October 13th Kojima v Miura - A whalloping for Miura

Now that the possibility of Mayumi being sacked exists it is actually going to be difficult to retain him even if Tigers do reach the conditions imposed by the front office. Fan expectations of the end of a heartily disliked regime are going to restrict the front office's options. Candidates to replace Mayumi vary depending on which paper you read but there are four main contenders. From within the Tigers we have Wada (currently the first team batting coach) and Hirata (the second team manager and ex-first team batting coach). Outside the organisation we have Nashida (ex-Nippon Ham manager) and Ochiai (ex-Dragons). Of the Tigers candidates Hirata has previously been tipped as a future first team manager but Wada would seem to me to be too inexperienced to be more than a caretaker manager. Both Nashida and Ochiai have Climax Series and possible Nippon Series commitments which would delay their appointment and might prejudice the front office from appointing them if a quick decision is required. However, given the quality of these two candidates Tigers can afford to wait until they are available. I favour an outsider myself to put the organisation on a more professional basis and the strong contender from the point of view of results must be Ochiai. Of course Tigers could end up in another Nomura situation but if the front office do appoint an outsider they should give him his head and not interefere. They did a very good job of not interfering with Mayumi until it was too late. On a related note if Mayumi does go it is rumoured that Kido (Head Coach), Kubo (Pitching Coach) and Oka (Position Player Coach) will also go. This is really exciting - the dead wood being swept away and the possibility of new faces.
As a surprise Kojima started this game and had trouble conquering his nerves. He did well enough to get the victory against an abject BayStars who were a ridiculous joke. Lacking in spirit and application they looked like they were just waiting for the end of the season and were hammered by the Tigers batters. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    0 1 3 0 2 1 0 1 2 10 15 0
BayStars  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  4 3

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. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Kojima (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Left)
2. Aranami (Centre)
3. Tsutsugoh (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Nakamura (Second)
6. Watanabe (Short)
7. Matsumoto (Right)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Pitcher (Miura)

Tigers start was innocuous and one thought it would be a typical Miura game. The first three batters fell in order and the innings was scoreless. Kojima's first innings was interesting to say the least and gave early signs of the BayStars lack of interest. Shimozono started by flying out to left. Then Kojima lost the zone. He walked first Aranami who stole second and then Tsutsugoh in four. This brought Kubo to the mound for a discussion and no doubt a steadying word or two. Next was Murata who struck out swinging but as he did so both runners executed a double steal. Next was Nakamura who hit into centre where Shibata took the catch to end the innings. BayStars had really wasted a huge chance and would be punished for it. Arai led off Tigers second and hammered the ball into centre for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. The next three batters failed to do anything but the Tigers were on their way. BayStars second really was a study in contrasts - Kojima struck out the three batters he faced swinging, looking, swinging. Komiyama led off Tigers third with a single. He was bunted to second by Kojima and then Hirano hit a two base deep to right centre bringing in Komiyama 2-0 Tigers, runner on second. Shibata walked and this was followed by the second out - a Toritani ground out which took the runners round to second and third. Next was Arai who was having a great day and drove his third pitch to right bringing in both runners 4-0 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell walked to set up runners on first and second but Murton grounded out to end the innings. Miura and BayStars were reeling. It didn't get any better in BayStars third. Kojima was now pretty confident and working with Komiyama got the three batters he faced fairly easily. In fact the innings was over in eight pitches. Shimozono - the second out hit to centre where a superb dive and take by Shibata prevented the single.

Tigers innings was a brief respite for Miura rather due to luck than any improvement in pitching. Kanemoto flew out but then Miura whose control was wandering dead balled Komiyama. He was bunted to second by Nohmi again and then HIrano hit left to set up runners on first and third. Shibata, though, grounded out to third to end the innings. No runs that time. Tsutsugoh led off BayStars fourth with a single but stayed on first. This was actually BayStars first hit of the game. Once again the next three batters had no answer and couldn't do anything about Kojima. Miura's nightmare restarted in Tigers fifth. Toritani led off the innings with a single. Miura then walked Arai - this was deliberate, he had already had ample proof of Arai's determination. Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs but this didn't help Miura. Brazell grounded out to first but moved the runners round to second and third. Then Murton hit his first pitch to Nakamura who fluffed it and Toritani was home on the error 5-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Kanemoto hit a grounder to third which couldn't prevent Arai reaching home 6-0 Tigers, runner on second and finally Komiyama grounded out to Miura to end another successful inning for the Tigers. BayStars fifth just saw more pain for the Yokohama outfit. Once again they couldn't get on base and two more struck out. Miura didn't return for Tigers sixth - he was obviously incapable of stopping the run flow. Instead he was replaced by Yamamoto who, truth be told, wasn't much of an improvement. He did well to get the first two outs but then Shibata singled left. Toritani singled right, runners on first and second and up came Arai again. He singled right as well bringing in Shibata 7-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Brazell flew out to second to end the innings. Shimozono led off BayStars sixth by grounding out. Then Aranami singled. Tsutsugoh singled as well, runners on first and second and it was decided that maybe Kojima could do with a rest. In some respects it was academic as BayStars were not going to overturn a seven run lead but Mayumi was panicking again. However, Nishimura took over and induced a useful double play from Murata to end the innings.

Tigers seventh saw Fukuyama take over and he had a rather easy ride only allowing a hit to Shunsuke (replacement left). The other batters didn't do anything and the innings was scoreless. Nishimura walked
Watanabe with one out in BayStars seventh but he couldn't advance beyond first and the innings was otherwise uneventful. For Tigers eighth BayStars Obana decided to change his catcher and Hosoyamada took over. This didn't work out quite as planned. Shibata hit to third again and once again made first. Arai hit to right to set up runners on first and third and then Yamato (replacement third) also hit right bringing in another run 8-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Brazell who was replaced by Yamato to rest him (certainly not for defensive reasons) had been the only Tigers batter to miss out on the run feast and had had a rather subdued game. Fujihara pitched BayStars eighth with Shimizu replacing Komiyama as catcher (hopefully one thing that will come of Mayumi's sacking is the restoration of Kanoh to catching duties) and gave up a one out hit to Shimozono. Once again nothing came of this and the innings was scoreless. There was still the formality of the ninth to go through though BayStars must have been wishing that the Central League had a mercy rule. Ohnuma pitched Tigers ninth and faced Shunsuke. He grounded out to third where Murata messed up and allowed Shunsuke to make third safely. Shimizu lined out but Uemoto (pinch hitter) walked to set up runners on first and second. Hirano hit to first and beat a confused BayStars field to load the bases. Shibata hit right bringing in two runs 10-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Toritani struck out and then Arai grounded out to third. This wasn't an issue as Arai had done more than enough. Tigers final pitcher was Tsutsui. He gave up a two out walk to Watanabe who was pinch run for by Yamazaki. This was really academic as the final batter was Matsumoto who grounded out to end the innings.

BayStars had been comprehensively crushed. Outplayed in every respect they had looked a sorry excuse for a baseball side. One sees this victory as a celebration by Tigers players that they may soon be released from the ball and chain of the Mayumi regime. Arai had done well and now has 89 RBIs for the season. Kojima picked up his first win of the season in his first start. Tigers October run now stands at 7-3. Still they do need to finish B class this year to ensure the much needed end of Mayumi.