May 28th Standridge v Tanaka - Deja vu

This game brings to mind an occasion many years ago when Tigers closer was Kubota. Tigers were playing in Koshien I believe and going into Rakuten's ninth enjoyed the lead. However, a fluffed throw to first caused Kubota to melt down spectacularly and Rakuten seized a late lead and went on to won the game. What goes around comes around and we have Tigers with a lead in the ninth and on course to win the game. This time their closer Kubo blows the lead in a similar pattern though without the trigger that Kubota had. The conclusion that one draws from this episode is that Kubo is not closer material and all the evidence so far indicates this. Even Tigers management must realise this by now. Despite his heroics with Fujinami, Fujii also gave evidence of his inadequacy in handling the relief but the management are too wedded to his brown nosing to reconsider the folly of continuing with him. To my mind the failure to address the issue is probably the difference between first and a pennant and second and another failed climax series. Scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Golden Eagles  0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 7 12 1
Tigers         0 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 4  7 0

Starting Lineups

Golden Eagles
1. Matsui (Short)
2. Fujita (Second)
3. Hijirisawa (Centre)
4. Jones (First)
5. McGehee (Third)
6. Kosai (Left)
7. Shima (Catcher)
8. Teppei (Right)
9. Tanaka (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Imanari (Right)
7. Ryota Arai (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Standridge (Pitcher)

Imanari's conversion to an outfielder continues - he is no longer listed as a catcher in game sheets and probably will not be used in that role. Shimizu continues as back up catcher with no move to bring Komiyama back up again. Presumably Hidaka will be slotted in when he recovers despite his proven lack of ability. The game itself was played in the rain - the rainy season has arrived early in Japan, once again to a much reduced crowd. Standridge would pitch mostly well though not in particular agreement with his catcher. In one incident he turned his back on Fujii as the latter was making a point. He started the game well though and retired the first three batters in very short time taking only 10 pitches to do so. Tanaka didn't start so well and whilst still a good picture didn't really look that impressive. With two out Toritani singled but Murton grounded out. Tanaka would do the job reasonably well but that was all. In Rakuten's second McGehee picked up a walk after Jones had popped out in foul ground. He was then forced out by Kosai's grounder to Nishioka but no double play resulted. Then Shima popped up to Nishioka and that innings was over. Tigers second was heading towards a quiet death when Tanaka managed to walk Ryota. Next was Fujii who hit straight to Fujita at second. He let the ball roll through his legs to put runners on first and third. Next was Standridge who tried to hit deep but flew out to centre near the fence. Tanaka really wasn't looking that good. Teppei led off Rakuten's third with a single and was bunted to second by Tanaka. Communication got scrambled between Standridge and Fujii and Matsui walked to put runners on first and second. Fujita in a rush of blood to the head hit deep where the ball was taken by Yamato. Teppei tagged up and took third but then the next batter, Hijirisawa struck out swinging to end the tenuous chance that Rakuten had created. Tigers third started with Nishioka hitting comfortably to left. Yamato bunted him to second which brought up Toritani. He doubled to left centre to bring in the first run 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Then Murton doubled to right centre and Toritani was home 2-0 Tigers, runner on second. It had been very neat execution by the batters. Arai hit a grounder to second which took Murton to third and then Imanari struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers held a useful lead.

With two out in Rakuten's fourth Kosai hit a line drive to right. Shima though failed again and grounded out to Nishioka for the straight forward final out. Tigers fourth was also over quickly though Tanaka made rather heavy going of dismissing an unresisting Standridge. Teppei who hit well throughout the game then engineered a very dangerous situation for Golden Eagles in their fifth. A lead off double followed by a Tanaka bunt put the runner on third. Matsui hit to Nishioka who was standing well inside the base path and was able to field the weak shot and lock the runner on third for the second out. Then Fujita managed to ground out to end the innings. Tigers had shown good defense. It was interesting to see the camera shots of Hoshino's face - thunderous or slightly pleased seemed to be the main expressions. Tigers then did exactly the same as Golden Eagles in their fifth. A lead off double into centre by Nishioka was not exploited. Once again the stupid bunt was laid down to take the runner to third but then the next shot prevented the runner from going from home - this time Toritani grounded out to short. Then so did Murton to end the innings. Both teams had defended well. With one out in Rakuten's sixth Jones singled into right. McGehee hit deep to left where Murton took a nice catch for the second out. Then Kosai also flew out to left. Tigers sixth was quiet; Tanaka actually looked like the top pitcher he is.

