August 13th Tsuru v Tateyama - A question of pitching

What do you do if your starting pitching is no good? You rely on your relief. However, if your relief is no good then you are really in trouble. Mayumi is in this situation but he has no one else to blame but himself. Tateyama wasn't wonderful but had enough to see off Tigers. Tsuru was poor and one can see Tigers struggling unless something is done about the rotation. More coaching would help but stupidity like that over Uezono or Kojima needs to stop. Neither Iwata nor Nohmi is going to be available until September and possibly not even then. Andoh is totally useless as a starter (and not much better as a relief) so Tigers are seriously short of starting pitchers. This being the case, Mayumi operating such a small bullpen is an act of folly. He needs at least three more pitchers added to the bullpen and only two catchers. Instead he relies too much on a core and this is gettinig tired. Failure results in punishment and thus pitchers do not take risks but play safe. This lays them open to being hit. Interestingly, Swallows operate with the same number of pitchers but they have starters they can rely on. Tigers don't at the moment and should be beefing up the bullpen not paring it down for batters who can't hit. On the subject of batters who can't hit Kanemoto drove in a run yesterday - the first for ages. Rumours are that he will retire at the end of the season, his power has gone and he can no longer hit the home runs. Superstar status though has blinded him to his limitations and whilst Hiyama made the very successful adjustment to pinch hitter, Kanemoto's pride prevents this move and unless he picks up his only option is retirement. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  2 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 9 13 2
Tigers    1 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 6 13 0

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Iihara (Left)
4. Whitesell (First)
5. Hatakeyama (Third)
6. Takeuchi (Right)
7. Kawabata (Short)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Tateyama (Pitcher)

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

Swallows are the hot team of the moment, coming off three straight sweeps, two being the Dragons and Giants. They are hitting well and their pitching is performing and so they represent a formidbable foe even for a team with the power of the Tigers. Tsuru would not start well and would not be comfortable thoughout his pitching session. Someone needs to sit down with him and work through his problems but this is beyond the limited skills of the Tigers coaching staff. Aoki led off Swallows first with a hit. He was bunted to second by Tanaka - which in view of what he was to do later was a rather pointless move. Iihara grounded out to Tsuru which kept Aoki on second but then a wild pitch undid this nice piece of work and Aoki moved round to third. Whitesell was next and he really is hitting well - he drove one to right for the first run 1-0 Swallows, runner on first. Next was Hatakeyama who hit to Murton in centre. It was a sliding take which Murton dropped (this was ruled a hit, not an error as it should have been). These chances need to be taken if Tigers want the pennant. Whitesell showed good speed round the bases to make home 2-0 Swallows, runner on second. Takeuchi grounded out and the innings was over. Not an inspiring start by the Tigers. Their batting started brightly though, Murton led off with a hit and then Hirano also hit setting up runners on first and second. Toritani though, contrived to hit into a double play which did move Murton round to third. But the pressure was off Swallows to some extent. Arai was next and he hit to centre - putting the ball over Aoki for a timely two base 2-1 Swallows, runner on second. Arai mainly hits left to centre being good at bisecting short either side. My Japanese friends believe he would be more productive if he hit right to centre rather like Jeter does. It's an interesting idea. Brazell, who seems in a bit of a slump at the moment struck out to end the innings. Tsuru was in more trouble in Swallows second. Kawamoto hit to centre with one out. Takeyama bunted him to second and then Aoki blasted a two base to left bringing him home 3-1 Swallows, runner on second. Tanaka grounded out but it looked like the game was running away from Tigers. Tigers second was depressingly quiet, Tateyama pitching quite competently and retiring the batters in order. Swallows third saw Whitesell hit with one out but then Hatakeyama hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers third was just quiet.

