May 20th Shimoyanagi v Houlton - Toritani benched

The surprise in the eighth innings was the replacement of Toritani by a pinch hitter. Toritani hasn't been performing recently (.127 in May) and Mayumi felt that he needed to change things. A bold move which was undoubtedly justified. Mayumi is also talking about changing the batting order and this is long overdue. Okada discovered last season that Toritani didn't prosper at third and so dropped him down the order to sixth where he knocked in a lot of runs. Mayumi needs to do the same and restore the non-performing Arai to third. This should increase production though attention needs to be focused on the non delivering batting coaching as well.

Tigers have narrowed down the list of possible foreign players to replace Mench to six or seven. The names most talked about are Brazell (ex Seibu) or Zuletta (ex Lotte) both of whom have NPB experience. Whilst the former might be possible, the latter is too old and I doubt will be a success. Andy Sheets was registered as an official Tigers scout with the NPB on May 20th. Let's hope he has a successful career in this role. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Lin (DH)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Fujimoto (Second)

Pitcher was Shimoyanagi

Hawks
1. Honda (Second)
2. Kawasaki (Short)
3. Ortiz (Left)
4. Matsunaka (DH)
5. Kokubo (First)
6. Hasegawa (Centre)
7. Tanoue (Catcher)
8. Aguila (Right)
9. Morimoto (Third)

Pitcher was Houlton

Houlton was Jekyll and Hyde. In some ways he was very good, in others he was very poor. For example he kept the Tigers hitless for four innings but dead balled two players. Shimoyanagi was poor and struggled with his placement but got away with it becuase Hawks batting was weak. This is to say it wasn't as weak as the Tigers but it wasn't impressive. Tigers first started with one of the afore-mentioned deadballs. After striking out Akahoshi looking, Houlton dead balled Sekimoto. A strike out of Toritani followed and then a Kanemoto walk to set up runners on first and second. Houlton struck out Arai to end the innings. Hawks first was also eventful as Shimoyanagi couldn't control his placement. With one out Kawasaki hit. Ortiz flew out and then Kawasaki decided to steal second. Off he set but Kanoh was aware to this and the throw was good. Toritani though didn't take the throw and Kawasaki used the opportunity to make third. This was poor fielding on Toritani's part and he would be poor with the glove throughout the game. Nothing drastic just a general slackness and undoubtedly a contributory factor in Mayumi's decision to replace him later on. Shimoyanagi was by now in a funk and his pitching to Matsunaka showed this. He walked the Hawks DH in four with his placement all over the place. He then walked Kokubo to load the bases. Hasegawa though grounded out to second to end the innings scoreless but it was hardly an auspicious start. In Tigers second Houlton issued his second dead ball of the game, to Sakurai. The next batter Lin hit into a double play and Houlton had a lucky escape. Kanoh grounded out and the innings was over. Shimoyanagi walked Aguila in the Hawks second and with one out Morimoto hit his fourth pitch over short into left field. For almost all left fieldiers this would have been a hit but Kanemoto running in, made a sliding catch getting his glove under the ball just before it hit the ground and trapping it with his other to make sure it didn't squirt out. He was then up quickly to lock the runner on first - a great piece of work. The innings ended with Honda striking out and no score. Tigers third was quiet with the batters falling in order. Shimoyanagi ran into more trouble, though, in the Hawks third. He was facing Kawasaki again who hit. Once again the latter tried to steal second and once again succeeded. Once again Toritani was slow but did hold onto the ball. The next batter was Matsunaka who hit a weak infield grounder. Shimoyanagi was on it but dropped the ball for an error. The upshot was that Hawks had runners on first and third with one out. This would prove a costly error. Kokubo hit a bounce ball to short and even though Toritani threw to first the run was home 1-0 Hawks runner on second. If Shimoyanagi had not made the error that would have been the third out. Hasegawa hit to short and once again Toritani was slow and he was safe - runners on first and third. The next batter was Tanoue who grounded out to second to end the innings but Hawks had established a slender lead.

Tigers fourth was quiet with Houlton in control. Hawks fourth was also quiet as once he gave up the run Shimoyanagi seemed to settle down and pitch much better. Houlton walked Lin in the fifth and then gave up a rare hit to Fujimoto (Tigers first hit of the game) setting up runners on first and second but then struck out Akahoshi to end the innings. In Hawk's fith Matsunaka hit a pitch nicely along the first baseline for a two base hit. For most other batters it would have been a three base hit but Matsunaka is not that fast. However, nothing came of this as Kokubo flew out to end the innings. Tigers sixth saw Kanemoto take a walk with two out. Then with Arai at the plate he set off for second. Kanemoto stealing? The throw came in but Kanemoto was safe - a nice piece of work but so rare it deserved a run. Unfortunately Arai flew out to right to end the innings. Hawks sixth saw Tanoue hit to left and amble to first when with a bit of hustle he might have made second. Aguila hit into a double play to end the innings.

