September 4th Tsuru v Kagami - Would you believe it?

It can be fairly said that after his excellent work with Shiranita the night before, Shimizu would be a perfect choice for catcher for the second game. Instead that moron, Wada, brought back Fujii who is rapidly going to seed and he stunk. His calling was inept easily read and he was of no help to his pitcher. Instead he basically wrecked Tigers chances of winning and earned Tsuru a trip to ni-gun. Note - a pitcher has a rough outing due to the catcher and is punished for it. Whilst the catcher himself is left to inflict more damage on the team as Fujii's ineptness would do in the final game of the series. Nishioka who had cut his hand during training is being kept out of the team until the wound heals. Zarate returned to his home country as well - he is not going to be invited back. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 13 1
BayStars  4 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 X 8 14 0

Starting Lineups

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Second)
2. Kajitani (Short)
3. Morgan (Centre)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Gotoh (First)
6. Kinjoh (Left)
7. Aranami (Right)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Kagami (Pitcher)

Kagami wasn't necessarily better than Tsuru and like the Tigers the BayStars pitching was pretty poor overall but this game the BayStars had the vital ability to hit with runners on and Tigers didn't. Once again it must be clear to everyone except Wada and his team that the only viable candidates for the No. 4 slot are Arai or Murton. Despite Murton being a poor No. 4 he was easily a better option than Toritani who is out of his depth. Tigers did start with a hit - Shunsuke singling after Uemoto had grounded out to third. He tried to steal second but was thrown out after Murton had flown out. As I mentioned Fujii was a joke behind the plate even though Tsuru started well getting the first two outs comfortably. Morgan worked a full count walk and then Nakamura singled to centre to put runners on first and third. This should have been no problem but instead Gotoh hit his second pitch into centre judging the call correctly to bring in the first run 1-0 BayStars, runners on first and second. Once again an annoyance but nothing to worry about as long as everyone stayed calm but Fujii had long since given up on that. Kinjoh was next and hit high and hard which at Joke-ahama meant a home run and a good one to right 4-0 BayStars. Finally, Aranami grounded out to short. It had been a dream start. Tigers second was a disappointment with Arai singling with one out and then Imanari hitting into a double play - it was going to be that kind of evening. Once again the Tsuru/Fujii combination failed to gel in the BayStars second. It was the same pattern as the first - two outs then a complete failure to get the third out. This time it was Ishikawa who led the charge doubling to left. Kajitani singled to centre and for a speedster like Ishikawa the run home was no problem 5-0 BayStars, runner on second with Ishikawa being able to take second on Shunsuke's poor fielding. Then Morgan hit to centre as well bringing in Kajitani 6-0 BayStars and a commanding lead. Nakamura singled again this time to left - runners on first and second. Finally, Gotoh grounded out to third. Kagami had had an easy ride so far but this was about to end in Tigers third. Ryota lead off and once again hit a huge home run into the left stand 6-1 BayStars. Fujii hit right on a full count and then Kanoh (pinch hitter and replacement centre) singled to centre to put runners on first and second. It seems that Kanoh has accepted life as an outfielder having finally had his spirit crushed but it must have been galling to watch the ineptness of the fool who occupied the plate that game. Sadly after this sudden rally Tigers failed to do anything - they had no outs but Uemoto who is still overrated failed miserably striking out. Shunsuke hit his first pitch into the glove of second. Finally, Murton flew out to centre. BayStars third was pitched by Kubota who did well and even showed some of his old fire and placement ability. He retired the batters in order which gave Tigers a welcome respite from the barrage of runs.

