October 8th Kubo v Takasaki - Kyuji blows it again

For Tigers the big news is that some of their big names will go at the end of the season. Katsuragi and Sugiyama one can understand - neither have been effective for years. Sakurai and Abe though are harder to understand. Sakurai in particular had the power to drive in runs and was potentially a 50 RBI per season man. The coaches feel that his injured elbow has affected his swing and that he will not be able to do much. His throwing is fine which makes you wonder why they keep Kanemoto and Lin both of whom cannot really throw. The simple truth is that the coaches are useless and rather than admit that and dump them for some people who would be able to actually bring talent along Tigers are dumping the players and retaining the blocks on progress. Certainly Mayumi's approach has been shown to be a failure and slotting Sakurai in at left would have been a very useful tool to have. Given that Murton is also uncertain for next season Tigers are going to be seriously embarrassed in the outfield.
This game was disappointing for the poor performance of Kyuji against non-batters. One can understand (even though one may not like it) failing against a batter of Murata's calibre but to screw up against Hosoyamada really is the pits. The problem is that Fujikawa's arrogance re-emerged and coupled with Fujii he tried to go for a strike out rather than an out. Mind you the management of this side is currently management by panic so nothing is surprising. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R H E
Tigers    1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  2 6 0
BayStars  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2x 3 8 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. Kubo (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Left)
2. Mastumoto (Centre)
3. Tsutsugoh (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Fujita (Second)
6. Watanabe (Short)
7. Ide (Right)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Takasaki (Pitcher)

Kubo was much better this game though he wasn't helped by Fujii's ineptness - no one would be. However, Tigers batting was weak and very poor against a rather weak pitcher. With Hirano striking out looking Shibata managed a useful two base hit to left. Toritani grounded out taking Shibata to third and it was left for Arai to poke one into right to bring in the first run 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell though flew out to centre to end the innings. Kubo did walk Tsutsugoh in the BayStars first which was rather a surprise as he does strike out often. However, Murata grounded out to third. With Murton out, Kanemoto hit to left for a two base. Fujii hit to short and in a farcical episode managed to get on base - this was ruled a hit. Kubo grounded out to Takasaki who threw to third for the force out but Tigers still had runners on first and second. Hirano tried a bunt hit which loaded the bases. Now which idiot thought of that as a viable option with Shibata next? To actually get away with the bunt was amazing in itself but a totally brain dead move given that the runner on second is not going to score. It lets the BayStars off the hook and gives the appearance of doing something without actually doing anything. Dismal play from a team lacking in ideas. Shibata who does struggle with runners on grounded out to end the innings. The only thing that one could say about this innings is that Tigers mishandled it. BayStars second started with Fujita flying out in foul ground. Watanabe hit and stole second but Ide struck out. Then Fujii decided to walk Kurobane to set up runners on first and second. The idea was to get at Takasaki and this worked out OK with the innings ending scoreless. Tigers third was quiet with 3-4-5 falling in order. Fortunately so was BayStars third.

Tigers fourth was also quiet and one had to say that they were batting very poorly. Murata struck out to lead off BayStars fourth and then Fujita picked up a dead ball. There haven't been so many of those recently. He was pinch run for by Yamazaki who fell to a double play. Tigers fifth was quiet with the batters falling in order. So was BayStars fifth. It was good work by Kubo but dispiriting work by the Tigers batters. Fortunately, Takasaki would take a hand by walking Toritani. First one wild pitch and then another wild pitch took Toritani to third with no outs. Arai then struck out but Brazell connected for the sacrifice fly 2-0 Tigers. Murton hit right but Kanemoto struck out looking. BayStars needed to respond otherwise the game would drift away from them. Shimozono led off with a hit but fell to a double play and Tigers had two outs. Next was Tsutsugoh who swung at a loose pitch and managed to propel it over the wall for a solo home run 2-1 Tigers. Not very good by either Kubo or Fujii. Murata tried to go the same route and flew out to end the innings. Still BayStars remained within striking distance.

Tigers seventh was a quiet innings Takasaki had managed quite an effective session. Watanabe pitched BayStars seventh and was a bit shaky. With one out he walked the pachimon Watanabe. Then Aranami (pinch hitter and replacement centre) hit right to set up runners on first and third. With one out a sacrifice fly was a possibility but Nakamura (pinch hitter) flew out in foul ground. Then Shimamura grounded out to end the innings. One would like to say that the BayStars were upping the tempo but they weren't - Tigers and their useless catcher were letting the opposition back into the game. Shibata led off Tigers eighth - pitched by Shinohara - reaching first on an error. Toritani though hit into a double play and then Arai grounded out. Enokida pitched BayStars eighth and with one out gave up a hit to Matsumoto. He then struck out Tsutsugoh and was replaced by Fujikawa. The sheer pointlessness of this decison is difficult to comprehend. Fujikawa took over and got Murata to fly out in foul ground but this was true management by panic. A runner on but no danger and Mayumi was all over the place. Tigers ninth was led off by Brazell who grounded out to second. This brought a pitching change and Fujie took over. He retired the next two batters to end the innings. So Tigers faced a rather poor bunch of batters with their star closer on the mound. Firstly Yamazaki struck out looking but then Watanabe hit. He stole second as Aranami also hit - BayStars had runners on first and third and Fujikawa was in a bind. Naitoh (pinch hitter) struck out swinging but then Aranami stole second - this was really complacent game management and play by Fujii. Totally amateur in fact. Now BayStars had runners on second and third with two outs and Hosoyamada at the plate. A real non batter he hit though - into centre to bring in the two runners 3-2 BayStars sayonara victory.

A disastrous ninth with really poor play by both the pitcher and the catcher. Fujii should have been aware of the possiblities of steals and how they might affect his pitcher but his awareness is never that high. Fujikawa should have focused on outs not strike outs. He is there to protect the lead and once again his stupidity had blown a game for the Tigers - it wasn't quite as serious as that of Yano's farewell game but with Tigers trying to get a third place finish every game counts. Poor play had also cost Kubo a victory. The coaches will get rid of players like Sakurai but keep players like Fujii. One really wonders.