September 26th Shimoyanagi v Ogasawara - Tigers spare Dragons blushes

Tigers had this one wrapped up but unfortunately let it get away from them - twice. Both Yano and Shimoyanagi were terrible and should have been replaced earlier. Shimoyanagi should have gone at the end the third innings at the latest - a few weeks ago Mayumi pulled him in the second and more of this bravery would have been welcome. Instead Mayumi mishandled the pitching badly. Egusa should not have been asked to pitch the sixth and Yano should have gone quickly and been replaced by Kanoh. All of this allowed Shimoyanagi to throw the match by letting the Dragons stay in touch. No more Shimoyanagi for this season please? And no more Yano as well. Tigers are now back in fourth as Swallows won but only by 0.5 games. Carp are still 2.5 games back as they lost to the Giants. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers   4 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0  7  9 1
Dragons  0 1 1 1 2 4 0 1 X 10 12 1

Starting lineups

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

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

Ochiai left Ogasawara in too long as he was terrible and almost blew the game. Tigers started Baldris in place of the injured Asai but really should have started Nohara as Baldris was ineffective. Baldris grounded out to start the Tigers first but this was about the extent of the good news for Ogasawara. Hirano hit a two base to left and a wild pitch took him to third. Toritani hit drivng the run in 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Kanemoto grounded out to first but the throwing error allowed both him and Toritani to reach second and third irrespectively. Arai grounded out to Ogasawara so no run there but Sekimoto hit nicely to right centre 3-0 Tigers, runner on second. Sakurai hit to right and drove Sekimoto home 4-0 Tigers runner on first. Finally Yano had grounded out and the innings was over. This was a dream start for Tigers and should have seen a victory. In fact things continued to look nice throughout the Dragons first. Araki led off with a hit and then made second on Ibata's ground out but then didn't get any further as the batters fell in order. Tigers second was quiet and the batters fell in order. Things started to go wrong in the Dragons second, Wada led off the innings with a solo home run 4-1 Tigers (Wada would just miss the cycle by a two base hit). Koike hit but Hidenori followed with a double play. Finally Tanishige grounded out. Here would have been a nice opportunity to replace Shimoyanagi who shouldn't have been giving up home runs this early and the precedent already existed. Anyway he would stay. Tigers third saw everyone fly out to left and was scoreless. Shimoyanagi started Dragons third by striking out Ogasawara and then walking Araki. Here an appalling error occurred. Araki tried to steal second but Yano's throw was wild and it escaped into centre field. Araki seized his chance and sprinted round the bases to home 4-2 Tigers and good work by Araki. The next two batters fell easily but the lead had been halved and this would have been another good time to replace Shimoyanagi.

Tigers bit back in their fourth. Sekimoto hit again and then Sakurai hit a home run to left 6-2 Tigers. Yano hit and then a balk took him to second (Mayumi was not the only one who was tardy in replacing his pitcher). Shimoyanagi tried to bunt but was out with three failures and Baldris grounded out but this did take Yano round to third. Hirano was next and he hit a three base to right centre 7-2 Tigers, runner on third. Toritani was next and he grounded out to end the innings and Ogasawara's session. The latter hadn't been good at all and it was surprising he had lasted as long as he did. Dragons fourth saw another solo home run, this time Blanco leading off with a good hit to right centre 7-3 Tigers. Wada hit a three base but here Tigers were able to stop the rot. Koike struck out looking and then Hidenori grounded out to first. Wada went for home but was thrown out at the plate. Finally, Tanishige flew out to left. Replacing Shimoyanagi now was assuming vital importance - Tigers had a nice lead but Shimoyanagi was bleeding runs regularly and the flow needed to be staunched. Replacing him earlier would have been bold but at this point it had become a necessity. Payano pitched Tigers fifth and was in control as he normally is with the Tigers. He retired the batters in order. Shimoyanagi returned for Dragons fifth and demonstrated just why he should have been replaced earlier. He started the innings with back to back hits to Hirata (replacement centre) and Araki. Ibata flew out but then Morino hit to left - a nice two base. Two runners were home, Araki once again using his speed to good advantage 7-5 Tigers, runner on second. Finally, Mayumi did what he should have done and replaced Shimoyanagi. Egusa was the pitcher and he had to pitch to Yano. Egusa is tired and doesn't particularly like pitching to Yano anymore but he managed to get the remaining two outs whilst sandwiching them with a walk. Tigers sixth was quiet as Payano once again retired the batters in order, finishing with a strike out of Egusa who should not have been asked to pitch another innings with Yano. Both these players should have been replaced. This mistake would cost Tigers dear the very next innings. Maeda (pinch hitter) struck out and then Tanishige walked but then a poor call by Yano led to a nice two base hit from Hirata. With runners on second and third things looked dangerous but Araki struck out. Here the gameplan went awry. Ibata was walked to load the bases - always a foolish option when the next batter has over 100 RBIs. Morino hit to Egusa who couldn't take it in time and added another RBI to his collection 7-6 Tigers, bases loaded. This brought up Blanco who slammed a pitch to right which was just above Sakurai's outstretched glove and bounced off the wall. All three batters were home 9-7 Dragons, runner on second and a dramatic turnaround. Egusa was finished but this was an innings too far for him and poor decision making by Mayumi who tends to think in patterns not actualities. He didn't stop to think whether it would be wise to ask Egusa to pitch two innings Sajikihara took the mound and walked Wada on a full count to set up runners on first and second. However, Koike lofted his first pitch nicely to Sakurai to end the innings. A disastrous innings for the Tigers.

Takahashi pitched Tigers seventh and found things rather easy as a shell-shocked Tigers batting lineup succumbed quickly to his pitching. Sajikihara pitched Dragons seventh and retired the batters in order - he would have been a good pitcher to start the bottom of the sixth not Egusa. Kawahara pitched Tigers eighth was pitched by Kawahara who dead balled Sekimoto to start the innings. One out later he induced a double play from Brazell (pinch hitter) to end the innings. Dragons eighth was pitched by Kanemura who ran into Yano generated problems. With one out he walked Ibata. Ibata stole second as Morino struck out. Blanco also walked to set up runners on first and second and then Wada hit to centre driving in the icing on the cake 10-7 Dragons, runners on first and third. Koike swung and merely succeeded in putting the ball into Yano's glove to end the innings. Surprisingly Asao pitched Tigers ninth not Iwase. He gave up a hit to Kanoh (pinch hitter) but then the latter stayed on first as the next three batters got out in various ways. Dragons victory.

Even though they were to some extent gifted the victory through poor decisions, Dragons had taken their chances well. Tigers batters had peformed nicely and on two occaisions put the game in match winning situations which the pitchers and the management had blown. Poor handling of the pitchers had been the failure here and given that Ogasawara for the Dragons was abysmal it was inexcusable of Mayumi to have mismanaged the match the way he did. Both Shimoyanagi and Yano should be retired to the second team and the focus should be on the younger pitchers and catchers.