August 16th Vogelsong v Kuwahara - More of the same

Kubo (chief pitching coach) apologised to the Tigers fans for the poor pitching display of the night before. Yes it was acknowledged that Resop was inexperienced but that was no excuse and he needs to do better. And Okada? - if looks could kill a lot of ni-gun Tigers would have found themselves on the first team. Fan comments on Tigers chat sites were positively sulphurous. Still the pitching improved this game but this isn't saying much as the only way it could go was up. The batting did not improve and whilst the BayStars Kuwahara wasn't bad (better than Williams the night before) he wasn't as good as the Tigers batters made him out to be. He threw a lot of pitches in his first shutout (150) and it remains to be seen whether he will improve. The Giants won decreasing the games between to seven and switching off the magic number yet again. Kubota returned to the top team but his performance whilst not as bad as his previous ones did make you wonder why - maybe desperation. Onto the line scores

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

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Katsuragi (First)
7. Sekimoto (Third)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Vogelsong (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Third)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Yoshimura (Right)
5. Kinjoh (Centre)
6. Ohnishi (Left)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Fujita (Short)
9. Kuwahara (Pitcher)

Vogelsong started with a fly out and then a hit. He managed to dead ball Uchikawa - his control should be much better. With runners on first and second he looked in trouble but got the next two outs to end the innings. Kuwahara had no problems and retired the Tigers in order. Fujita hit in the BayStars second but a Kuwahara double play put paid to any chance of progress. Tigers second was more lazy batting - they all fell without troubling Kuwahara. So to BayStars third which started with a Ishikawa hit. Two outs later Yoshimura faced Vogelsong and blasted a 2 run home run 2-0 BayStars. There is talk of Sugiyama returning - the sooner the better. Tigers do need an average pitcher to strengthen the current lineup and Vogelsong just doesn't seem to be able to step up to this level. Kuwahara did exactly what was needed in the Tigers third and retired the batters in order protecting the lead. BayStars fourth saw Vogelsong walk Ohnishi but then Aikawa hit into a double play. Fujita flew out to end the innings.

Tigers fourth and suddenly they had their first hit - a lead off by Akahoshi. He was bunted to second by Hirano and advanced to third on a Toritani ground out. Now was the time for Kanemoto to hit but he grounded out. BayStars fifth saw Nishi hit a two base with two out but then Uchikawa struck out looking. Tigers fifth was really apalling though. Lin led off with a three base hit. He then remained rooted as the next three batters got themselves out with no effort - a complete waste. Like the fourth Tigers had a runner in a good position and blew the chance. The BayStars sixth would show the Tigers what they should be doing. It's not that the BayStars have got better - against the other teams they are still poor but that the Tigers have got worse. With one out Kinjoh hit a two base. An Ohnishi hit took him to third and then Aikawa hit to drive in a run 3-0 BayStars. Vogelsong was replaced by Egusa who unleashed a pass ball allowing another runner to score 4-0 BayStars. He then struck out the next two batters to exit the innings. Kuwahara walked Akahoshi in the Tigers sixth but nothing came of it.

Kubota returned to pitch the BayStars seventh - maybe there was no one else. He started with a walk and the runner stole second but the next three batters fell. Tigers seventh was promising - Kanemoto hit. A double play extinguished further progress but then Katsuragi walked and Sekimoto hit - runners on first and second and a big chance. Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out and the chance was lost. Katsuragi was dreadful in this game and in fact has been pretty average recently. Kubota returned for the eighth and with two out walked both Aikawa and Ishii (replacement short). He managed to get the final batter and you breathed a sigh of relief. Akahoshi hit in Tigers eighth and with one out you thought there was a chance. Hirano grounded to second and Akahoshi was out but he was safe. Then came Toritani who in a perfect illustration of what was wrong with Tigers batting let a sitter sail past him to be struck out looking. Seriously he didn't have a clue.

Atchison pitched the BayStars ninth and looked in control. He suits the relief role and looks relaxed and competent. He retired the side in order. Kuwahara returned for the Tigers ninth - even though he had thrown 131 pitches Ohya wanted to give him a complete game. It started dangerously - Kanemoto hit. The next two batters Lin and Katsuragi were pathetic but Kanemoto was able to reach second on Katsuragi's ground out. Sekimoto hit to left and Kanemoto was round to third to be...held up by Wada. There was a run there but once again the third base coach had prevented it. A mound conference followed after which Kuwahara faced Kanoh. He battled him for a while but got him to ground our for his first complete game shut out. BayStars Victory.

Another poor performance by the Tigers in which the key batters failed to hit when it was required of them. They have probably been shut out the most times of the teams in the Central League. Wada really needs to go as third base coach - if he had not stopped Kanemoto the run would have scored and who knows what would have happened. Kuwahara would have probably been replaced and then things may have got interesting. As it was he had pitched a workmanlike performance and deserved his victory. BayStars took the series and if they are patient will find themselves with a sweep of the Tigers. The Tigers slogan is 'Be the best for the fans' - they really need to remind themselves of this.