August 20th Kojima v Gonzalez - The magic is gone

With the return to the boring grey uniforms the magic of the retro uniforms faded. Not that the Giants pitchers were any good - Gonzalez was incredibly lucky and threw an enormous amount of rubbish. However, Tigers pitching was even worse and the paucity of Mayumi's resources was exposed for all to see. Kojima was rushed back up to the top side because Standridge is suffering from back pain which is possibly due to his being overpitched earlier in the season. Mayumi's mistakes come back to haunt him. Kojima doesn't seem to have had any preparation or support at all. He is just expected to get onto the mound and pitch. Whilst this is fair enough for an experienced pitcher a younger pitcher with little experience does need some more support. Kojima was very poor - he couldn't locate the zone at all and was clearly very nervous. It would have been better if he had pitched the previous game or even had a couple of outings in the bullpen to get a feel for things. Andoh could have pitched yesterday nights game - he may be in a funk but he has experience and that does count. As it was beng thrown into a game against the Giants was like throwing a lamb into a cage of starving lions. Mayumi's incompetence in dealing with his pitchers was never more obvious. However, even with replacing Kojima early Giants only enjoyed a two run lead (4-2). If Tigers pitchers held them they would have won the game because the Giants would have found it difficult if not impossible to hold a two run lead. Here we saw the folly of using Fukuhara who basically put the game beyond the reach of the Tigers. By the end of his stint Giants enjoyed a four run lead and were able to build on that. In each of the innings he had pitched in Fukuhara has given up a run at least. Now Watanabe who is languishing in the farm team actually threw innings without giving up runs. Mayumi has been left without a workable bullpen and it has taken him just this season to wreck the very high quality bullpen Okada bequeathed him. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 1  5 13 1
Giants  2 2 0 0 3 1 1 3 X 12 16 0

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Tani (Right)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Edgar (First)
7. Chono (Centre)
8. Wakiya (Second)
9. Gonzalez (Pitcher)

Tigers first was disappointing - recently the 1-2-3 of Murton, Hirano and Toritani have been failing miserably to make anything of the first innings. Against Gonzalez, Tigers should have batted better as he wasn't very good at all and 5 runs on 13 hits is very poor return. Kojima was in trouble very rapidly. Sakamoto flew out to left but then Tani hit to centre - there then followed a series of centre hits and flies as the Giants exploited Kojima's lack of variation. Ogaswara hit to centre - runners on first and second. Ramirez hit to centre - runner home 1-0 Giants, runners on first and second. Abe flew out but Edgar hit to centre bringing home another runner, Kanemoto take note this is what a No. 6 is supposed to do, 2-0 Giants, runners on first and second. Finally, Chono flew out to Brazell to end the innings. Tigers responded in their second - Arai battled Gonzalez just missing out on a home run when the ball drifted foul and then a two base when it did the same. He eventually walked. Kanemoto flew out and a wild pitch took Arai to second, then Johjima also walked. Lin hit to right to bring home Arai - Tani dropping the ball and then fumbling the pick up. This was not ruled an error even though it couldn't be defined as anything else. 2-1 Giants, runners on first and third. The final batter was Kojima who flew out to Abe to end the innings. Kojima wasn't any better in the Giants second innings. He walked Wakiya who stole second with Sakamoto at the plate. Sakamoto launched into his fourth pitch hitting it nicely into the left stand for a two run home run 4-1 Giants. Tani hit a two base to left and then Ogasawara flew out to right but it had taken Kojima a lot of pitches to get the second out. Mayumi though had had enough and replaced Kojima with Tsuru. Tsuru started poorly, dead balling Ramirez but then got Abe to fly out to centre and end the innings. Tigers third saw Toritani hit a two base to left but Arai struck out swinging at one he should have left alone. He seems to have reverted to not thinking as this was one he clearly should have left. Giants third saw Wakiya walk with two out but then Gonzalez lined out to end the innings.

