September 8th Andoh v Chen - Outgunned

To start with a ni-gun game which saw 31 runs scored. This was the 8th September game between Tigers and Orix. Tigers won 18-13, scoring 13 runs in the last three innings at quite a fantastic pace. Box scores will be available on the NPB website and are worth a look. URL (http://bis.npb.or.jp/2009/games/fs2009090801499.html)
Brazell is due to return on 17th/18th September and has begun gentle training and Tigers do need his production. Not that it would have helped in this game. Dragons had quite a bit of luck with their hits but their pitcher Chen was superb. He dominated Tigers and after the second innings they didn't get a single base runner. Andoh was once again mediocre as was Yano. Not exactly bad just ordinary without any special features. Carp are now one game behind Tigers as they beat the collapsing Swallows. However, we must admit that this will be due to neither the Swallows or the Tigers playing well enough and both teams should be looking for new managers for the next season. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Dragons  0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1 2 7 14 0
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  2 1

Starting lineups

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

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

Andoh pitched a nice controlled first innings, no one on base and economical. Chen by contrast was shakey in Tigers first. He got the first two outs but then Toritani hit to second,, Araki making the stop but being unable to get the throw to first in time. Chen then walked Kanemoto and you had visions of Chen collapsing. However, Arai was a bit too keen to swing at a ball and this flew behind him into foul ground where Morino made a fine catch to end the innings. Andoh started the second by striking out Blanco looking and things were looking very promising. Wada hit to right but the next two batters surrendered easily and the innings was over with Wada still on first. Chen then found his rythym and struck out Sekimoto looking. Sekimoto was in for Brazell and looked rather off the pace. Chen was pitching well but some of the Tigers batting was also pretty inept - Asai was a case in point striking out twice to the same ball. With two outs Yano then hit to centre, Tigers last hit. The last batter was Andoh who also struck out. Dragons third was quiet with Andoh retiring the batters in order. Tigers third followed the same pattern with Chen collecting another strike out - that of Hirano.

Tigers troubles started in the Dragons foruth. Araki managed a lucky hit which stayed in the air a long time but managed to land away from the fielder. Blanco was next and he quickly worked up a 2-0 count. Andoh though then ran into problems trying to get the third strike and with Yano contrived to make a mess of the situation. Whilst the situation called for a curve ball Andoh fired a straight ball at Blanco who was a bit bunched up in his shot but had enough power to put it just over the fence for a two run home run 2-0 Dragons. Andoh then disintergrated slightly. Wada managed a lucky two base hit (he really stretched for the pitch and it came off the base of his bat the right way). Inoue walked and then Hidenori hit his first pitch to centre and load the bases. Tanishige then lofted the ball high and deep for a sacrifice fly 3-0 Dragons, runners on second and third. Finally, Chen grounded out to second to end the innings. Dragons were comfortably in control. Tigers then surrendered lamely in their fourth with Kanemoto and Sekimoto striking out. Dragons fifth saw Morino hit to left but nothing came of this and the innings was scoreless. Tigers batters were then dispatched 1-2-3 with strike outs in the fifth with Asai falling for exactly the same pitch as before. As I said, hardly inspiring batting. In Dragons sixth Hidenori had a two out two base hit along the left baseline. Tanishige was walked to get at Chen who duly grounded out to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet but here Hirano was unlucky. He lined out to a superb catch by Blanco at first.

Andoh surprisingly returned for Dragons seventh - he had thrown over 100 pitches and there was no reason to push him any further especially as he was losing. Here we find another flaw in Mayumi's management, the availability of relief. The number of actual relief pitchers he has that he can use in this sort of situation is actually quite small. Atchison and Fujikawa are pretty much restricted to winning or close situations which means he really has only one or two. (Egusa and Kanemura are both also used to protect leads as well). He really needs another pitcher or two he can slot in. Andoh didn't pitch well. Ibata led off with a hit and this was another lucky swing which stayed in the air for a long time but landed just in front of Akahoshi. Araki bunted Ibata to second and then Morino hit to set up runners on first and third. Blanco was next and he hit nicely into the right corner. The throw was good but Hirano who took the transfer then threw into the ground for an error. 4-0 Dragons runners on first and second. Actually, it was a bit pointless declaring Hirano's throw as a mistake as it would not have affected the run. Here Mayumi pulled Andoh and brought in Sajikihara who should have really started the innings. Sajikihara pitched brilliantly to Wada, throwing three balls which lured the Dragons left into a mood of complacency and then dropping one perfectly placed for a double play hit. Wada obliged and Toritani had no trouble initiating the double play to end the innings. Sajikihara has been doing quite well since his return to the top team. Tigers seventh was of course quiet with the batters falling in order. Dragons eighth, Mayumi started with Nishimura who faced Koike. He hit nicely to left for a solo home run 5-0 Dragons. The next three batters fell easily and it was just the loose pitch that Nishimura threw that marred the innings. Chen returned for the Tigers eighth but there would be no more strike outs for him. He still had enough pitching to get the batters to ground out and (in Yano's case) fly out. Tigers ninth saw Nishimura return and pitch even worse than before. Ibata grounded out but Araki hit. Then Morino hit into the right corner (this seemed to be a problem with Yano's calling) as a lot of the Dragons hits went in this area. Ibata tore round the bases and made home 6-0 Dragons, runner on third. Blanco was next and hit into the same area again. Morino made home 7-0 and Blanco just had enough speed to make a head sliding two base hit. Wada flew out in foul ground, Asai taking a superb catch near the fence but Blanco was able to tag up and make third. Finally, Koike struck out to end the innings. Chen was looking at a complete game shut out as he returned. He battled Akahoshi for a long time before getting the latter to ground out. After that it was easy and the next two batters grounded out. Dragons victory.

Chen had pitched superbly and deserved his victory. Tigers batters had not been able to do anything and had been completely overwhelmed and outclassed. Questions do need to be asked about Tigers pitching though which was not up to the challenge. Mayumi hasn't shown much interest in the relief pitching and it is costing him. Lack of confidence and misuse is affecting a once elite relief corps built up with care by Okada. The continued use of Yano is also a problem - as a catcher he is on a par with Noguchi last season and this is affecting results. Kanemoto continues to underperform but no move seems to be made to rectify the situation or to move him out of the number four spot where he is just becoming an embarrassment. One has to say that the Tigers are not using their resources well.