May 13th Shimoyanagi v Masui - What to do about Kubota?

Kubota's pitching is not good at the moment. In his three most recent appearances he has given up a two run home run, been removed from the mound and given up four runs. Watching him it seems his placement has deteriorated and his speed is down. Last season he suffered from shoulder problems which may have returned. Kubota going down to the second team would blow a big hole in Tigers relief as despite his problems he is one of the few elite relief pitchers in Japan. At the moment this is not being mooted as an option but Mayumi is faced with a big problem if it does happen. Of his remaining relief he can call up he can really only use Abe or Sajikihara with any hope of reliability. Tigers tend to save Sajikihara for mid to late season and Abe is still suffering from the coaches hurt pride over their idiocy in trying to make him a starter last season. Hopefully Tsutsuru will be able to bounce back and then there might be Cheng but Tigers haven't really figured where they want to use him. On that note it is about time Lin got some starting time at right - Sakurai is truly dreadful fielding there and despite the fact he hits runs he also gives up a lot of runs through his errors. Time to give Lin a tryout - his fielding can't be worse. Tigers also need to deal with the Shimoyanagi question - he lasted two innings this game and was also pretty dire. Minami-president is on record as saying that the younger pitchers need to seize their opportunities but they still need to get playing time. Keeping Shimoyanagi in the rotation and buying in pitchers like Fossum and Standridge won't help this. Both the latter might improve and prove to be good purchases but Tigers actually need to develop a coherent pitching development strategy which gives their younger pitchers playing time at the top level. The farcical arrangements pertaining under Mayumi are no substitute for such a thing. Someone also needs to talk to Johjima - the out is the important thing, not whether the ball might run foul or not. Once is permissible but to do the same thing twice is not good play. On to the game - for Tigers fans it was not pretty. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Fighters
1. Tanaka (Second)
2. Morimoto (Left)
3. Inaba (Right)
4. Koyano (Third)
5. Itoi (Centre)
6. Takahashi (First)
7. Kaneko (Short)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Masui (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Johjima (Catcher)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Katsuragi (Left)
8. S. Fujikawa (Right)
9. Shimoyanagi (PItcher)

Shimoyanagi's start was dismal and didn't get better. His second pitch to Tanaka was dispatched for a two base hit. Morimoto bunted him to third and then Inaba stepped up to the plate. The night before he had hit a lucky home run but there was no luck about this one - he got a loose pitch and drove it over the centre fence 2-0 Fighters and a bad start. The next two batters grounded out to end a very nice first for Fighters. Masui though wasn't much better and at least gave Tigers hope. Murton hit to centre and was bunted to second by Hirano. Toritani drove a loose ball over centre for a two base 2-1 Fighters, runner on second. Arai grounded out which took Toritani to third and then Johjima walked. Tigers were in with a good chance. Brazell worked the count full and then tried to hit to centre but only succeeded in flying out to end the innings. Tigers needed to do better with that chance. Takahashi led off Fighters second with a hit but then Kaneko hit into a double play and things looked better. However, Tsuruoka hit and this brought up the pitcher Masui. Quite frankly, he was easy meat or should have been. Shimoyanagi's pitch was so abysmal that Masui had no problem driving it smoothly into left centre for a two base hit. Tsuruoka charged round the bases and was home 3-1 Fighters, runner on second. Given that the only time Masui picks up a bat is one or two games in inter-league the fact that he was allowed to hit at all was incredible. Tanaka followed and stroked the ball smoothly along third baseline for another timely hit 4-1 Fighters. He then stole second and Shimoyanagi walked Morimoto. This was getting farcical and Mayumi called a halt before the damage got irretrievable. Shimoyanagi was knocked out without finishing the innings which is not surprising. He is too old now to be an effective starter and should not be in the rotation anymore. Watanabe took the mound and got the final out - Inaba flying out to left. Tigers then wasted the chance. They knew that Masui wasn't pitching too well but failed to exploit it in their second. The batting was weak and lazy and Masui had no real problems. He did walk Shunsuke Fujikawa but no one else did anything and Murton struck out but the strike zone for Fighters pitchers was rather generous to say the least. Mayumi had used Watanabe for one out and then replaced him by a pinch hitter (Sakurai). This was a mistake to say the least. Another innings of Watanabe given how he's pitching would have been very useful and using an at bat for it would not have been a waste. Sakurai had done nothing and so nothing would have been lost and Tigers might have even avoided the trouble in the seventh. It seemed such a pointless move especially as Watanabe could have bunted the runner on first. Ishikawa pitched Fighters third and had to work hard for his outs but persevered and got the batters 1-2-3. This was good pitching. Once again in Tigers third the batters failed to do anything and the innings was scoreless. Arai looked particularly clueless when he struck out looking.

