July 16th Kubota v Asakura - Kubota's dismal debut

Firstly the changes to Tigers. The trade of Fujita with Seibu went through on July 13th. Tigers chose the Osaka born infielder Keisuke Mizuta who hasn't played much since joining Seibu as their No. 7 draft pick in 2001. Some long overdue team changes took place as well. Fukuhara has now been dropped to the farm team. Also down are Sajikihara, Baldris and Kubota (an acknowledgement of how poor he was) and Shimizu (the latter is a surprise given that he was better than Okazaki). Coming up are Yano, Mizuta (who earned an accelerated promotion to the first team), Ishikawa and Cheng. It will be interesting to see how Yano does but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The Tigers pitching was truely abysmal this game and really one also has to question the stupidity of the pitching changes. This was bad management refined into an art form showing no appreciation of the players or their abilities. More on this later. The irony is that the Dragons starter, Asakura was also pathetic though he did have the advantage of being economical. This was all. Williams did not look ready and one wondered what his break had done for him. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

Paired with the abysmal Okazaki, Kubota would struggle but in fact would not have done any better with any other catcher. He was just too nervous and uncomfortable and unprepared to start. He got his first out and then things went wrong rather rapidly. Araki hit but then got thrown out trying to steal second. Morino walked and then Blanco hit a two base along the right baseline. Morino motored round to score 1-0 Dragons runner on second. Wada walked but Fujii struck out. Not a good first innings but he was nervous. Asakura was also poor. Sekimoto hit and then with two out Asakura walked Kanemoto to set up runners on first and second. Brazell hit to centre and Sekimoto was home 1-1 scores tied runnes on first and second. All Arai managed to do was to ground out to third to end the innings. Kubota's second was more of the same. With one out Oyama hit. Asakura tried to bunt but failed and was out to three bunts. Ibata hit a two base to left, once again along the baseline and Oyama charged home 2-1 Tigers, runner on second. Morino flew out but it began to look like Kubota was a big mistake. Still Tigers were able to hit back as Asakura was also poor. Toritani and then Okazaki hit to right and left respectively. Next was Kubota's turn to mess up three bunts and be out but Toritani was able to make third. Asakura then dead balled Hirano to load the bases. Sekimoto hit a sacrifice fly to left 2-2 scores tied, runners on first and second and then Katsuragi hit to right driving in Okazaki 3-2 Tigers, runners on second and third. Kanemoto as is his style now then failed and the innings was over. Still, the game had been turned around and this was only the second innings. Kubota should have been pulled here but was sent in for his third innings, rather like a virgin being tied up for the Dragon to eat. Morino led off with a hit to centre. Then Blanco hit a two base setting up runners on second and third with no outs. Wada hit a sacrifice fly 3-3 scores tied, runner on second. The next batter Fujii also hit, runners on first and third. Here Mayumi decided to replace Kubota but his choice of replacement pitcher was farcical. He chose Sajikihara who has been pitching poorly to put it mildly. This was idiocy of the first order. It wasn't that the Dragons were going to score enormous amounts of runs but that they could score at will. Sajikihara faced Hidenori and gave up a hit to right, 4-3 Dragons, runners on first and third. Oyama flew out in foul ground and then Asakura grounded out which is the only thing which saved Sajikihara from giving up more runs. Tigers third started with a hit to Brazell and it looked like the Tigers would take advantage of more Asakura poor pitching. However, Arai flew out and then Toritani grounded into a double play and the innings was scoreless. A piece of luck which would be of vital importance for the Dragons.

Sajikihara returned and was just as poor as before. He walked Ibata and then Araki hit - runners on first and third with no outs. This time it was Morino's turn to hit a sacrifice fly and it was 5-3 Dragons, runner on first. The next two batters did nothing but there was now clear water between the teams. This didn't last long as Asakura started Tigers fourth by giving up a hit to Okazaki. Lin (pinch hitter) hit to right and Tigers had runners on first and third. Hirano grounded out giving enought time for Okazaki to make home 5-4 Dragons, runner on first. The next two batters failed to convert but Tigers were in with a chance again. For Dragons fifth, Mayumi did what he should have done in the first place when he replaced Kubota. He sent Egusa to the mound. The difference was apparent immediately as Egusa retired his three batters in order. Unfortunately this had the side effect of making the Tigers batters go to sleep in the fifth and Asakura had an easy innings retiring the batters in order as well. Egusa returned for the Dragons sixth and sailed through the innings striking out two of the three batters he faced. Yes, he sometimes runs into trouble but he is an excellent pitcher and should have been used earlier. One can only assume that Mayumi has no clue how to handle pitchers (a supposition that seems to be borne out by his ignorant treatment of the relief pitching). Tigers sixth also saw the replacement of Asakura who like Kubota had been dismal but had managed to retain the lead he was given. His replacement was Takahashi who demonstrated similar assurance to Egusa, retiring the batters in order and also struck out two including the hapless Baldriss.

Dragons seventh saw the return of Jeff Williams - but too soon? Quite probably as he was dreadful as well. True he had Okazaki as a catcher but his control was non-existant. He walked Morino and then Blanco. Wada flew out and Morino took third but then Williams walked Fujii to load the bases. Hidenori grounded out to third which drove the runner home 6-4 Dragons, runners on second and third. Williams then walked Tatsunami to load the bases again and that was the end of his game. Atchison replaced Williams and got Koike (pinch hitter) to strike out and end the innings. Kawahara started Tigers seventh and got the first two outs but was then replaced by Payano. He struck out Sakurai (pinch hitter) to end the innings. Atchison returned for the Dragons eighth and started superbly, striking out Ibata and Araki. He then blotted his copybook, giving up a hit to Morino and walking Blanco. Fortunately, Wada was in ground out mode and he ended the innings without the score being added to. Ochiai replaced Payano with Asao who ran into trouble giving up a one out hit to Brazell. Once again Arai failed but Yamato (pinch running for Brazell) was able to make second on a wild pitch. Still it made no difference as Toritani grounded out to second to end the eighth. Watanabe pitched the Dragons ninth and walked Fujii. He was bunted to second by Hidenori who once again had had a very good night. The next two batters flew out as Watanabe ensured that second was as far as Fujii got. For Tigers ninth we saw Iwase who as happens so often retired the three batters he faced in order to end the match. Dragons victory.

So far in July Tigers have won four games, lost 8 and tied one. Nothing Mayumi seems to do makes any difference and it really would be appreciated if he and his coaching team would resign and make way for a new broom. Someone with exprience of coaching and not a Tigers old boy would be most welcome. As I mentioned in the introduction the management of this match was stupidity as an art form with nothing learned from previous games. Poor Kubota wasn't ready and like Williams had been rushed back on the theory that the appearance of doing something to solve problems is the same as actually solving the problems. The whole Mayumi strategy and philosophy is totally discredited and his coaching team is in tatters. Cromwell's message to the rump parliment is very apposite and I think applies fully to Mayumi and his team.

“You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of god, go!.”