June 19th Kubo v Ohka - BayStars errors cost them

Mayumi contrived to pitch Kubo too long once again. He was worn out after the fifth but ended up pitching a sixth innings. Currently, Japan is in the throes of the 'tsuyu' or rainy season. This produces a lot of rain but the humidity also rockets to around 80%. In a dump like Yokohama stadium this can be most unpleasant and kudos to both teams for enduring a day game in these conditions. Pitchers tire easily and need a lot of pitches to get through the innings. Kubo was basically finished after the fifth and it was pure luck that he was able to get out of the sixth with only two runs damage. Mayumi seems to have no idea about limits especially as Kubo's fifth had been a lucky escape as well. If Mayumi wants Kubo to be effective at the end of the season he needs to start paying attention to the actual conditions the pitcher faces. The sad thing is that Minami-president and Sakai-owner are already making noises about bringing Mayumi back as manager next year. Neither can see any reason not to (how about an inability to manage?). Anyway BayStars were overwhelmed and looked distinctly second rate in almost all aspects of the game. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    1 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 7 11 0
BayStars  1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 10 2

Starting lineups

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

BayStar
1. Shimozono (Right)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Ohnishi (Centre)
7. Hashimoto (Catcher)
8. Castillo (Second)
9. Ohka (Pitcher)

Tigers start was all they could wish for. Toritani hit a two base to left centre which was actually a failed home run - it didn't have the legs but was long enough. Hirano bunted him to third and then Murton hit a grounder straight to short. Ishikawa chose to throw to first for the guaranteed out 1-0 Tigers. Arai hit to centre but Brazell flew out to Hashimoto to end the innings. Kubo didn't start well - Shimozono who had a good game hit. He was bunted to second by Ishikawa and made third on Uchikawa's fly out. Murata was next and he tried to hit to left but the impact sent the ball to right where it was able to evade Hirano for a timely hit 1-1, runner on first. Lucky but they all count. Sledge struck out to end the innings. Tigers second saw Ohka walk Sakurai but nothing came of this - the final batter was Kubo and his hitting mode wouldn't manifest itself until later. In BayStars second Hashimoto (ex Marines as well and who would own Kubo) hit but then Castillo hit into a double play to end the innings. Murton hit to third in Tigers third innings but Arai was not able to move him beyond first and the innings was scoreless. Ohnishi started the innings with a liner but Shimozono hit deep to right. Sakurai was rather slow to get to it but then it was very hot out there and Shimozono was able to make third with only one out. There then followed a marvelous piece of work by Johjima. He caught one of Kubo's forks as normal and then fired it straight to Arai who picked Shimozono off. The BayStars runner was standing too far off base and was caught out by this throw. Kubo then struck out Ishikawa to end the innings.

Poor Ohka - he had done everything right until Tigers fourth and it all disintergrated for him. He started by striking out Brazell looking with a very fine inside pitch. Johjima hit to right but was forced out by Lin. Then Sakurai picked up his second walk. Kubo was next and this time he hit to right. This wasn't necessarily a run but Shimozono dropped the ball and proceeded to fumble it. Lin had stopped at third but was signaled home 2-1 Tigers with runners on first and third. Toritani was next and he bounced one to Ishikawa who to be honest was rather slow with his throw. This meant that Toritani was safe on first and Sakurai was home 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Ohka's next pitch was abysmal - perfectly placed for Hirano to guide it over the infield and into the gap between centre and left for a timely two base. This brought home both runners 5-1 Tigers, runner on second. Finally Murton grounded out to short to end a disastrous innings for BayStars. BayStars fourth itself was quiet - whilst Kubo was pitching they managed to have a runner on in every innings and the fourth was no exception with a rather intelligent Murata hit over the infield with one out. Sledge hit into a standard 4-6-3 double play to end the innings. Perhaps surprisingly Ohka returned for Tigers fifth and was immediately in trouble. His pitching had gone and Arai hit a very nice lead off solo home run to left 6-1 Tigers. Brazell was next and he got enough bat on a cutball (the same pitch Arai had hit) to hit his twentieth home run 7-1 Tigers. This was the end of Ohka who was replaced by Bootcheck. He struggled finding the Tigers batters difficult to deal with. Johjima and then Sakurai walked (Sakurai collected three walks in this game). Kubo grounded out to Bootcheck who threw to second to get Sakurai and Tigers had runners on first and third. This prompted another pitching change, Bootcheck beeing replaced by Katoh. He got Toritani to ground out to second though Castillo did fumble the ball. BayStars fifth started well for them. Ohnishi hit to right - streaky but definitely a hit. Hashimoto blooped one to left and BayStars had runners on first and second with no outs. Here it went wrong for the BayStars. Castillo flew out to second which failed to advance the runners. Saeki (pinch hitter - who got a huge cheer from the BayStars fans) grounded out to second moving the runners round to second and third. Still only one out to go and Shimozono was next. He walked as Kubo quickly collected two strikes but then threw a series of forkballs which failed to tempt the batter to swing. Bases loaded but Ishikawa grounded out to second to end the innings. Still it had been lucky and Kubo was clearly tired - at this stage he had thrown 96 pitches and was ripe for replacement. Ejiri pitched Tigers sixth and had a rather easy time of it retiring the batters in order. Kubo amazingly returned for BayStars sixth. A tired pitcher against BayStars cleanup - what was Mayumi thinking. Uchikawa flew out but then Murata hit. Sledge walked and Ohnishi followed to load the bases. Next was Hashimoto who hit his first pitch into right bringing home two runners 7-3 Tigers, runners on third and first. Kubo needed a double play and thankfully Castillo supplied it hitting straight to Toritani. The rest was just a formality but really, even though Tigers had a six run lead Kubo should not have been asked to pitch the sixth innings. Mayumi does need to pay attention to what is going on on the field and not what he thinks is possible.

Ejiri returned for Tigers seventh and gave up a centre hit to Johjima. Lin hit a two base along the right baseline - rather fortunate but it set up runners on second and third. This was a good chance but Mayumi decided it was time for Kanemoto's pinch hit appearance. Kanemoto flew out to centre but not far enough for Johjima to make home. Next was Hiyama (pinch hitter) who flew out to centre again to end the innings. If Mayumi had mishandled Kubo he actually handled the relief rather well. Kubo didn't return for BayStars seventh but Watanabe pitched instead. He rapidly got the three outs and suddenly BayStars chances looked rather remote. Satoh started Tigers eighth and got the first two outs. Then he was replaced by Sanada who got Murton to fly out and end the innings. Nishimura pitched BayStars eighth and gave up a lead off hit to Uchikawa. Murata drove a slider to Arai who accepted the gift and the double play followed easily. Nishimura then struck out Sledge with an excellent display of pitching to end the innings. Sanada got the first two outs in Tigers ninth but then Johjima hit to short who made an absolute dogs dinner of the take and Johjima was easily safe. Lin managed to fly out to centre though. Surprisingly and gratifyingly, for BayStars ninth Mayumi didn't use Kyuji but instead brought on Uezono. It has been decided that Kyuji should only be used for one innings and in save situations. Uezono pitched very nicely striking out two before getting the final ground out to end the game. Tigers victory.

Once Tigers had gotten to BayStars starter the victory was a formality. Kubo picked up his sixth win and a hero interview which was well deserved. BayStars to some extent put the game beyond them through their own errors and at the moment it is difficult to see them finishing above fifth place. Mayumi had managed the relief rather nicely but needed to have someone pitching in the sixth. A very good comfortable victory by a clearly better side.