Ishikawa returned for Nippon Ham's fourth and gave up a hit to Kaneko. Tsuruoka bunted him to second and then came a classic bit of farce. Johjima was responsible for this - Masui hit a pitch which bounced and dribbled along the infield just inside the third baseline. Instead of picking up and throwing to base for the out Johjima insisted on leaving it to roll foul - it didn't. Fighters now had runners on first and third with only one out. It doesn't really matter if the ball rolls foul - it would have only been the second strike anyway whereas a throw to first was definitely the second out. Fighters had been handed a scoring chance and really Johjima should have known better. Tanaka lined out to Toritani and then Morimoto hit to Hirano who brought off a superb dive and throw for the final out. Tigers had been lucky this time but next time would not escape so lightly. Masui had escaped without damage in the second and third but would not have such luck in the fourth. He faced Johjima who slammed his first pitch into the left stand for a solo home run 4-2 Fighters. Brazell was next and he took his third pitch - a curve into the right stand for another solo 4-3 Fighters. Masui then walked Katsuragi and Nashida decided he needed to act fast if he was to avoid the upcoming debacle. Kida took the mound and was distinctly shaky. Fujikawa bunted (why - when Tigers were in the ascendant and Fighters in trouble?). Anyway the bunt was successful and Kida faced Kanemoto (pinch hitter). He walked bringing up Murton. He hit to short who fielded well turned and threw to second for the second out. Kanemoto thought he was safe which indeed he was - the replay showed him reaching second before the ball and the umpire had got it wrong. Hirano had runners on first and third but hit his first pitch to second for a straight forward ground out. Tigers had wasted this chance as well as Murton also hit his first pitch. More thought would have exploited the situation better but Fighters had enjoyed a useful piece of luck with the wrong out. Egusa pitched Fighters fifth and looked more like his old self, bustling, full of energy and cheerful. He pitched extremely well striking out Inaba and Koyano with some superb pitching. Kida returned for Tigers fifth and had no trouble retiring the batters. Egusa gave way to Nishimura for Fighters sixth. He was also excellent and currently has the temperament for a middle reliever but not a set up or closer. Two of his outs were struck out looking which was impressive. Hayashi pitched Tigers sixth and was effective allowing no runners on base.

Fighters seventh was where things went wrong for Tigers. Kubota despite his previous wobbles was not the wrong choice. On form he would dispose of Fighters batters without even breaking into a sweat but he would not be on form. The first batter was Ozaki who got a lucky impact which landed nicely for a two base hit. Next was Tanaka who bunted - once again along third baseline. For the second time Johjima insisted on waiting for the ball to dribble out which it refused to do. The runner was safe on first and Ozaki was on third this time with no outs. For Johjima to repeat this stupidity twice was beyond belief. Once again it would have only been a second strike if it had rolled foul. If the throw had been made it would have been an out. One hopes someone explains this to Johjima who has been a very intelligent catcher up to now. This sort of thing shouldn't happen again. Morimoto was next and he drove one to second which just evaded Sekimoto's dive - Mayumi having moved Hirano to right. This was another poor move, Hirano would have taken the catch. The runner was home 5-3 Fighters, runners on first and second. Kubota's control was all over the place by now and Inaba dug one out very nicely putting it into left centre for a two base hit. Both runners made home, Morimoto just sliding in before the tag from Johjima who didn't block the plate sufficiently. 7-3 Fighters, runners on second. Kaneko joined him a few minutes later walking on a full count, all this with no outs. Yang (replacement left) bunted the runners to second and third and then a bit of Inaba idiocy intervened. The night before Inaba had needlessly been caught off base and it happened again. Takahashi hit straight to Brazell. Inaba came off his base which the runner behind occupied third. Brazell ran across to tag Inaba out and he had spoiled a chance for Fighters to add more runs. He should have stayed on base or at least gone for the home plate. Instead he hesitated. Takeda pitched Tigers seventh and retired the batters in order though he did have the help of the extended strike zone. Kubota returned for Fighters eighth Mayumi having almost run out of pitchers and needing to reserve Kawasaki for the final innings. Kubota gave up a one out hit to Tsuruoka who was bunted to second by Takeda. Kubota had two outs but was not up to the challenge. A poor hit was dispatched into left field by Tanaka for a three base hit and a run 8-3 Fighters, runner on third. It was almost too embarrassing to watch for Tigers fans. Finally Morimoto grounded out to third to end the innings. Fighters were out of sight. The drama though wasn't over - Fighters were sloppy. Takeda returned for Tigers eighth and Toritani hit his first pitch straight to Kaneko who dropped the ball allowing Toritani on first - an error. Arai hit to Koyano who was too slow with the throw and Tigers had runners on first and second. Then Koyano muffed the pick up on a Johjima ground ball, another error and the bases were loaded with no outs. The next batter was Brazell who had hit a solo home run earlier but really needed to do something this time. He struck out with some inept batting. Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit to short who didn't drop the ball but could only get Johjima going for second. Toritani was safe home 8-4 Fighters, runners on first and third but two outs down. Fujikawa walked to load the bases again and Tigers had another chance. This time Sekimoto grounded out to short to end the innings. A truely wasted chance and a poor return of only one run. The batting had been inept and unintelligent and Tigers should have made more of Fighters errors and poor play. As it was Fighters luck had held. As I mentioned Kawasaki pitched the ninth. He was very good and the batters fell in order. For Tigers ninth we saw Takeyama who started with a lead off hit to Murton. Both Hirano and Toritani really needed to bat well but both struck out in very foolish ways - Hirano swinging at one which he should have left and Toritani misjudging an obvious strike. Finally with Murton on second Arai grounded out lamely to the pitcher to end the game. Fighters victory.

Fighters had taken the series quite comfortably in the end. Tigers play had been inept and inappropriate. Johjima's obsession with foul balls had cost the Tigers dear and Kubota's pitching hadn't been good enough. Tigers do need to think what they need to do about pitching but also they need to think about what to do with Mayumi who is responsible for all of this. The talk is that Hoshino wants to return to managing. He is heavily involved with Tigers but if his health holds up, Mayumi's contract is up this year. A return of Hoshino would be very welcome at the moment. He would not have tolerated the poor play Tigers are indulging in at the moment.