May 21st Fossum v Kaneko - The pitcher who blubbed

Fossum seems to be developing into the type of pitcher who is fantastic one game and stinks the next. We saw his latter mode in this game in which he pitched terribly. Fukuhara was also abysmal and showed that whatever ability he had to confound the Buffaloes is no longer present. The big issue of the sixth innings which probably cost Tigers the game was Johjima's bunt. It was a very good bunt but why it was made especially with a batter of Johjima's quality is unclear. Most likely Mayumi wanted to give Brazell the chance to drive in runs which he hasn't been doing recently. Mayumi was equivocal about the bunt after the match neither confirming nor denying he authorised it but this would mean that he did. Tactical acumen is not one of Mayumi's strong points - in fact one struggles to find any management skill which is. Kubota is likely to be back in the top team within 10 days as even a fallible Kubota is better than a fully fit Fukuhara. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Pitcher was Fossum

Buffaloes
1. Akada (Right)
2. Arakane (Left)
3. Gotoh (Second)
4. LaRocca (DH)
5. Kitagawa (First)
6. Baldris (Third)
7. Ohbiki (Short)
8. D. Maeda (Catcher)
9. Sakaguchi (Centre)

Pitcher was Kaneko

Okada desperately wanted to win this match mainly for revenge on his old side. His pitcher Kaneko has generally performed well against Tigers and so the game promised to be interesting. Tigers first innings seemed to indicate that Tigers would struggle to score with the first three batters failing to get on base. Fossum though was immediately in trouble. With one out Arakane hit. Fossum's control was actually all over the place and when Gotoh came to the plate he found it rather easy to slam his second pitch into the right stand for a two run home run 2-0 Buffaloes. The next two batters grounded out to end a satisfactory start for the Buffaloes. Tigers batters still struggled with Kaneko and the second was also quiet. Buffaloes second was very busy as Fossum's control totally deserted him. He had trouble finding the zone and really just threw bush league stuff. He started by dead balling Baldris who used to play for Tigers and was one of Okada's favourites. Baldris demonstrated only marginal apptitude for top level baseball and was let go. As Okada was the kantoku for Buffaloes he found a home in that team. He has since improved but is still pretty unimpressive. A left fly by Ohbiki was followed by a walk to Maeda. The runners reached second and third on a wild pitch and then Sakaguchi hit to centre to bring home a run 3-0 Buffaloes, runners on second and third. Akada lined out but then Arakane walked to load the bases. The next batter Gotoh also walked - oshidashi 4-0 Buffaloes, bases loaded. Fossum, compounding his nightmare, then dead balled LaRocca, oshidashi 5-0 Buffaloes with bases loaded. He looked horrified as well he might - the lead was rapidly assuming unassailable proportions. At this point Mayumi decided to change pitchers - here it was legitimate, against Hawks taking Uezono out wasn't a legitimate move. Fukuhara was the relief - what a mistake but this would come in the third - he got Kitagawa to fly out to centre. Once again the batters made no impression in Tigers third. Kaneko was too much for them. Fukuhara then put the game beyond Tigers reach most emphatically. He was dreadful. Baldris hit to Toritani who stopped it but couldn't get the throw off in time - just the way of things and not a mistake. Ohbikii grounded out but Baldris was able to move round to second. Then Maeda hit to left which put runners on first and third. Fukuhara should have risen to this challenge and engineered a double play but this was beyond him. Sakaguchi hit a two base to right centre 6-0 Buffaloes runner on second. This became runner on third when Fukuhara released his wild pitch which Johjima had no chance of taking. Akada walked and then Arakane struck out looking but Fukuhara wasn't fininshed yet. He gave up a straightforward centre hit to Gotoh which brought home another runner 8-0 Buffaloes, runners on first and second. Finally, LaRocca flew out to left to end the innings.