Tigers fourth and whilst the top of the order was struggling, the bottom was getting on base regularly. This time Imanari singled left. Ryota walked in four as Kagami was too scared to pitch near the zone - runners on first and second with two outs which once again Tigers wasted. This time it was Fujii who struck out swinging to end the innings. Kagami though was living dangerously. Kubota also pitched BayStars fourth and got Kagami and Ishikawa to both fly out to centre - Kanoh proving secure under the high ball. Then Kajitani walked but Kubota in old style struck out Morgan looking. This surprised Fujii who hadn't had a clue that Kubota was going to throw that pitch. Kanoh led Tigers fifth off with another single - this time going left off his first pitch. Then Uemoto hit into left centre - bouncing the ball off the wall, a big hit. Kanoh was held up on third though which was folly - runners on second and third. Hidaka (pinch hitter) was next and you had fears that he would replace Fujii which would make a bad thing even worse but fortunately, he only pinch hit. He hit to first who fielded but couldn't prevent Kanoh making home 6-2 BayStars, runner on third. At this point BayStars switched pitcher, Kagami having worn out his welcome and Ota took the mound. He was no improvement. Then Murton hit a grounder to third. Nakamura checked that Uemoto had stopped and was returning to base before throwing to first. Uemoto had indeed checked but didn't return to third and as Nakamura had to make the throw to first set off as soon as the ball left the glove. Gotoh took the catch and threw to home but Tsuruoka failed to make the tag and Uemoto slid in under the tag of Tsuruoka who dropped the ball - safe! 6-3 BayStars. Tigers had traded outs for runs but Ota did walk Toritani. Arai hit nicely to left but a fine reflex catch by Nakamura ended the innings. Still there was a ray of hope for Tigers. It was dashed the very next innings by Fujii's ineptness. Kubo pitched the innings and surrendered a lead off single to Nakamura. As there are two idiot managers in this series - Nakahata being the other one, Gotoh was actually instructed to bunt. After messing that up he was allowed to hit and singled successfully to centre - runners on first and second. Yamazaki pinch running for Gotoh who had blotted his copybook by hitting successfully. Here Fujii's incompetence intervened in a big way. Nakamura was drifting off second and Fujii tried to throw to Toritani to pick him off. The throw was a joke - it was too wide and Toritani had to dive to take it. The wily Nakamura instead of trying to return to second went for third instead. It was a successful steal and Fujii had a huge amount of egg on his face. It got worse Kinjoh hit to centre to bring in the run 7-3 BayStars, runners on first and second. Once again the runner on second drifted off base and once again Fujii threw to Toritani - this time with more success. Yamazaki wasn't experienced enough to go for third and tried to return to second where he was tagged out. Finally, Aranami lined out to second to end the innings. Ohhara took over for Tigers sixth and walked Imanari to start the innings. The next three batters panicked and tried to hit over the top - they all flew out in various ways with Ryota going down to a nice catch by Ishikawa who had to track back a long way and take it over his shoulder. BayStars sixth saw a lead off double from Tsuruoka - it was that kind of night. This time the BayStars couldn't exploit the situation and even though Tsuruoka made third on Ishikawa's ground out the third out followed shortly afterwards with Kajitani flying out to centre.

Yamaguchi took over for Tigers seventh and watching him is an unpleasant experience. He looks like a down at heel Andoh. He started by striking out Uemoto and then Saka (pinch hitter) but Murton singled to centre. Now was the chance for Toritani to do something good and start a rally with an extra base hit but all he could manage was a right bounce hit to put runners on first and second. Next was Arai who struck out swinging to a low outside pitch and he really should leave those alone. Boyer pitched BayStars seventh and retired the batters in order. Yamaguchi was succeeded by Fujie for Tigers eighth. With two out Fujii doubled into left centre but Kanoh lofted the ball into foul ground where Yamazaki took the catch. Nakanishi had intended Boyer to pitch BayStars eighth but the pitcher complained of stiffness in the shoulder (very clever) and so instead Matsuda took over. He didn't find things easy and Fujii was once again abysmal. Kinjoh led the innings off with a single. Even now Nakahata was calling for the bunt but after trouble allowed the hit. Aranami grounded out but Kurobane (replacement catcher) singled as well - runners on first and third. Tamura (pinch hitter) flew out and Kurobane tagged up and took second - that wasn't very good by Tigers. Ishikawa hit to third. Ryota fielded but couldn't make the throw in time and Kinjoh was home - lucky BayStars 8-3 BayStars, runners on first and third. Kajitani could only strike out to end the innings. Sosa pitched Tigers ninth and immediately gave up a single to Uemoto. Hiyama (pinch hitter) lined out to short and Murton flew out to left. Toritani singled to put runners on first and third - singles are not what we need. It was up to Arai who grounded out to short to end the game. BayStars victory.

Tigers should have done better and used their hits more wisely. Instead they had wasted their chances. However, they had the shock of the drastic failure in catching by Fujii who is well past his sell by date. Shimizu has come on well whilst Fujii is fading (though he was never very good). He worked well if the pitchers were on form but once they began to tire his predictable patterns and laziness meant that the opposition could figure out what to hit. Tigers need to seriously address this issue and not to retain either him or the even worse Hidaka.