August 13th Kubo v Kawai - Tigers declawed

The rematch between Kubo and Kawai produced exactly the opposite score as Dragons engineered a very lucky seventh. An umpiring mistake also helped the six run innings which gave them the victory. Tigers offence was also to blame squandering chances against Kawai who was not improved on his last outing. This was Kubo's first defeat for five games and his meltdown in the seventh was spectacular especially as until then he was in control and easily the better pitcher of the game. Mayumi should have taken a leaf out of Ochiai's book and removed Kubo as soon as Tigers got the second out. Instead he kept him in too long. Tigers batting once again was not good enough and really if they want to make the playoffs (fat chance) then something needs to be done about Wada who is ineffectual. Bringing in O'Malley or bringing back Hirata from the second team would both be good stopgap measures but then sacking Mayumi at the end of the season is the best longterm option. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Dragons  0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 3 9 13 0
Tigers   2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  5 0

Starting lineups

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

Tigers
1. Hirano (Centre)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Dragons first was quiet as Kubo started well and the batters all grounded out. Kawai started exactly the same way as his previous outing, poorly. Hirano led off with a right hit over Blanco's outstretched glove. Then Yamato bunted him to second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Toritani hit a home run nicely along the left baseline 2-0 Tigers and a great start. Kanemoto flew out in foul ground at the start of another embarrassing night for him. He really needs to be dropped down the order or dropped to ni-gun. There is no point putting a batter in at four who cannot deliver runs beyond what might be considered luck. At the moment 7 or 8 might suit him better and it would seperate him from Arai which might galvanize both players. Arai struck out to end the innings. Dragons second saw Lee hit with two out but then Fujii flew out to left and that innings was over. In Tigers second Brazell led off with a hit. Sakurai then struck out and as he did so Brazell tried to steal second. As a decision it ranks up there with Mayumi's most stupid. It was one of the easiest outs possible and really Brazell should not be used in this way. So with a runner on first and no outs Tigers had gone to two out with no runners on through rank mismanagement. The irony was that Kanoh hit and this would have been enough to take Brazell round to third and introduce the possibility of Kubo engineering a sacrifice run off Kawai who did not pitch well. Instead Kanoh was on first with Kubo the next batter and he grounded out to end the innings. Poor play by the Tigers kantoku. The whole third was quiet with both pitchers being in control of their innings.

Tigers fourth started with another Kanemoto failure but Arai walked. One out later Sakurai also walked which brought up Kanoh. He hit to centre and Kawai made a grab for the ball and just got the tip on the ball deflecting it right into the path of Ibata who threw to second for the final out - very unlucky. In Dragons fifth Fujii hit a two base along the right baseline but nothing came of this. Tigers fifth was quiet but the tactics adopted were disturbing, batters trying to hit deep flyballs and flying out rather than using the ground route. Araki hit in Dragons sixth but once again without result and one could say that Kubo looked in control but could have benefited from more run support. Tigers sixth was the turning point. Kawai hadn't pitched well but poor batting had kept the Tigers from adding more runs. In Tigers sixth this continued and he started by walking Toritani. Kanemoto grounded out to second and then Arai also walked. Brazell hit to right a nice swing and impact but unfortunately right to Lee. Sakurai then walked to load the bases and Kawai was in trouble. Ochiai acted immediately and replaced him with Kawahara. He faced Kanoh who snatched at his second pitch and flew out in foul ground. Kanoh has done this before and someone needs to teach him how to wait for the right pitch to hit. Once again he had blown a chance with runners on and one sensed that the Dragons had taken heart from this and that the game had turned.

Dragons seventh started with a bang. Kubo faced Blanco who turned a slider nicely into the stands for a solo home run 2-1 Tigers. Wada hit and then Lee as Kubo began to lose confidence and served up a series of sitters. Fujii bunted the two runners to second and third - a very nice bunt but then Kubo walked Tanishige to load the bases. Quite simply his control wasn't there. Tatsunami (pinch hitter) was next and he hit a grounder to Brazell who fired it back to Kanoh for the force out, bases loaded. Here, Mayumi should have switched pitchers for the final out just as Ochiai had done the previous innings. He didn't. Ibata took a swing at his first ball and directed it to left between Arai and Toritani. The runners rounded the bases as the throw came in. It was a good throw and gave Kanoh time to tag Tanishige as he slid in for the final out. Well not quite, the plate umpire got it wrong and ruled Tanishige safe, a very poor decision and particularly incomprehensible 3-2 Dragons runners on second and third. Here was another chance to remove Kubo but Mayumi didn't - it was clear that he couldn't get the final out and needed replacing. Araki hit to short and Toritani made a fine diving stop but couldn't prevent the runner scoring 4-2 Dragons runners on first and third. Finally, Mayumi decided that Kubo should go and replaced him with Egusa. Here Dragons had another piece of luck. Morino took a swing and as he does sometimes when he is fooled by the pitch completely messed it up. However, he got a lucky impact on the ball and even more surprisingly it landed nicely to right allowing two more runs to score and Morino to reach third 6-2 Dragons. Sakurai had thrown well but the transfer from Yamato had been abysmal, well above Kanoh and creating the opportunity for Morino to make third. Egusa walked Blanco to set up runners on first and third but then got Wada to ground out to end the innings. A disastrous innings for Tigers and whilst Dragons had been very lucky without that luck they would have still been level. Mayumi should have acted sooner to remove Kubo especially as it was clear that he was in trouble. Tigers seventh was pitched by Takahashi who had no problems with the shell shocked Tigers batters and they were out in order. Cheng pitched Dragons eighth and was secure retiring the batters in order. Asao pitched the Tigers eighth and gave up a hit to Arai who hit to Morino but the Dragons third was standing too far back to make the throw. Brazell struck out and Asao is proving to be an effective relief pitcher against the Tigers. Cheng returned for the Dragons ninth and looked one dimensional. He struck out Koike but then gave up successive hits to Ibata and Araki, runners on first and second. Morino was next and there was nothing lucky about his shot this time which travelled high and far into the upper stands - a three run home run 9-2 Dragons. Blanco was next and he hit but by now Mayumi had given up and Cheng who was clearly struggling stayed in. Wada grounded out to third and Blanco took second. Lee was next and Blanco advanced too far off base and was tagged out to end the innings. For Tigers ninth Ochiai used Nelson. Sakurai flew out to Oda (replacement catcher) in foul ground and then Lin (pinch hitter) did exactly the same. The ball went up and up but didn't come down having lodged in the roof netting of Kyocera Dome. Oda kept on looking at it hopefully but it didn't oblige. Lin though flew out to second and then Asai struck out swinging to end the innings.Dragons victory.

A complete turn around with the Tigers sixth innings being the key. Once Tigers failed Dragons took heart and produced their victory. For six innings Kubo had dominated and his pitch count was such that a seventh innings was an entirely reasonable course of action. He needed to have been removed earlier in the innings though and even though the Dragons had some help from the umpire and luck they had generated the victory by trying. Tigers had been unlucky, Kanoh in the fourth and Brazell in the sixth but still their batters had not shown the same level of application and effort. Something must be done about Kanemoto though - currently he is a waste of space and if it is not possible to drop him to ni-gun he should be dropped from fourth. It is no use having a batter in that position who doesn't perform. The situation of Kanemoto as permanent fourth only arose in Okada's tenure and then there were good grounds for it as he performed. Under Hoshino fourth was not fixed and for the moment Tigers need to adopt this course of action and try different options.