April 21st Kubo v Maeda - The win is important

Once again we saw a prime example of mismanagement. Mayumi seems to want to give Kubo a complete game (or Kubo desires one). He pitched very well but he does start to tire around he 7th innings. There was a good case for replacing him after the 6th and going with Watanabe, Kubota and Kyuji Fujikawa to ensure the victory. There was even better reason to replace him after the seventh and go to the relief. Instead Mayumi chose to play 'my pitcher can match your pitcher' and so a tight game was lost. One is reminded of the Dragons winning game in the Japan series where Ochiai pulled his pitcher in the eighth and went with Iwase to ensure victory. This should have been Mayumi's approach and one is rather surprised that he still hasn't learned this. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Suenaga (Centre)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Shima (Left)
6. Hirose (Right)
7. Kokubo (Third)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Maeda (Pitcher)

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

Kubo started well and recently has been pitching very nicely. All three batters in Carp's first grounded out. Maeda in his first season had owned the Tigers. The second was a disappointment - he rather bled runs. This season he has started nicely and is the only decent pitcher in the Carp lineup. How would he fare in his first start against the Tigers this year? The Tigers first innings saw Toritani hit but Maeda was able to get Arai to ground out to short. Carp's first runners on base came in the second with Shima walking and then Hirose hitting to set up runners on first and second. Kubo was ontop of the situation and retired the next two batters to make sure no score resulted. Tigers second was quiet and so was Carp's third. Tigers third saw Murton produce a two base hit out of his hat with two out. Hirano then hit to centre to set up runners on first and third. Murton might have tried for home but the next batter Toritani drove the ball into centre for a timely hit 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Arai struck out to end the innings but the Tigers were in the lead.

Carp tried to hit back in their fourth. With two out Shima hit. Kurihara followed with a two base to left centre and Shima went for home. The throw was good and Shima is not the fastest of runners. He was tagged out and the innings was over. In Tigers fourth Sakurai hit a two base with two out and of course the natural choice for Maeda was to deliberately walk Kanoh to get at Kubo who grounded out to end the innings. Kubo then proceeded to retire the batters in order and Carp's fifth was quiet. Maeda had by now re-established control and Tigers fifth was also quiet. In Carp's sixth Kubo gave up a two base hit to Suenaga and maybe this should have been taken as a warning sign. However, Mayumi is not known for his managerial perceptiveness. Tigers sixth was quiet with none of the batters reaching base.

Carp's seventh saw the lead disappear. Shima hit over Murton for a two base hit. Nakagashi took over as a pinch runner and the next batter Hirose hit. Nakagashi was able to make home 1-1 scores tied. Kokubo struck out but Ishihara made first on a fielders choice. Carp now had runners on first and second. Maeda bunted the batters to second and third - definitely a mistake in the circumstances as the third out was Higashide who grounded out to Toritani. Tigers seventh was quiet as all three batters did nothing. It would have been a good idea to replace Kubo for the Carp's eighth but Mayumi kept him in and he did well retiring the batters in order. Maeda returned for Tigers eighth. He started by walking Murton. Kanemoto (pinch hitter) hit to right. Toritani grounded out taking the batters round to second and third and Carp decided on the desperate expidient of walking Arai to load the bases. Maeda was up to the challenge striking out both Johjima and Brazell to end the innings without damage. Here we saw the difference in approach between Nomura (Carp's manager) and Mayumi. Nomura didn't ignore the warning signs and Maeda did not pitch the Tigers ninth, eight innings was enough. Mayumi, though, decided that Kubo had another innings in him. Kubo got the first two outs of the Carp's ninth innings but was having to work harder and harder. The third batter he faced was Kokubo who put one over the left fence for a solo home run 2-1 Carp. Kubo then had to work even harder to get the final out. Carp's closer for Tigers ninth was Schultz who tided up the Tigers batters in short order. Carp victory

Maeda had pitched well but the mishandling of his pitcher by Mayumi had blown the match. Kokubo would not have had the winning home run if Kubo hadn't been tired and Mayumi needs to think about the victory more than other milestones. There was no real reason to pitch Kubo beyond the seveth but Mayumi continued to do so. Taking the match into extra innings would have certainly produced victory for Tigers as the pressure would have proved too much for the Carp's pitchers. A gift to the Carp is the only way to describe this game.