May 3rd Nohmi v Sugiuchi - Just when you thought it couldn't get worse

Tigers are in a slump and Wada is compounding it with some stupid management. We saw Kanemoto moved up the order to bat fourth for the first time since 2010. One just can't credit this pure idiocy. He has done nothing to justify the position and we now have the most productive batters batting six and seven. Punishing Arai is not the way to manage a baseball team and retaining Murton at five isn't going to produce runs. It also does nothing for Wada's credibility as a manager - everyone knows that Kanemoto isn't a No. 4 anymore. Another bit of questionable management Fujii also made his return to action and it was interesting to observe the crowd as he batted for the first time. He isn't wanted and all he had was a vocal chant with no music at all. It was the minimum possible for a Tigers player and really unwelcoming. Wada needs to do something quickly as the Tigers fans are rapidly turning against him. As for Giants they had a comfortable game behind a fine pitching display by Sugiuchi. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Fujimura (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Tani (Left)
7. Bowker (First)
8. Sanematsu (Catcher)
9. Sugiuchi (Pitcher)

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

The Koshien faithful will not have been impressed by Wada's new lineup. Whilst they revere the old man, they are knowledgeable and know he's not batting well enough for the No. 4 slot. Furthermore, Wada's unpleasant kick in the teeth to Arai (who after all drove in the leading run at Nagoya Dome a couple of nights) is poor management. Wada though has mused on Kanemoto being restored to fourth before the start of the season which at the time made one question his intelligence. Nohmi after his nervous start the previous game didn't seem to have changed. He got Chono to ground out and then struck out Fujimura. So far so good but then he walked Sakamoto in four. Sakamoto stole second - Hirano being a bit slow with the tag. Murata singled left, Nohmi having let his pitch drift too high and Sakamoto was home 1-0 Giants, runner on first. Takahashi singled to centre and then Nohmi walked Tani to load the bases. Tigers looked in a whole lot of trouble but Nohmi struck out Bowker to end the innings. Tigers needed to hit back but they lacked fire and spirit. Hirano struck out. Yamato and Toritani both occupied the attention of Sakamoto - both negatively. No runners. Tigers woes meanwhile continued in the second. Sanematsu hit deep to left where Kanemoto dropped the ball and fell over. All very elementary and koko yakyuish. Sanematsu took the opportunity to make third. Sugiuchi struck out and then Chono took a low pitch nicely over the fence for a two run home run 3-0 Giants. Fujimura grounded out to Nohmi and then Sakamoto hit high to left, Kanemoto thankfully not dropping this one. Tigers second also saw no response - Kanemoto in his first at bat as fourth flew out to third. The innings was quiet. Nohmi established some control in the third and the Giants fell in order. Tigers third was quiet with all three batters going down in order.

Giants fourth saw the bottom of the order succumb without getting on base. Next was Tigers turn and with two out Toritani singled into centre for Tigers first (and only) hit and the first runner on base. Now was the chance for Kanemoto to show that he was worth the fourth place slot but all he could do was fly out to Chono at centre. The top of Giants order fell comfortably in the top of the fifth. But Tigers fifth was the same - no runners, clueless and listless batting. No one was trying or even able to break Sugiuchi's stranglehold. Murata led off the Giants sixth and hammered his first pitch over the centre fence for a solo home run. The pitch was too high and Murata really got hold of it 4-0 Giants. Takahashi flew out to centre and Tani grounded out but Bowker singled right. Sanematsu, though hit his first pitch to third for the ground out. Wada then led off Tigers sixth with Asai who struck out. Ryota Arai was next and grounded out then Hirano grounded out to second. Another non innings.

With Komiyama being pinch hit for we saw Fujii return to the catching duties. He's better than Okazaki but that's not saying much. He was paired with Watanabe who basically ignored his calls to the point of insult. Every time Fujii called for an outside pitch, an inside pitch followed. Watanabe paid absolutely no attention to Fujii apart from as a device to stop the ball. Sugiuchi struck out lookng and then Chono hit to centre. Fujimura was induced to fly out to right and and Sakamoto to centre to end the innings. It wasn't an auspicious return for Fujii. Tigers seventh was quiet - Sugiuchi was getting near 100 pitches but was still dominant. Watanabe continued into the Giants eighth and still paid no attention to Fujii. He got Murata to ground out and then walked Inzen (replacement right). Watanabe wasn't phased and ignoring Fujii struck out both Tani and Bowker. At the end of the innings he turned off and walked away without any acknowledgement of Fujii - I haven't seen anything like it before. Would the Tigers respond in the eighth - the answer was no. They continued in the same style as before and it is beginning to look like Wada has a revolt on his hands as Mayumi did in his first year. Mayumi came close to losing his job and Wada does need to start winning soon or he could be in a similar situation. For Giants ninth Fukuhara took the mound and he is one of the few pitchers who can be said to genuinely like Fujii and pitch well with him. It is not that the others are all like Watanabe but they don't seem to have a close working relationship or a desire to cultivate one with Fujii. One also has to factor in that the Giants batters weren't really trying - they wanted to get to the ninth and Sugiuchi's complete game victory. Sanematsu, Suguchi and Chono all struck out looking with Fukuhara taking a total of 10 pitches. The Tigers ninth came around and the astonishing reception for Fujii. Normally, he would at least get the standard chance march but not this time. Sugiuchi struggled though and walked Fujii which brought a cheer. Shunsuke (pinch hitter) though grounded out to second but the double play wasn't really on and Fujii took second. Then Hirano grounded out to first with Fujii taking third. Last batter was Sekimoto (pinch hitter) who struck out looking to end the game. Giants victory.

Tigers are reeling. Wada and his management team are in trouble - so far they haven't won a single game in Golden Week and Wada's lineup changes betray a total lack of understanding of his players abilities. The return of Fujii is very much a retrograde step which does nothing to disguise that the management and coaching is failing on almost every level. Tigers need to restore Arai to No. 4 and Brazell to No. 5 with Murton as lead off. Komiyama should remain the No. 1 catcher and bat eighth with Kanemoto at seventh. The truth is Komiyama's batting has been deliberately neglected to prepare the way for Fujii's return. The argument following that Fujii should be No.1 catcher because he is the better batter. This kind of obfusication is not fooling the Tigers fans though who know who is the better catcher. Their reaction showed this. This is not to take anything away from Sugiuchi's pitching which was dominating but one has to acknowledge that there are problems with the Tigers at the moment.