August 1st Iwamoto v Yamamoto - Management by amateurs

The talking point of this game apart from the stupid pairing of Fujii and Iwamoto was the management incompetence in the sixth. Actually management incompetence has been much in evidence in the use of Iwamoto. He burst on the scene with some very fine mature performances late last year but this season has been conspicuous by his absence. The reason was he did not fit in with the coaches prejudices and had to be 'adjusted' to work with Fujii. So a promising young pitcher is kept back to fit in with Nakahishi's views of how a pitcher should be. Pitching to Fujii he was a shadow of his former self and one can only conclude that Tigers have wrecked another pitcher on the strength of this performance. So this is the long term incompetence of Tigers management and now let us look at the short term incompetence. This is the incomprehensible decision in the sixth to remove a performing pitcher and replace him with a non-performing one. Then replace the non-performing one with a tired pitcher all pitching to a mediocre catcher. Fujii was actually working well with Tsutsui who was justifiably furious at being replaced but made no impression on Nishimura. The latter was hopeless and seemed immune to the concept of a strike zone - one almost had the impression he wanted to be elsewhere. These gratuitous changes cost Tigers the game which was hard but was going their way until Wada and Nakanishi intervened. On that subject the decision to play Kurose was also incomprehensible - it was an important game not one of the late season don't matter affairs. Kurose was suitably bad getting jammed up in his swing too easily and certainly not being an improvement over Saka at second. You play the players on form not someone just to have a look at them in such an important game. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Dragons  1 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 6 10 1
Tigers   1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 4  9 0

Starting Lineups

Dragons
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Tani (Short)
3. Morino (Second)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Hirata (Right)
6. Clark (First)
7. Takahashi (Third)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

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

The start was everything Dragons could have dreamed off and an illustration of the limited imagination that passes for management in Japanese baseball. Iwamoto as I said is a shadow of his former self and pitching to Fujii struggled. Ohshima led the game off with a single to centre. Now it is almost a rule in Japanese baseball that if the No. 1 batter hits, the No. 2 batter bunts no matter how many times this fails to generate a run. Tani bunted Ohshima to second. Then Morino grounded out to first moving the runner round to third. Wada hit right bringing in the run 1-0 Dragons, runner on first. Hirata worked a walk but Clark struck out swinging ending the innings. Tigers started poorly with both Yamato and Shunsuke soon succumbing. However Yamato stumbled and walked Toritani. Next was Murton who took a mighty swing - his hittiing this game had an enormous amount of luck to it but if this gets him motivated and hitting properly then who's to complain. The ball flew deep and far but Ohshima messed up his defense next to the fence and missed the ball. Toritani raced round all the bases to make home safely 1-1 scores tied, runner on second. Arai walked to join Murton on base but Kurose flew out to right to end the innings. Takahashi who would prove to be the Dragons danger man led off the second with a single. Tanishige flew out. Then Yamamoto went to bunt - it was a poor effort straight back at Iwamoto who threw to second for an innings ending double play. Ryota led off Tigers second striking out looking and then the aggressive Fujii singled to centre. Iwamoto went to bunt but it was a weak effort and Tanishige was on the ball throwing to second for a similar double play to that which had ended the Dragons second. Dragons third was quiet but Iwamoto was struggling with Fujii's calls. Yamato led off Tigers third with a single to centre. Remember the almost rule - if No. 1 hits then No. 2 bunts. This is what happened with a slight variation. Shunsuke shaped to bunt as per instructions but Yamato is of an independent mind and set off to steal. This is one of his most endearing traits but it does get him into occasional trouble as he managed to end Kanemoto's run of playing in consecutive games with a failed steal. It is independence to be valued. With the success of the steal one would have thought that Wada would have had Shunsuke hit but no the bunt was going to go ahead. Two failed attempts later Wada relented but Shunsuke chose the wrong pitch to swing at and struck out swinging. Toritani though hit nicely right and Yamato was able to charge home 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Neither Murton nor Arai were able to do anything about this situation and the innings ended with just one run scored.

