August 21st Kubo v Soto - How NOT to handle the endgame

Let's focus on the Murton saga first and Murton's comments on his blog. It's worth a read as it hints at the issues bubbling under within the Tigers organisation. Here's the link: http://murtonbaseball.com/?p=2108. He seems to be hinting that it is not only him suffering from typical Japanese management style but other players as well, though he doesn't mention who. On another issue for Tigers, Toritani has now reached his international FA but is remaining tight lipped about his actions. Much as he is needed by Tigers it might be a good idea for him to try new pastures in MLB.
As for the game; Wada found a new way to blow a game. Shall we say his handling of the ninth was 'interesting'? One hadn't thought of the option of asking your top scoring batter to bunt with runners on so that Hiyama could drive in the runs. I like Hiyama but he isn't the guy with 50 RBIs and what was Shibata doing? Daily Sports for a change led off with a ni-gun game in which Murton played - the main event really was embarrassing. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Wada (Left)
4. Morino (Third)
5. Ibata (Short)
6. Yamasaki (First)
7. Tanishige (Catcher)
8. Hirata (Right)
9. Soto (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (Third)
5. Kanemoto (Left)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Hirano (Right)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

This game would turn out to be a pitching duel with the honours going to Soto who paired with a better catcher was able to keep his pitch count respectable over eight tight innings. Kubo was good but the pitch count was too high. Both pitchers started slowly. Kubo gave up a single to right to Ohshima to lead off the game. Ohshima was bunted to second and then Wada walked. Morino flew out to centre and Ibata flew out to right. Both teams would do a lot of flying out this game. Two outs went down before Toritani whacked his first pitch deep for a double over Ohshima's head. Ryota Arai walked which brought up Kanemoto. Why he is batting in the five slot is one of life's great mysteries but a clue must be that Wada likes batting averages NOT RBIs as Kanemoto has not driven in too many of these. He struck out swinging and both teams had missed chances. This kind of pitching duel was much more fascinating than the Tigers/Swallows affair a few nights back which was tedious. Here you could appreciate the pitcher's craft. In Dragons second Hirata walked with two outs but with the next batter being Soto there was no further action. Tigers second saw the batters fooled by Soto particularly his slider. Dragons third saw the top of the order back again and this time Wada worked the count and hit nicely to left for a double. Kubo's strike out of Morino was very nice and had the Dragons third wondering why he had swung at that particular pitch. Kubo surprised everyone by flying out deep to right to start Tigers third - he seemed to be enjoying the game. Uemoto did the same but Yamato worked a walk. Toritani hit his first pitch to left for the fly out and that innings was over.

Ibata grounded out to Kubo to lead off Dragons fourth - Kubo fumbled the ball but still had time to make the throw. Then Yamasaki hit to left for another double. Tanishige walked and Hirata hit deep to centre where he flew out. Both runners tagged up and moved round to second and third. To be honest though the next batter, Soto, was highly unlikely to drive in a run and so it proved with him striking out in three. Tigers fourth started with two flyouts and then Takahiro Arai singled to centre. He needed something from Hirano but didn't get it as Hirano flew out to short. Runners were an irrelevance for most of this game. Dragons fifth and three batters went down in order - this time the top of the order couldn't trouble Kubo. Tigers fifth and Uemoto singled to left. He stole second neatly but Yamato was tempted by the hit to right centre. Too bad Ohshima was under it and took the catch to safely end the innings. Morino grounded out to third and Ryota Arai threw nicely to his brother at first for the out. Ibata singled to centre but stayed on first as no one else could do anything. Two outs started Tigers sixth and then Kanemoto singled. Yamasaki fielded off his base but when he turned to make the throw found that no one was covering the base - Soto being rather slow and lumbering in running over to first. Kanemoto was safe and pinch run for by Shunsuke. It has happened before but is still unbelievable - Shunsuke batting No. 5. Takahiro Arai was next but he could only ground out to short to end the innings.