So far so good, despite communication difficulties between catcher and pitcher Tigers had successfully held a two run lead and one expected this situation to continue. Standridge was on 93 pitches but probably had another innings in him. Things didn't work out that way. This time Shima led off with a double - the ability of Rakuten to get their lead batter on base had been a worrying factor all game. Teppei then singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Things looked exceedingly difficult for Standridge. Akaminai (pinch hitter and replacement second) was next and he got hold of a straight which flew just past Toritani's glove for a timely single 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second and no outs. Matsui grounded out to short which took the runners to second and third and Wada decided to replace Standridge. Katoh was brought on to get the Tigers out of the innings. He started well striking out Nakashima (pinch hitter) very nicely and then faced Hijirisawa who had been ineffective all evening. Two good straights followed from Katoh to make the count 0-2. The thing about these balls was they had been up but in a very poor call Fujii brought the next pitch down which is what Hirjisawa had been waiting for. The pitch needed to be higher and Hijirisawa hit into left centre. Yamato got a glove on the ball but could only deflect it and it rolled away to the boundary fence for a timely triple. Both runners were home 3-2 Golden Eagles. Katoh bent down on the mound and blubbed. He was replaced by Fukuhara. Fukuhara managed to get Jones to fly out to Ryota in foul ground and end the innings. All was not lost - there was still Tigers seventh and Rakuten have perhaps the weakest relief in the NPB. Aoyama proceeded to demonstrate just this. I am not sure that I would want to use a relief pitcher with a 4.96 ERA in the bottom of the seventh with just a one run lead but maybe he was the only pitcher Hoshino had. Fujii started Tigers seventh by grounding out to short. Saka (pinch hitter) walked and then so did Nishioka - runners on first and second. Hoshino evidently had second thoughts and changed pitchers bringing on Koyama. Yamato fluffed his shot and popped up infield to McGehee who waved away Matsui with a very imperious movement of both arms. However, Toritani was up to the challenge and drove right to bring in Saka 3-3 scores tied, runners on first and second. It would have been nice if Murton could have also hit but he - even though he did battle - flew out to second in foul ground to end the innings. Still Tigers had rapidly gotten back into the game. Andoh pitched Rakuten's eighth. He did well and seemed to be able to handle the batters with confidence retiring all three. With one out in Tigers eighth Koyama walked Shunsuke (replacement right). Ryota struck out swinging but on the very first pitch of Fujii's at bat Shunsuke stole second. Fujii is an instinctive batter - he swings at anything that looks hittable whether it is or not and this season this approach has been working well. This at bat was another example - his fourth pitch flew into right for a single. Shunsuke was home 4-3 Tigers, runner on first. Another pitching change followed and Katayama took the mound. He struck out Saka to end the innings. So Tigers needed to hold the lead and really one doesn't feel confident with Kubo on the mound. He doesn't even have Kubota's brilliance and placement to fall back on and with Fujii calling is often an easy victim. Teppei struck out but then Akaminai singled left. Matsui was next and he doubled into the right corner 4-4 scores tied. Then Shimauchi (pinch hitter) hit a triple into left centre bringing in lead run 5-4 Golden Eagles, runner on third. Once again an inappropriate straight right down the middle of the zone had been the victim. Actually, this one had had decent speed but not in the middle of the zone. Tsutsui took over at this point and faced Hijirisawa. The calls were all straights and Hijrisawa got the same pitch for his fourth as his first and blasted it into the stands for a two run home run 7-4 Golden Eagles. Fujii had been trying to avoid a repeat of the seventh by taking the pitches higher but an inside line high in the zone would have been better. Jones and McGehee both flew out to end the innings but in a repeat of all those years ago Tigers had blown a lead and sunk themselves. Rasner pitched Tigers ninth and struck out Conrad (pinch hitter) swinging. Yamato struck out looking and then Toritani popped up to second to end the game. Golden Eagles victory.

Tigers should have held this game and should have won against Rakuten having taken the lead twice. Instead their pitching had let them down. Poor and inappropriate calls by Fujii and a lack of variation had created chances for the batters. That being said none of the pitchers had shown initiative except for Standridge at times and then he hadn't really shown enough. The Tigers batting should have been better but more than that Tigers need to replace Kubo as their closer. However, with their inability to develop a relief team that is consistent and their reliance on veterans one cannot see any current candidates at the moment except perhaps Tsutsui.