June 4th Iwata v Imai - Country air

Tigers reverted to their usual practice of freezing against a pitcher they don't know and their batting was terrible. Even so Carp needed Tigers errors to win the game but it took them above the Tigers into fourth place. There was nothing edifying about this display except the use of Komiyama as starting catcher again. It suggests that Fujii's problems are a little more serious than the Tigers management have let on but Komiyama will only reach his full potential with game experience so it was nice to see him getting it. Iwata was much better this game but still took the loss. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Amaya (Left)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Soyogi (Short)
4. Iwamoto (First)
5. Dobayashi (Third)
6. Hirose (Right)
7. Kikuchi (Second)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Imai (Pitcher)

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

Iwata's start was wobbly and he walked Amaya. Akamatsu bunted the runner to second but then Soyogi popped out to Komiyama and Iwamoto grounded out to first to end the innings. Having Iwamoto batting fourth shows the paucity of resources available to the Carp. Murton started by striking out and then Hirano hit to second. Kikuchi messed up and Hirano was safe on first. Toritani walked to set up runners on first and second and Tigers had the first real chance of the game. They wasted it. Arai flew out to centre and then Kanemoto flew out to left. Carp's second saw Dobayashi lead off with a single to left. Hirose's ground out took him to second and then he made third on Kikuchi's deep fly to right. Walking Ishihara to get at Imai was a no brainer and this is exactly what Tigers did. Imai grounded out to Iwata. Brazell started Tigers second by singling to right. Then Shibata singled left to set up runners on first and second. Next was Komiyama who hit to short for a double play - his luck just isn't in at all. Brazell made third but the next batter was Iwata and so the likelihood of a run was slight.and Iwata struck out looking. Carp's third saw Amaya single left and so far Carp's lead off batter had got on base in each innings. Once again Akamatsu bunted him to second. This time Soyogi flew out to right. Iwamoto was lucky and his hit just grazed the glove of Brazell at first. Later there was an attempt to blame Brazell for this (blame the foreigner) but this is ridiculous. Brazell did well to get a glove on the ball. Amaya rounded the bases and was home 1-0 Carp, runner on first. Iwamoto then stole second but Dobayashi flew out to centre. Carp had the lead but a one run lead to Carp is nothing. Tigers fluffed up their response. They needed a good start in the third and didn't get it with Murton flying out to centre. Hirano showed some unintelligent batting falling for the same trick as he had done in the first. This time Kikuchi didn't make a mistake. Finally, Toritani struck out swinging - not good.

Carp's fourth started with Hirose hitting his first pitch to first for the ground out. Then Kikuchi grounded out to Arai at third. Arai threw to first but his throw was dreadful and far too high for Brazell to take; and Brazell is a big guy. The ball rolled away into the foul area and Kikuchi raced round the bases to take third. A terrible error. Next was Ishihara and while he was at the plate Iwata let fly a terrible wild pitch which gave Komiyama no chance. The ball bounced away and Kikuchi crossed the plate 2-0 Carp. How to score a run without even getting a single hit. Ishihara then grounded out to first and Imai flew out to right. Arai led off Tigers first and in atonement he hit the ball deep to right centre for a two base hit. Kanemoto hit deep to right and flew out. Arai tagged up and took third. Then Brazell grounded out to short bringing in Arai 2-1 Carp. Shibata worked the count full but then popped one up to short to end the innings. Not exactly pretty but Tigers were back in the game. The Carp fifth proved to be the first innings that Iwata got through without a base runner. Amaya and Akamatsu both grounded out and then Soyogi lined out to third. Unfortunately, Tigers who should have been all over Imai stalled in their fifth. Komiyama struck out swingng and Iwata grounded out. Murton who should have done better struck out looking. Hirose singled with two out in Carp's sixth but Kikuchi grounded out to end the innings. Tigers sixth saw Hirano fall for the grounder to second trap yet again. Toritani walked and Arai flew out to centre. Intelligent batting was not the order of the day. This was the end of Imai though. He was judged too tired and Kikuchihara took over. Toritani stole second but to no avail as Kanemoto flew out to centre to end the innings.

Iwata pitched the Carp's seventh and struck out Ishihara. Mukae (pinch hitter and replacement left) grounded out to short. Then Amaya hit back to Iwata who messed it and Carp had another base runner. Akamatsu hit a grounder to Arai who didn't mess up this time and the throw to first was good. Tigers seventh was pitched by Sarfate who struck out both Brazell and Shibata swinging. Tigers who had been in with a good chance to win were finding the game slipping away from them. The final batter of the innings was Ryota Arai (pinch hitter) who grounded out to end an unsatisfactory innings. Watanabe took over as pitcher and threw to Imanari. He faced the Carp clean up and had no problems cleaning them up. He was pitching very well this innings which was a relief. Imamura was the pitcher for Tigers eighth and started by getting Imanari to fly out to right. Then Murton grounded out to second and Hirano by way of variation flew out to centre. Inauspicious batting from the Tigers. For Carp's ninth Tsutsui took over and was not the force he was the day before. He gave up a lead off walk to Hirose. Kikuchi bunted Hirose to second and then Ishihara struck out. Two outs with Mukae the next batter. He took two balls and hit to left. Toritani got his glove on it but couldn't stop the ball and it rolled to Kanemoto. The throw to home was dismal, bouncing and weak and Hirose was home 3-1 Carp, runner on first. This was the killer blow - Tigers weren't going to come back at this stage. Mukae tried to go to far and was tagged out to end the innings. Mikolio pitched Tigers ninth and had a rather easy job but to be honest the batters didn't try that hard. It all finished with Kanemoto striking out to end an ignominious evening. Carp victory.

Tigers still own the Carp this season 6-3 but this series showed a team struggling to develop its potential. Too many errors suggest an unhappy outfit with lots of problems. Tigers only managed three hits this game which was dismal against the opposition they faced but number of hits is no guarantee of victory. In the past four games Tigers have had double digit hits but lost three of them. RBIs are the main problem for Tigers and it is clear that the batting coaching isn't working. The use of Shibata is a case in point. He hits but then doesn't drive in runs. To platoon him with Yamato is a pointless exercise. Yamato is more likely to drive in runs which is what Tigers need. There are currently a lot of demotivated players and this will continue with this coaching team. Why is it that when Tigers change kantoku's they always end up with this situation? What is their problem choosing a proper manager? We also have to look at the question of Kanemoto. His throwing has gone and can he really continue in left field? His bat has been useful recently but he is giving up too many runs. Maybe time to retired?