May 8th Andoh v Miura - Miura conquers

Kanemoto received the MVP award for the Central League for April. Figures of 33 hits, 8 home runs, 30 RBIs and an average of .379 made this a formality. Congratulations on a great performance.

Tigers batters don't like rain and bad weather. They lost narrowly to the Swallows the day before and then once again to the BayStars. Currently, the whole team is demoralized and in a slump and Mayumi looks clueless about what to do. Even so one has to pay credit to the BayStars pitcher Miura who was superb and totally in command of the Tigers batters. He gave up two hits and one walk over nine innings and looked totally transformed from his previous outing. Andoh was also very good - in seven innings he gave up one run on five hits but then suffered from more Mayumi idiocy. Was it necessary to have Andoh pitch the BayStars eighth? At the beginning of the eighth a single lucky swing was all that was needed for the Tigers to draw level. After the eighth this was two swings. One was possible against Miura, two - no way. BayStars batters didn't hit in the eighth they were walked in by a tired pitcher. Mayumi needs to think about victory and how to achieve it not foolish pride and my pitcher can match your pitcher. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Katsuragi (Right)
7. Hirano (Second)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Kajitani (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Yoshimura (Right)
6. Johnson (First)
7. Naitoh (Centre)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

The weather for this game was awful - frequent rain which was often quite heavy. In fact the rain actually forced a stop at one point which affected Andoh's pitching but more of this later. Unlike his previous start Miura was secure and the Tigers first was quiet. Ishikawa led off the BayStars first with a hit. He was bunted to second by Kajitani and then made third when Uchikawa hit a deep fly. Murata grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers second saw Miura get everyone to ground out. In BayStars second the batters fell in order - Johnson looked particularly disgusted with himself after flying out in foul ground. Tigers third saw their first hit - Andoh of all people hit to centre and Miura looked suitably embarrassed at that lapse. Nothing came of this though and the innings was scoreless. In BayStars third Andoh struck out the three batters he faced and the game was still scoreless.

The Tigers fourth saw what was Miura's greatest challenge (though this isn't saying much). Sekimoto led off with a hit. Miura then battled Toritani before getting him to strike out and here Sekimoto was very inept. Instead of staying on first he tried to steal second. Hosoyamada was alert to this and the throw was very good. Sekimoto was out by a long way and had wasted a chance. Kanemoto grounded out and the innings was over. BayStars fourth was quiet with Andoh retiring the batters in order. Tigers fifth followed the same pattern with the batters falling in order. The fifth is normally Andoh's problem innings and this one was no exception. Yoshimura hit and then stole second. Toritani was quickly in position but the throw from Kanoh was poor which was a pity as Yoshimura was too slow. As it was he was comfortably safe. With two out and Yoshimura on third Andoh deliberately walked Hosoyamada (which must have been a surprise to him) to get at Miura. This strategy worked and Miura grounded out to first. Tigers sixth was also quiet with both Andoh and Akahoshi striking out swinging. BayStars sixth saw the only run that they would need. With two out Andoh left his slider in a very inviting position and Uchikawa hit it with considerable power driving it high into the left stand 1-0 BayStars.

Normally, Tigers would mount a rapid response but here Miura was totally dominant and the batters fell in order. BayStars then tried to mount a challenge in their seventh. Yoshimura led off with a two base hit. Johnson walked and with no outs things looked dangerous. Naitoh grounded out but then Hosoyamada walked to load the bases with one out. Here though Andoh was able to get the final two outs. Miura striking out and then Ishikawa grounding out. Miura had no problems with the Tigers batters in the eighth retiring the batters in order. Here Ma\yumi decided that Andoh would pitch the eighth. Wty? This was an unnecessary and with Andoh having thrown 114 pitches a relief pitcher would have been a better idea. Okada handled the pitching far better but the thing is Mayumi was a commentator. He should have replaced Andoh but it seems he is totally clueless about pitchers limits. With two out in the BayStars eighth the rain descended and there was a short pause. When they returned Andoh did not exhibit the same level of control as before and the seventh had given proof that he needed to be replaced. Murata hit and then Andoh walked Yoshimura and Johnson to load the bases. Next batter was Naitoh for whom the term lightweight was invented. Andoh though couldn't control his placement and walked him as well oshidashi 2-0 BayStars bases loaded. Finally Hosoyamada grounded out to short and the innings was over. One would like to report that Tigers rallied and were able to overcome the deficit. In fact Miura did walk his first batter Akahoshi with two out but then got the final out to shut out the Tigers. BayStars victory.

The BayStars still lack someone who can drive runners in - they failed to convert chances apart from Uchikawa's home run. What had won if for them had been Miura's sublime pitching and the abject performance of the Tigers. As for Mayumi whilst one must make allowance for this being his first year I can't help feeling that he is totally useless in the managing role. His constant mishandling of his pitchers leads one to believe that a sixth place finish is the likely outcome. He seems to have no clue when to replace his starters and how to use his relief. Furthermore, he fails to use the players in form switching them with others on spurious left/right theories or his favourites. So far he has been abysmal and needs to raise his performance considerably.