Takeuchi walked to lead off Swallows fourth and made second on Kawabata's ground out but then remained locked there as the next two batters fell easily. Tsuru was unable to pitch an innings without a runner on. Tigers fourth saw Toritani lead off with a hit to right. He then stole second, the throw from Kawamoto being too high. Arai struck out to one he should have left and Brazell grounded out to second which moved Toritani to third. However, Kanemoto flew out comfortably to centre - in the old days the hit would have been a straight home run but he no longer has the power. No score from that chance. Swallows fifth saw Tanaka hit but nothing came of this. Tigers fifth was also depressingly quiet and Tateyama was getting better and better as he went on. Tsuru returned for Swallows sixth and started by dead balling the inoffensive Hatakeyama. Takeuchi banged his first pitch to right and Swallows had runners on first and third. Mayumi acted commendably quickly and pulled Tsuru judging that he wouldn't get out of the situation without giving up runs. This was the right decision but what followed was a major screwup that only Mayumi seems capable of engineering. Kawasaki took the mound and struck out Kawabata quite neatly. Mayumi then decided to play musical pitchers and brought on Watanabe. Now Watanabe is not the best pitcher to bring on with runners on especially with one on third and only one out. Why, Mayumi didn't let Kawasaki get the second out or even the third out is a bit of a mystery though probably related to the left hand/right hand mythology that holds so much sway among Japanese coaches. Anyway, Watanabe battled Kawamoto for a while and then Kawamoto managed to get under one and lift it into centre, far enough for Onizaki (pinch running for Hatakeyama) to make home safely 4-1 Swallows, runner on first. Next batter was Tateyama and Watanabe who had started digging proceeded to widen and add supports to the hole so that it could go deeper. His third pitch to Tateyama was so soft even I could have hit it but with a fair amount of luck Tateyama banged it into the right corner bringing home the runner on first 5-1 Swallows, runner on second. It was decided not to risk Watanabe against Aoki and he was deliberately walked bringing up Tanaka. If the scoring pitch to Tateyama was bad then this one was worse Tanaka hitting a three run home run 8-1 Swallows. This wasn't a lucky swing but an excellent hit which Tanaka can happily watch again and again - it was a good strike. The exrpession on Mayumi's face was also a joy to see - a kind of slack jawed horror at what he had done. Whitesell struck out to end what had been a great innings for the Swallows and a disaster for the Tigers. Mayumi in trying to save the game had doomed the Tigers to defeat. Murton then led Tigers sixth off with a solo home run to left 8-2 Swallows. Hirano walked and Tateyama tried to pick him off. One of these throws was missed by Whiteselll which made you wonder which team was leading and Hirano moved to second. He stayed there though as non of the Tigers clean up could do anything.

Amazingly, Watanabe returned for Swallows seventh and this was a combination of two factors. Watanabe needed to redeem himself and Mayumi had no one else. His policy of a lean relief is really in tatters. Onizaki (replacement short) grounded out but Takeuchi walked. Kawabata grounded out forcing out Onizaki but he was safe and then Kawamoto walked - runners on first and second. Finally, Tateyama flew out to Murton - a hit that had Tigers fans hearts in their mouths for a moment as it was a good shot and only just failed to be a hit. Johjima hit in Tigers seventh and then Hiyama (pinch hitter) also hit setting up runners on first and second. Lin (pinch hitter) grounded out forcing out Hiyama but moving Johjima to third. This brought up Murton who hit to left bringing home the run 8-3 Swallows, runners on first and third. Obana relieved Tateyama who was clearly getting tired and brought on a different Watanabe. This one was effective getting Hirano to ground out and end the innings. Andoh pitched Swallows eighth and was in one of his effective moods retiring the batters in order. This was the only innings of the whole game where Swallows didn't have a runner on base. Tigers eighth was a disaster for the Swallows. Oshimoto was the pitcher and this time was totally unable to deal with the situation even though it should have been comfortable. With one out Arai hit to left. Brazell hit to centre and Tigers had runners on first and third. Amazingly Kanemoto hit and this became a triple on a Swallows erro bringing home Arai and Brazell 8-5 Swallows, runner on third. Johjima hit to centre and Kanemoto was home 8-6 Swallows, runner on first and Tigers fans began to see an unlikely victory. However, it was not to be. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) grounded out forcing out Johjima and then Lin (replacment right) grounded out to end the innings. The Tigers last chance had gone. Fujihara pitched the Swallows ninth and with two out gave up a two base hit to Takeuchi. Kawabata hit to left and Takeuchi was home 9-6 Swallows, runner on first. Kawamoto grounded out and that innings was over. Matsuoka pitched Tigers ninth and wasn't exactly convincing but got the job done. With one out Hirano hit and then another out later, Arai took a dead ball. Tigers would need Brazell to do something but he flew out to third to end the game. Swallows victory.

Swallows now have ten wins in a row something Mayumi can only look at in envy. He is almost certain to be back next year but really cannot handle pitching. Tigers had fought hard but really needed more from their pitching. More relief pitchers need to be brought out and Kubo (pitching coach) put out to grass. So far in August Tigers are 3-7. Giants won and the gap between the teams is just one game but Giants were able to come from behind. Tiger need to do this more often to challenge.