For some reason this lead caused problems for Iwamoto in Dragons fourth. He started by walking Wada and then walked Hirata - runners on first and second. Clark jammed up and hit weakly to Iwamoto for another welcome double play. The only thing was that Wada was able to make third. Next was Takahashi who hit right past the ineffective Kurose for a timely single 2-2 scores tied, runner on first. Tanishige then hit high and deep into foul ground and Shunsuke took a fine catch right next to the fence for the final out. Kurose led Tigers fourth off and got really jammed up checking his swing and managing to hit into the infield - he was out. Ryota singled right and then Fujii also singled right with Ryota motoring round to third. Wada decided to pinch hit Iwamoto and brought Asai on - a decision which did not sit well with Tigers starter. Asai to be honest wasn't that good but did show fine speed, grounding out to second but ensuring that Dragons only got the force out and not the double play. Of course Ryota was home 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Yamato hit nicely to centre but was caught by Ohshima to end the innings. Tsutsui took over for Dragons fifth and got Matsui (pinch hitting for Yamamoto, Takagi also having decided to replace his starter) to fly out to Arai in foul ground. He then struck out Ohshima and Tani in succession to end the innings. Okada took over for Tigers fifth and got Shunsuke and Toritani before Murton hit a grounder to Tani at short. Tani completely missed the take and the ball rolled into the outfield. Murton was safe on first. Arai though hit to third and ended the innings. Dragons sixth and Tsutsui started it - he was cruising, in control and enjoying himself. He got Morino to ground out to first but then Wada and Nakanishi intervened. Tsutsui was not pleased and one must side with him - there was absolutely no reason to change pitchers at all. His expressive shrug on the mound said it all. Nishimura took over and was a complete disaster. Wada singled left - oh well it happens. But then Nishimura walked Hirata in four and then he walked Clark on a full count to load the bases. All the time the TV camera kept cutting to Tsutsui in the dugout and he did not look impressed. Having realised that this was a major screw up Nakanishi and Wada - the blind leading the blind - decided another pitching change was in order and brought Katoh on. He is tired and needs some rest - his pitching is deteriorating and facing Takahashi he threw too many balls. He was a bit low with his final pitch and Takahashi's response was a magnificent hit for a straight grand slam 6-3 Dragons - all with one out. Tanishige walked and Tigers were in a lot of trouble. Okada supplied temporary relief by failing with his three bunt attempts but Ohshima singled left to set up runners on first and second. Tani who was having a poor evening struck out swinging but the damage was done. Tigers tried to come back in their sixth. Kurose led the innings off and once again got jammed up. This time the ball flew off his bat and landed just fair deep to right. Ryota flew out and so did Fujii but this time Kurose was able to tag up and take third. Next was Sekimoto (pinch hitter and replacement third) who managed to get enough bat on the ball to drive it into left centre for a timely hit 6-4 Dragons, runner on first. Yamato flew out to end the innings. Dragons still held the lead.

Matsuda took over for Dragons seventh and despite the praise he got for his performance he didn't really look that good throwing too many wasted pitches. Both Morino and Wada flew out and both pretty deep. Then Hirata doubled to left centre which given the way Matsuda was expecting was only to be expected. Araki hit to centre - a nice hit and one which should have produced a run except for a superb sliding catch by Yamato to save the day for the Tigers. Madrigal pitched Tigers seventh and with one out gave up a single to Toritani who bisected second and first neatly. However, neither Murton nor Arai did anything and the innings was scoreless. Matsuda did much better in Dragons eighth retiring the batters in order for a scoreless innings. Tigers eighth also has a question mark. Using Saka as a pinch hitter was good but using Hiyama (pinch hitter) was just a pointless waste. With no runner on there was no need to use your elite pinch hitter and the move smacked of desperation not any rational planning. Kiyohara took over for Dragons ninth and struggled through the innings. With one out Donoue (replacement short) singled left. Then Morino hit right. Akada (pinch hitter) struck out swinging and Hirata walked to load the bases. Araki (replacement second) tried to hit deep to centre but flew out to end the innings. Of course Iwase pitched Tigers ninth. He surprisingly started by walking Sekimoto in four. No one else got on base, Yamato flew out to centre, Imanari (replacement right) struck out swinging and Toritani flew out to left to end the game. Dragons victory.

At the end of the fifth one would have predicted a tight victory for Tigers. They were holding the Dragons well and their pitching was doing the job. The management incompetence in the sixth handed the victory to the Dragons. Tsutsui was not even struggling, he was enjoying himself. He was working well with Fujii and there was absolutely no reason to replace him. Nishimura had given previous proof that he was not a pitcher who worked well with Fujii and so one wonders why he was brought on to pitch. Blowing a series like this is a consequence of having poor management and amateur kantokus. Daily Sports summed it up well asking the question naze? I don't think Wada has any answers.