Brazell struck out to start Tigers fourth but Kanemoto hit along the first baseline. Johjima hit to third where Ogasawara messed up the take - another error which went unrecorded - Tigers had runners on first and second. Lin flew out to short and Mayumi sent Sakurai to pinch hit for Tsuru. This would have implications later on though one can understand the decision to push for runs. Sakurai hit nicely into right and a runner was home 4-2 Giants, runners on first and third. Once again Tigers wasted the chance - Murton swung at his first pitch and grounded out to short to end the innings. For Giants fourth was had Fukuhara who was effective this innings retiring the batters in order. If Tigers could hold the Giants at four runs, they would have a very good chance to take the game. Hirano led off Tigers fifth with a pitch. Both Toritani and Arai flew out but then with Brazell at bat Gonzalez let go a monster wild pitch which took Hirano to third. This was a great chance but Brazell grounded out to second wasting the chance - he was very angry with himself. Things unravelled in Giants fifth. Fukuhara pitched very poorly - the first batter he faced was Ramirez who hit a straight solo home run 5-2 Giants. Then Abe hit another solo home run to left 6-2 Giants. Edgar grounded out but Chono hit a two base and Wakiya's ground out took him to third. Here Hara used a pinch hitter deciding that the runs were more important than risking Gonzalez for another innings. Takahashi walked and tried to steal second. Johjima saw this but couldn't stop it and tried to catch Wakiya off third. His throw was terrible - Arai had no chance of reaching it and it ran into left field. Wakiya made home safely 7-2 Giants, runner on third. Once couldn't blame Fukuhara for this run but his pitching hadn't been good at all. Finally, Sakamoto flew out but the Tigers had failed to hold and Giants were now in control. Kubo replaced Gonzalez for Tigers sixth and gave up a right hit to Kanemoto. Johjima hit a two base to his favourite left side - runners on second and third. Lin struck out but Sekimoto (pinch hitter) hit nicely to right to bring Kanemoto home 7-3 Giants, runners on first and third. Mayumi's use of pinch hitters had been highly successful. Murton was next and he hit a sacrifice fly to left 7-4 Giants, runner on first. Hirano then hit a two base to right but Sekimoto would have to stop at third - still runners on second and third and Tigers had the chance to do something useful here. Hara then switched pitchers bringing in Yamaguchi who successfully struck out Arai to end the threat. Kubota pitched the Giants sixth and in a situation unfamiliar to him but forced on him by Mayumi's over-streamlined bullpen (this would have been an ideal situation for Abe) gave up a hit to Tani. Tani intelligently took second on Ogasawara's foul fly and then Ramirez hit to left and Tani flew home 8-4 Giants, runner on first. Kubota then struck out Abe and Edgar to end the innings. Giants lead was getting big.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Yamaguchi again who retired the batters in order - no surprises this time. Fujihara pitched Giants seventh and started with a two base hit to Chono. Two ground outs followed the end result of which Chono found himself on third with Sakamoto at the plate. The latter hit nicely to right and Chono was home 9-4 Giants, runner on first. Tani grounded out and that innings was over. Tigers eighth was pitched by Ochi who struck out Johjima and then Lin before getting Kanoh (pinch hitter) to ground out to short and end the innings. Kawasaki pitched Giants eighth and was a disaster. Where is Watanabe or Egusa when we need them? Ogasawara led off the innings with a two base hit. Ramirez struck out but then Abe drove to right bringing Ogasawara home 10-4 Giants, runner on first. Next up Edgar who hammered on into the left centre stand (Tigers Gaia) for a two run home run 12-4 Giants - the defeat was complete and comprehensive. Wakiya walked but didn't get beyond first as the final batter Kamei (replacement right) flew out. MICHEAL pitched Tigers ninth and shown that he had lost non of his propensity to bleed runs but it really didn't matter. Hirano hit to left and made second. Toritani then hit bringing Hirano home 12-5 Giants, runner on second. Arai hit to set up runners on first and third but Brazell struck out. Kanemoto who hadn't been replaced this time flew out to end the game. Giants victory.

A comprehensive victory which reduced the margin to two games but not so important. As was noted in the previous post, the Tigers only need to take one game to maintain this lead. The Dragons also lost which puts the Giants back into second place. Tigers batting had been wasteful and their pitching very, very poor. So far there is no need to panic but Mayumi really does need to start using the bullpen properly and beef it up before it becomes a real problem.