With the worries about Swine flu prevalent Jettos are banned at Fukuoka Dome and so we had the spectacle of both teams songs without the accompanying balloons. Hawks looked in control, Tigers had managed only one hit and Houlton had pitched well. True they didn't look like adding to their score but they had the lead. This would change with two Tigers out and Kanoh at the plate. He got a straight fastball for his third pitch and this was hit sweetly into the left stand for a solo home run 1-1 scores tied. Houlton retired Fujimoto to end the innings but the game was alive again. Shimoyanagi returned for the Hawks seventh in which was possibly an innings too far for him and you wondered, once again, about Mayumi's judgment. Morimoto who had been trying to hit to left all evening finally got one in the right area for the lead off hit. Honda was next and he bunted Morimoto to second. At this point Mayumi decided to switch pitchers, undoubtedly the correct decision and also decided to use Williams which was also a sound decision on the face of it. It didn't work out - Williams walked Kawasaki and it wasn't that he was throwing outside pitches deliberately, he just couldn't get the pitch in the zone. Next batter Ortiz hit nicely into centre right for a timely single 2-1 Hawks runners on first and third. Williams was in trouble and needed something special. He pitched three straight balls to Matsunaka and things began to look very serious. However, the next pitch presented him with the luck he needed. It was so inviting that Matsunaka hit it - straight to Fujimoto. The double play followed and the innings was over. Like the night before Akiyama picked Falkenborg for the Tigers eighth. He started with a lead off hit to Akahoshi. The next move was obvious - Sekimoto would bunt and so everyone was waiting for it. However, with the count at 1-1 Akahoshi set of for second sliding in between the fielders legs to safety. Sekimoto, of course, bunted but this time putting Akahoshi on third with only one out. A nice piece of work by the Tigers centre. Here Mayumi made his decision to replace Toritani which was undoubtedly the right one and showed a boldness which was impressive. However, Hiyama (pinch hitter) had taken a page out of the Imaoka book of swinging. He was just as abysmal as Imoaka the night before, swinging at everything without thought of what it was. He struck out in three - terrible batting and a wasted chance. Kanemoto followed and here Hawks had a bit of luck. He hit his first pitch to Kawasaki who was standing deeper. The throw was terrible too high but Kokubo is a big lad and had the height to stretch and take the ball with his foot still on the sack. Nice work from the Hawks first base and the end of the innings. Atchison pitched the Hawks ninth and was secure. Tigers ninth saw Mahara and again he was shakey. He struck out Arai superbly, getting him to swing at an outside pitch but then Sakurai hit to centre. Mahara was horrified and stunned (the look on his face said it all). Next batter Lin who once again hit Mahara this time for a two base - runners on second and third. Kanoh followed and like Kokubo in the third bounced the ball to short for a ground out but also like Kokubo gave the runner on third (Hirano pinch running for Sakurai) time to get home 2-2 scores tied runner on third. Fujimoto followed and grounded out fluffing the chance to take the lead. Tigers had been profligate with their chances this game. Atchison returned for the Hawks ninth and had to fight all the way. Kidokoro (replacement centre) led off with a hit to short. He was bunted to second and then Honda flew out. Kawasaki walked to set up runners on first and second but the final batter Ortiz grounded out to end the innings and the game went into extra innings for the second time in a row. Nice pitching by Atchison who is looking more and more assured. Settsu pitched the Tigers 10th and walked Sekimoto but neither Yamato (replacement short) or Kanemoto did anything, both grounding out to second. One hopes that Kanemoto emerges from his batting slump soon. Egusa took the Hawks 10th and despite the previous evening one has to remember runners on - Egusa, no runners - Watanabe. He faced Matsunaka who hit his third pitch high to right centre for a solo sayonara home run 3-2 Hawks and Hawks victory.

Tigers had undoubtedly fought hard towards the end of the match and the use of a different pitcher would have been wiser but Hawks had deserved the victory. Despite not having the batting they had played better. Tigers fielding had not been up to standard and four errors in the two game series were too much. Batting certainly wasn't up to standard and in fact pretty much 2-5 are in a slump. One cannot do much if so much of your order are failing. The order needs to be changed and Arai and Toritani switched. Mayumi is entitled to try new things but he did have evidence of Toritani's unsuitablity for the No. 3 position from last season. Okada tried the idea and abandoned it when it proved to be unworkable. Lin seems to be recovering his bat speed nicely and was able to make a solid contribution. Tigers need to focus on fielding and batting pretty quickly if they are to play any part in the playoffs.