May 26th Andoh v Settsu - Stupid bunt time

Fujii reverted somewhat in this game and was poor to say the least. Still Andoh mostly ignored him. Fujii was calling outside pitches whilst Andoh favours inside and guess what Andoh threw a lot of? Fujii did have to work hard but Andoh pitched well and was only denied the victory by a fielding error from Hirano. Positve news is that Johjima is now out of hospital after a successful operation on his slipped disk. One hopes we can see him back behind the plate fairly soon and that Fujii will be consigned to the dustbin of history where he belongs as a bad dream. Scores

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

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

Hawks
1. Akashi (Short)
2. Honda (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Right)
4. Pena (DH)
5. Matsuda (Third)
6. Matsunaka (Left)
7. Egawa (First)
8. Fukuda (Centre)
9. Hosokawa (Catcher)

Putting Fujii ahead of Asai in the batting order is the height of insanity but this is what to Wada represents a reasonable batting order. His mismanagement of the game almost certainly cost Tigers victory. The first started quietly with both pitchers handling their respective batters well and no one reaching base. Kanemoto though led off Tigers second with a two base hit over first into right. He just made second - as I mentioned he has slowed down considerably. However, no one moved him round and in fact Settsu had brought some impressive stuff with him. Pena drew a walk in Hawks second but stayed on first. Andoh's inside line was working very well. The number of times Fujii would set himself up for an outside pitch and then Andoh would go inside was incredible. How to treat your catcher with contempt in several easy lessons. Fujii led off Tigers third with a single. Wada's choice to ask Asai to bunt Fujii to second. This was pure idiocy and Asai messed up and flew out to Hosokawa - that means punishment time. Hirano didn't try to bunt but hit to Honda who really screwed up fumbling and then throwing the ball away past Akashi on second. Tigers had runners on first and second - without the stupid bunt they would have been in a great situation. Shibata struck out swinging to some great pitching by Settsu and then Toritani flew out and Hawks had escaped without damage. Hawks didn't do anything in their third and Andoh had an easy innings.

Kanemoto led off Tigers fourth with his second two base of the day - a hit to right centre. He almost looked like a genuine No. 4 but later events in the game would show that this was a false dawn. He is still a joke in the position. Arai flew out but Murton hit nicely to right centre for a timely single 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell hit into a double play though and Tigers couldn't exploit the chance. Hawks though saw an oppotunity to counter-attack. Honda singled to centre and then Uchikawa hit right to set up runners on first and second. Pena though hit into a double play which took Honda to third but Andoh's final pitch to Matsuda was a masterpiece making him get it all wrong and fly out to first in foul ground to end the innings. Surprisingly Fujii singled again to lead off Tigers fifth. Once again Asai flew out to the catcher and then Fujii was forced out by a Hirano ground out. Hirano tried to steal second - always a problem for Hirano who doesn't have much speed. A foolish call by Wada. Matsunaka started Hawks fifth by flying out. Then Egawa hit to right. Fukuda struck out - lured into swinging too far by Andoh but then Andoh bounced a pitch and Fujii misfielded allowing Egawa to reach second. Fujii threw to second but his throwing was very poor this game. Still with two outs there was no worry particularly as Hosokawa hit to second. The take was straightforward but Hirano missed and let the ball roll off the bottom of his glove. This was ruled a hit - proof that it is not only the Koshien scorers who need their eyes tested. Egawa had plenty of time to make home 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Akashi then grounded out to third. Andoh had done everything right but Hirano's mistake had cost the Tigers. Shibata hit deep to right leading off Tigers sixth but never had the power to make it and flew out. Toritani drew a walk and here Kanemoto reverted to type and reminded you of just why he shouldn't be batting No. 4. He swung and hit to first who threw to second. The throw was a joke - far too high and quite franky the umpires were terrible. Second had to jump to take the ball - how could Toritani be forced out? Anyway Honda couldn't make the throw to first and Kanemoto was safe but Arai then grounded out to third to end the innings. Hawks sixth started with Honda hitting the ball back at Andoh and it bounced off his left leg. Andoh was able to throw to first for the out but then had to go off the field for treatment. The next batter, Uchikawa, also grounded out to Andoh though not with any body contact and finally Pena flew out to Hirano to end the innings.

Tigers seventh and Murton led the innings off by singling left. Brazell hit hard to short who dived but couldn't get a throw away and Tigers had runners on first and second. Fujii laid down the obligatory stupid bunt to take the runners to second and third. Now just consider - he had been hitting so it might have been a good idea to let him try to hit again. Wada's use of the bunt is frequently pointless. Next we had Hiyama (pinch hitter) another pointless change by Wada - why not leave Asai in to try and drive in the run? Asai is not fashionable despite his ability to hit with runners on. Hiyama flew out to centre and Murton tagged up and started but was held up by the third base coach. More stupidity - you take your chances and even though Murton might have been out Hosokawa was well in front of the plate and the chance was worth taking. Two outs and runners on second and third. Hirano then swung and flew out deep to right to end the innings. Matsunaka singled to centre with one out in Hawks seventh but the pinch runner stayed on first with the next two batters falling easily. Settsu was replaced at the end of Tigers seventh - a very impressive pitching display - by Okajima. He gave up a one out single to Toritani. Toritani then stole second with Hosokawa putting in a poor throw to second. Once again Kanemoto failed to do anything but Okajima's strike out of Arai was impressive. Hawk's eighth was Tigers lucky escape. Tsutsui was the pitcher and he followed Fujii's guide mostly which meant he got into trouble. Tamura (pinch hitter) led off with a single. The inevitable bunt followed though this one was marginally less stupid as it was a tight game. Then Honda singled nicely to centre. Shibata picked up well and threw nicely to home where Fujii was well positioned to block. Tamura rounded the bases and slid into Fujii who blocked but did not attempt to apply the tag. Incompetent catching of the first order as the plate umpire could have followed the Rakuten example and not given the out. Luckily for Tigers he gave the out and also Tamura did not tag the plate - a very fortunate escape. Honda made second safely. Next up Fujii decided to walk Uchikawa to get at Pena. This must have been an example of his brains dribbling out of his ears because it was a very risky shot to walk someone with 16 RBIs to get at someone with 29 RBIs. Once again Tigers luck held and with runners on first and second Pena flew out to right. Kim took over for Tigers ninth and pitched to Yamazaki. This didn't quite go as Akiyama planned as the pair didn't really communicate. Murton led off the innings with a single to right. He was bunted to second by Tagami (replacement left) and Tigers chances of victory had gone. Fujii hit straight back to Kim for the ground out. Kim was then replaced by Morifuku for the final out which proved to Sekimoto who struck out swinging. With time running out Tigers sent Enokida to the mound ignoring the evidence about using your best closer in these sort of situations. This kind of thinking is too advanced for Wada who frankly is extremely backward. Enokida struck out Matsuda - he mostly followed Fujii's calls and got into trouble very rapidly. Kidokoro (replacement centre) singled to left. He stole second - the throw being poor. Egawa flew out in to Fujii but then Kidokoro stole third - once again Fujii was too slow. Then Enokida walked Fukuda and Wada did what he should have done sooner, he brought on Fujikawa. Fujikawa faced Yamazaki but in the meantime Fukuda stole second. Kyuji though was up to the challenge and struck out Yamazaki looking to end the game. Tied game.

This had been a very good series for Tigers who had gone to Yahoo Dome and come away with a win and a tie. The usual weaknesses still remain but in inter league Tigers are actually doing better at away games than in home games. If they keep this up they may even be able to do well during shi no rodo. However, dumping Fujii is vital.