Tigers fourth followed the pattern of the three earlier innings. Three batters, three outs. Surprisingly, given his disaster of the third innings Fukuhara returned and gave up a lead off walk to Kitagawa. Baldris though hit into a double play and then Ohbiki flew out to end the innings. Things changed in the Tigers fifth. Arai hit to Baldris who dropped an easy grounder allowing Arai to get on first. Baldris used to make similar basic mistakes at Tigers which was why Sekimoto was preferred at third. Kanemoto who seems to be enjoying the DH role hit nicely into the right corner to set up runners on second and third. Johjima blasted a nice line drive to left to bring both Arai and Kanemoto home 8-2 Buffaloes, runner on second. Brazell struck out but then Sakurai lifted a slider nicely into the stands for a two run home run 8-4 Buffaloes. Katsuragi was next and he hit to right for his first home run of the year - a solo 8-5 Buffaloes. This was the end of Kaneko as Okada decided that at this rate an eight run lead could disappear. Kaneko stood on the mound almost in tears and one has to say 'Grow up you big girls blouse'. He left the mound and proceeded to blub into his towel in the dugout. The replacement pitcher was Katsuki who firstly gave up a two base hit to Murton and then a centre hit to Hirano. Maybe Murton could have tried for home but he didn't and Tigers had runners on first and third. At this point Okada swtiched his catcher deciding that Maeda was not up to the challenge. The new catcher was Hibaka. Next batter was Toritani and what was needed was not for him to hit into a double play which is exactly what he did. However, Hirano made sure that Buffaloes still gave up a run. The ball was hit to second who threw to base. Hirano stood in the base path but didn't try to claim second. The ball then went to first to get Toritani but Hirano was still not out. Buffaloes fielders had to run him down and tag him and Hirano did not make that easy. Meanwhile, Murton ambled from third to home to bring in the sixth run 8-6 Buffaloes. Finally, Hirano was tagged but thanks to his intelligent and perceptive play the difference was only two runs. The Buffaloes fifth was pitched by Egusa who walked Akada with two outs but then got the third out. Tigers sixth saw Arai hit his first pitch nicely for a two base. Then Kanemoto walked to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Here Johjima bunted and really one wonders why. Mayumi's thought process is difficult to understand at the best of times and what he hoped to accomplish is unclear. Maybe the opportunity for Brazell was uppermost in his mind but the momentum switched from Tigers to Buffaloes. Okada chanced pitchers to Kikuchihara and he faced Brazell. Brazell was awful and despite suggestions to the opposite he is not suitable No. 4 material at the moment. He does not hit with runners on and this is vital. All Brazell does is swing and get lucky. Most of the time he swings and strikes out and this occaison was similar. Two outs - even a sacrifice fly would have been useable but it didn't happen. Sakurai was next and he faced the third pitcher that innings Hirano. Sakurai tried harder but ended up grounding out to Baldris who didn't drop a second one. This had been a golden opportunity wasted by managemet ineptness. Buffaloes sixth was pitched by Nishimura who gave up a lead off hit to Gotoh and then retired the next three batters for a peaceful innings.

Tigers seventh saw the return of Hirano who retired the batters in order, the momentum definately being with the Buffaloes. Nishimura pitched the Buffaloes seventh and this was an innings too far for him. Two outs fell easily but then Sakaguchi hit to right. One has to say that the ease with which the Buffaloes lesser batters were able to hit was embarassing. A throwing error allowed Sakaguchi to reach second and then Akada hit to centre bringing home the runner 9-6 Buffaloes, runner on first. Arakane hit to right centre and Akada was able to fly round the bases to score 10-6 Buffaloes, runner on second. Exit Nishimura to be replaced by Kawasaki. If Mayumi wants a reliever who can go deep he needs to use Abe but he would probably waste the pitcher as he did before. Kawasaki gave up a hit to Gotoh but with runners on third and first got LaRocca to ground out to third to end the innings. After Hirano came Kishida but he was pitching to a beaten Tigers side. The Tigers clean up fell in order. In another retrograde step we saw Sugiyama pitch Buffaloes eighth. Actually he did reasonably well and retired the batters in order - a rare success for him. Tigers ninth was closed off by Leicester. Buffaloes victory. He retired the batters in order and Okada had his dream - a victory against his old side.

Buffaloes had beaten a better side - Okada whatever his faults was always a better manager than Mayumi. Once his side established a lead they managed to hold it even though they were clearly second rate. Mayumi has no idea how to manage batters (Johjima's bunt) and pitchers - he shouldn't have used Fukuhara in relief at all. Mayumi and his coaching team don't have any idea how to handle pitchers and I am beginning to suspect that prejudice plays too big a role in selection and rationality is banished.