on another throwing error. Kurihara though grounded out to third to end the innings. Nagakawa pitched Tigers eighth and with one out gave up a hit to Komiyama. This was followed by a hit from Uemoto (pinch hitter). Komiyama made third on HIrano's ground out before Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out swinging. This was the second time this series that a pinch hitter had been used for Shibata - an acknowledgment that he is useless with the bat. Nishimura pitched Carp's eighth and gave up a right centre two base to Maru. An out followed and then Matsumoto hit to left bringing in the runner 11-4 Carp, runner on first. Kura flew out but a wild pitch took Matsumoto round to second. Then Mukae hit right bringing home the runner on second 12-4 Carp. Mukae tried to go to far and was the final out but this had been a poor innings from Nishimura and Komiyama. For Tigers ninth we saw Sarfate and one assumes this was to allow him to turn his arm over as there was no danger of a Tigers come back. He gave up a lead off centre hit to Toritani who was forced out by Arai's ground out to short. Brazell hit into a double play to end the game. Carp victory.

It had been a sorry display by Tigers. The batters had given up and the management had been appallingly poor and out of touch. Changes do need to happen and a new manager would be the best place to start. The constant starting of the inadequate Fujii who has demonstrated throughout the series that he cannot cope is a sign that Mayumi still does not understand management. The Daily Sports had the banner headline 4 runs, 14 hits Why? Indeed why is the question but we do know the answer and the remedy.