July 1st Fukuhara v Ogasawara - We're just going through the motions

Jeff Williams is on the disabled list. He has an arthritic left shoulder and will probably be out for two weeks.

The Tigers really don't like playing away and don't want to make much in the way of effort. Once again the fielding was slack and whilst it may be too much to say victory was thrown away, scoring chances were treated casually and fielding wasn't as sharp as it should have been. Fukuhara wasn't too bad in many respects and for five innings certainly outpitched Ogasawara but then didn't have the ability to go the extra innings. Every time Tigers take a step forward, they find a way to take another one back and one is beginning to dread shi-no-rodo given Tigers current away performance (won 8, lost 22 with 3 ties). Box score.

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Arai (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Sakurai (Right)
7. Toritani (Short)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Fukuhara (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Ibata (Short)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Fujii (Centre)
7. Inoue (Right)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Ogasawara (Pitcher)

Shimizu replaced Kanoh behind the plate, a combination of punishment and rest for the latter. Ogasawara would have a very lucky first innings. He started by getting Akahoshi to strike out looking but then Sekimoto a line hit to left and was safe on first. Arai hit his first pitch into centre field and Tigers had runners on first and third. Kanemoto was next and certainly a sacrifice fly was on. Kanemoto obliged by hitting high to centre, the ball was far enough but Sekimoto had wandered off third and then ambled back to the base without any real sense of urgency. The chance was lost - this was a genuine chance to start well wasted by an over casual attitude - the run was there for the taking but Ogasawara was off the hook. Brazell then flew out and the innings was over. If Sekimoto had shown any sense of urgency or interest in the game then Tigers would have been on the board. Fukuhara was also shakey in the Dragons first. With two outs he walked Morino and then Blanco hit to right. Unlike, Sekimoto, Morino didn't have the ability to go for third and Wada hit the ball straight back to Fukuhara for the ground out. Tigers second was quiet as Ogasawara retired the batters with some excellent pitching. Dragons second saw Tanishige hit to first with two out. Brazell showed some nice skill, snagging the ball and firing it to first where Fukuhara missed it for an error which left the Dragons catcher safe on first. The final batter though was Ogasawara who grounded out to end the innings. In Tigers third Sekimoto hit again but Arai couldn't do anything and struck out to end the innings. Dragons third was quiet with Fukuhara totally fooling Morino and striking him out looking - some great pitching.

In Tigers fourth Ogasawara walked Sakurai - his control deserting him temporarily and had to battle Toritani for the final out but duly got it. Dragons fourth was quiet as Fukuhara moved smoothly through the three batters. Shimizu led off the Tigers fifth with a hit. Fukuhara's bunt was abysmal popping up nicely to Ogasawara and almost getting Shimizu ensared in a double play (he was just safe). The double play followed though, Akahoshi hitting into a 5-6-3 play in what was a poor display from him. In Dragons fifth Ogasawara hit - a truely fluke shot. It came off his bat and ballooned up over Toritani who ran back to try and take it. It bounced off his glove and Toritani really should have held the catch. Once again poor fielding from the Tigers short. This brought up Ibata who grounded out neatly to short. Tigers sixth saw Ogasawa's walk, this of Kanemoto. Brazell hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and second with two out. However, Sakurai flew out to right and the innings was over. Tigers were a bit unfortunate, both Arai and Sakurai had hit along the right baseline only to have their shots drift foul. The trouble for Tigers started in Dragons sixth. Araki led off with a hit to left. He then stole second, Shimizu's throw being too high. Morino walked and Fukuhara faced Blanco with runners on first and second and no outs. After playing around Fukuhara sent a slow slider into the zone which Blanco hit with tremendous power into the stands. In fact if this had been an open stadium it would have been hit out of the ground. Home run 3-0 Dragons. Next batter was Fujii who hit to left and then went round the bases like a bat out of hell. As he slid into third the ball arrived but Arai missed it and here the Dragons also missed a chance. Fujii could have made home but instead stayed on third, still with no outs. Fukuhara was replaced by Tsutsui who immediately walked de la Rosa (pinch hitter), runners on first and third. Tanishige then grounded out straight to Arai and Fujii set off for home. Arai, here should have thrown to Shimizu who was in position but hesitated and panicked and threw to first for the ground out. The upshot was that Dragons added another run when they shouldn't have 4-0 Dragons runner on second. Arai surely must have known that the runner going for home was the one to get and his throw would have beaten Fujii who is not that fast. More poor play by the Tigers.

For Tigers seventh Payano replaced Ogasawara. He wasn't as fast as the night before and suffered. Toritani was leadoff and hit his fourth pitch sweetly into the right stand for a solo home run 4-1 Dragons. Shimizu followed with a hit but Kanoh (pinch hitter) then allowed himself to be fooled and struck out swinging. The look on his face said it all. Akahoshi flew out weakly to centre, one wonders why he bothered to make that particular shot and then Kawahara took the mound for the final out which proved to be Sekimoto who struck out swinging. Abe pitched Dragons seventh and had no problems retiring the batters, his strike out of Araki being particularly impressive. For Tigers eighth we had Asao who gave up a one out hit to Kanemoto. The next two batters Brazell and Hiyama (pinch hitter) both struck out swinging. No birthday present for him (it was his birthday, the same as Sakurai and the fans played 'Happy Birthday' for both of them). Dragons eighth brought the rookie Nishimura to the mound and he had no problems with his three Dragons. All this led to the Tigers ninth and no prizes for guessing the pitcher Ochiai chose. Iwase started with a hit to Toritani who made second on Shimizu's ground out but got no further as the next two hitters also grounded out. Dragons victory

Ogasawara picked up his eighth straight victory but hadn't been too impressive in doing so. That he was pulled after the sixth innings suggests that Ochiai was aware of the element of luck which had kept his scoresheet blank. Fukuhara had gone to pieces in the sixth and had''t pitched well (a slow slider in the zone is not the pitch you want to throw to the number one home run batter in the league) but really hadn't been helped by the rest of the team. It is difficult to fathom what Sekimoto thought he was doing in the first, spurning the run and Arai seemed to have cotton wool for brains in the sixth. There is a malaise attached to away games by the Tigers players and the coaches don't seem to know what to do about it. No one wants to try and the fielding and batting deteriorates significantly. This is worrying as surely they must realise that the away games make up half the season. Or maybe they don't - they just don't care anymore. Mayumi as manager has to take responsibility for this attitude and as manager needs to do something about it. Eight wins to twenty-two losses is a big stain on his leadership and he does need to do something to show why he is currently Tigers management.