Kubo pitched Dragons seventh. Despite the scares he had been in control but with a high pitch count you felt that the seventh would be the last. With two out he strayed and Ohshima singled right. This didn't lead to anything as Araki flew out to centre. Soto pitched Tigers seventh which was unsurprising as his pitch count was far better than Kubo's. He retired the batters in order with Kubo being the last batter. This was really surprising - Kubo would pitch the eighth which was unnecessary. He had looked very tired at the end of the seventh as he walked off. He got through the innings well, the Dragons batters were all a bit too keen to have a go and all three grounded out but at 126 pitches total we should have had a relief pitcher on. Soto retired the top of the Tigers order in order. He would finish his session on 108 pitches - much more reasonable. For Dragons ninth, Wada rightly went with Fujikawa as pitcher but more questionably retained Fujii. Recently, he has been replacing Fujii for the later stages of the game with Imanari or Komiyama and this would have been the right course of action for this game. Fujii is not a good catcher and had been wasteful earlier in the evening. The first batter was Yamasaki who got a poor straight and hit it to left centre. Yamasaki rounded first and went for second as the relay came in. He slid in to hit the sack just before the tag - safe. An object lesson to all the head sliders. He was pinch run for by Iwasaki. Tanishige bunted the runner to third and the next batter hit his first pitch to Toritani at short. Toritani messed his take up completely and deflected the ball into the left field - a serious error. One thing NPB needs to do is to raise the standards of the scorers. This was a clear error but was ruled a hit to short - however, it is an issue endemic to Japanese baseball scorers. Iwasaki was home 1-0 Dragons, runner on second. Fujii and Fujikawa were not working well together and Nomoto (pinch hitter) walked. Ohshima singled right to load the bases but Dragons couldn't make this advantage count. Araki struck out looking to a fine outside pitch from Fujikawa and then Wada flew out in foul ground to end the innings. Dragons had a slender lead at a psychological important stage and sent Yamai to the mound to close out the game. He looked nervous and very unsure and this showed in his pitching. Ryota Arai led off Tigers ninth with a single to left. He was pinch run for by Shibata. Shunsuke went to bunt and was surprised by a fierce high pitch which he pushed straight back at Yamai. Yamai turned to throw to second but the throw was too high and Shibata was safe on second with Shunsuke on first and no outs. Tigers were in a great situation. Takahiro Arai was next and Kataoka gave him instructions - then we saw what they were. Takahiro Arai - the top scorer in RBIs for Tigers was asked to bunt and then Hiyama (pinch hitter) would drive in the runs. Hiyama hasn't been driving in that many runs so the notion that this was a logical way of winning a game is perhaps not so clear. Takahiro Arai shaped to bunt but missed the first pitch. Shibata on second set off anyway and was tagged out at third. It is difficult to say whether this was due to Shibata's own stupidity or if it was a failed double steal as per the earlier incident when Takahiro Arai was tagged out at third. Wada indicated the former and who knows, he might actually be telling the truth this time. Whatever, it was it was a disaster for Tigers. The bunt was cancelled and a demoralised Takahiro Arai struck out in the normal way. Hiyama was next and worked the count full to pick up a walk. This brought Gondoh, the Dragons pitching coach to the mound to have angry words with his pitcher. Imanari was next - another player Wada rather likes as a pinch hitter though he also doesn't drive in many runs. He struck out in poor style and the Dragons had won the game.

Dragons basically own the Tigers this season and can turn the pressure on and off like a tap. Wada and his coaches seem to have no influence or even ability to influence Tigers performance against this team though the ninth was incompetently handled by them. This was poor management of the highest order after Tigers had fought hard to stay in contention. Wada needs to abandon his obsession with Hiyama driving in runs and with Kanemoto playing left. He needs to wake up and actually focus on who delivers runs and then give them the support they need. Tigers have been shutout 17 times this season, that is a sorry statistic indeed and indicative that batting average rather than run scoring takes priority. Stubbornness on this point leads to players like Shunsuke occupying run scoring positions and demotivates the run scorers. Wada needs to realise - you need runs to win the game.